To the editor:

School choice is a win-win for Kansans.

The current debate on school financing could be rendered moot if Kansas had a universal school voucher program. On average, the cost of private schooling is about 60 percent that of public schooling. As such, a viable voucher program could be funded for a fraction of what the state currently spends per pupil on public education. Assuming that the funding devoted to education remains constant, for every student who switches to a private school on a voucher program, the public schools would realize a funding increase on a per-pupil basis equal to the difference between the value of the voucher and the cost of educating a student in public school.

Recent studies done on Florida’s school voucher program show the competition generated by vouchers helps not only the students who choose to attend private school, but the students remaining in public school as well. In public schools where students have the voucher option, standardized test scores have improved dramatically. Far from harming the public schools, the competition resulting from the voucher program has resulted in an increase in their effectiveness.

School choice could be a powerful transformational tool in accomplishing the reforms our educational system so desperately needs if our children are to be prepared for the challenges their generation will face in the 21st century.

Galen Thies,

Lawrence