Enabling urban kids to attend suburban schools has long been thought a good thing by many progressives and other desegregation activists. The city of Wilmington, DE, for example, was split up into four wedges, each joined with part of the suburban ring in a school district. Boston, Indianapolis, and other cities have run transfer programs of various kinds for years?
But what if the suburban schools in questions are private schools? Then maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. Check out the emerging debate in DC over allowing voucher recipients there to attend private schools outside of the District. With a dearth of high school slots in DC private schools, some in Congress are calling for a change in the program to allow kids to go suburban. Provides a pretty good window on the challenges facing voucher programs — both technical (finding a supply of schools willing and able to take voucher-bearing students) and political.
— Guestblogger Bryan Hassel, Public Impact