jim rozen wrote:...

Let me get this straight: you think the state is going to
just *give* money to private schools, no strings attached,
and not apply some kind of (excessive) administrative
oversight to go along with the funds?

MK. The State has several options: 1) regulate, 2) leave eligibility
criteria to accreditation agencies, 3) test students at the begining
and end of the school year, and pay for performance. Or 4) let parents
decide which institution shall receive the taxpayers' K-12 education
subsidy.

MK. The most effective accountability mechanism humans have yet
invented is the ability of unhappy customers to take their business
elsewhere.

"One has only to to think of the sinister possibilities of the radio,
State-controlled education, and so forth, to realize that 'the truth
is great and will prevail' is a prayer rather than an axiom." --George
Orwell [Review of "Power; A New Social Analysis" by Bertrand Russell].

http://www.rru.com/~meo/hs.minski.html (One page. Marvin Minsky
comment on school. Please read this.)
http://www.libertyindia.org/pdfs/tooley_education.pdf
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=11606 (School Reform News
on Sweden's school voucher policy)
http://www.edreform.com/_upload/NineLies.pdf.
http://www.nlpc.org