A public school education in the USA costs 89% more than a private school education in real dollars.
Of course, public schools are paid for by a big commie pot that we all are forced to pay into which creates an illusion of the schools being free. Also, of course, anybody who sends his or her child to a private school has to pay the tuition in full in addition to his or her mandatory contribution to the big commie pot that contributes to the public schools.
So, why is it usually people on the left who oppose school vouchers?
We can clearly save a ton of public money with school vouchers. I get that a lot of people like the idea of transferring as much money as possible to the state, which is dumb; but, even if that were the right way to go, we could be using the money on other things.
Left-wingers like big commie pots more than right-wingers; but, left-wingers are also supposed to hate inequality. The current system restricts choice to only wealthy people who can pay for both a school that they do use and a school that they don't. Vouchers keep the big commie pot; the, only difference is that individual choice is given to everyone taking from the big commie pot.
Every opponent of school vouchers with whom I've spoken has also complained about school districts being paid for through property taxes. Honest left-leaning liberals have pointed to what can only be referred to as redlining of school districts in which money is creatively funneled into specific areas. Vouchers would do away with that. Yet, there's still opposition.
Every opponent of school vouchers on my news feed is also a person who drank the kool-aid on the "don't say gay" bill. Well, the great thing about vouchers would be that individual parents who do want their five year-olds to be taught about butt sex can send their kids to a school that teaches that.
To expound upon that last point, most opponents of school vouchers express just as much concern about what schools are teaching as they do about what they aren't teaching. Sure, one could argue that giving choice to families to choose a school that'll teach that Muhammad was literally flown to Heaven on a winged horse is as damaging as teaching five year-olds about butt sex; but, who are any of these people to demand what should be taught in their own child's school while also demanding that other people's ability to seek an alternative school be restricted?
On that note, most of the people who I've met who are opposed to school vouchers are also people who don't believe in moral facts - at least that's what they say. So, why would they view teaching kids about butt sex as anything less than morally equivalent to religious indoctrination?
When Terry McAuliffe spoke out against parents even having a say in the curriculum of public schools, he really revealed the core of the opposition to school choice - it would be a forfeit of control.
Yes, a lot of politicians are in the pockets of the teacher's unions and that influences their thinking; but, I think that's only a small component. They want a top-down view of knowledge with them on the top. They want to decide what's okay and what isn't from an ivory tower.
The irony is also that the opposition usually comes from Democrats and the position is anti-Democratic. What could be less Democratic than forcing people to pay for something, force them by law to use that thing, and then deny the people a say in what that thing does?