School Vouchers Stir Emotions Nationwide

Oct. 17 -- Four years ago, Dorothy Farrow was willing to work two jobs in order to send her son to a private school.

Her son Charles, she says, was floundering in a kindergarten classroom of 33 students in a public school in Cleveland.

“I told myself I would do what it took to give my son a better education,” says Farrow, 25, a nurse.That was, she says, until she realized she had another choice.

Farrow learned about the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program, a pilot program that takes public school funds and gives them to parents to put toward private school tuition. Using the money, Farrow sent her son to Holy Redeemer, a Catholic school near their home.

More than 4,500 children from families near or at the poverty level participate in the Cleveland program, which is more commonly known as a “school voucher” program. Only two other publicly funded voucher programs currently exist in the United States, in Milwaukee and in Florida.

A Hot-Button Issue

The issue of school vouchers has become a hot political button and an emotional issue nationwide as the country begins to focus more on the problems of failing schools, particularly in the inner cities. Vice President Al Gore is against vouchers. His opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, supports voucher programs and would like to see a $1,500 voucher for every child in a failing school.

In a new ABCNEWS poll released today, Americans say they are split evenly on the general idea of vouchers, but strongly oppose them if they mean less money for public schools.

There are no clear studies yet showing whether vouchers actually improve the learning of kids who use them. All three of the voucher programs — in Cleveland, Milwaukee and in Florida — are being challenged in courts on the grounds that the programs do not adequately meet the requirements of the separation of church and state.

The issue is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court as early as next year.