With vouchers, we're still at the mercy of The Almighty State. Vouchers are tantamount to asking permission from The Almighty State, for where we want to send our children to school. That's after our tax dollars are laundered through DC.
Local taxes pay for the majority of schools.
While I believe the free market can fix these problems, when there has been so much intervention, the intervention needs to be phased out slowly to avoid losing a generation of two while we get our collective acts together. Also, I don't believe parents are educated enough to make the right choices for education.
I look at it this way, if you take a hostage you want to be released, but if you are in a speeding car you wouldn't want to be thrown out immediately. The best situation would be for the car to be slowed down, to be untied, for the door to be opened, and to be give enough time to get out.
I think we need to begin injecting market principles into education.
1) Eliminate the NEA. People say they want national standards, but they dont mean it. parents in kansas want their kids to learn the bible. Parents in LA want their kids to learn spanish. Parents in Florida want their kids to learn...oranges. I dunno. Keep it local.
2) Vouchers. If you have a kid, you get a voucher. Private and public schools can accept them. Suddenly a better performing school will get a bigger chunk of the pie. Maybe your kid learns "hands-on", maybe your kid is a sports enthusiast, maybe he is a wrote learner- find the best school for them and send them there.
3) Watch as bad ideas fail, and good ideas get copied.
4) When the good teachers, schools, and ideas float to the top it will be easier to discuss transitioning away from a voucher system- though many communities may decide to provide this as a way to insure an educated populace. I know I would support it under the conditions I described- no federal standards and competition between schools.