Help or Hoax?

What can the Federal Government do in economically deprived school districts for youngsters who have learning problems? It now devotes $3.2 billion to programs serving 4.8 million low-achieving public school pupils. Secretary of Education William Bennett believes that some of the money should be spent on federal vouchers that would enable students to apply for transfer to alternative, and presumably better, schools. Last week Bennett submitted to Congress a bill that would provide students with such vouchers, worth an average of $600, which could be applied toward remedial instruction or tuition at another school--public, private or parochial. Said Bennett: "It would promote a healthy rivalry among schools . . . and would allow parents to choose the program that best meets the needs of their children."

The voucher idea is nothing if not controversial. Miriam Rosenberg, government-relations specialist for the National Parent Teacher Association, called Bennett's proposal an "inappropriate and possibly unconstitutional transfer of public tax dollars to private and especially private religious schools." Others argued that $600 would not go far toward private day-school tuition or even the pupil cost in an upscale suburban school (typically $4,000 to $7,000).

In California a federally funded voucher experiment died aborning in 1981 when students found alternative schools to be no better than those they had left. Elsewhere, the notion has little more support. A Chicago city council proposal for vouchers has triggered such strong opposition from the school board that the issue may wind up in court. In Minnesota a legislative compromise rejecting general vouchers but permitting juniors and seniors to use state school dollars for college courses is under attack by secondary-school administrators.

In 1983 the House killed in committee a voucher bill similar to Bennett's. California Democrat Augustus Hawkins, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, vows the same fate for the new measure, which he brands "a cruel hoax on the nation's very poorest families."