Pinkerton on School Vouchers

Half-truths are only half-right. I found James Pinkerton’s Column Right, “Real Danger of Gingrich Is to the Status Quo” (Dec. 24), not misinformed, but not totally informed. Pinkerton claims that school vouchers give “poor black kids in the District of Columbia . . . the same school choice enjoyed by Chelsea Clinton.” Indeed, blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians all can go to private school, but to suggest that under the voucher system they will is just plain ignorant.

Under the current tax system, all residents pay taxes, which are used to provide the public good of education. Under the voucher system, a parent would give the ticket to a public school and the child would attend the public school free. Pinkerton suggests that low- to middle-income families, who under the current system send their kids to public schools, would choose to spend a fraction more of their income and use the voucher to send their children to private schools, which would accept the ticket as some of the payment. Many families--and arguably most--however, cannot or will not choose to spend money on a private education.

The voucher system will help those families, such as the Clintons, who would normally send their child to private schools.

The voucher system is really not the solution. I agree with Pinkerton that the Low-Income School Choice Demonstration Act was a “quiet good idea,” but disagree that the voucher system has merit.

NISHA MODY

Santa Monica

* Pinkerton thinks that vouchers would be a wonderful thing. They might be if they meet two conditions: Each voucher is worth the same amount whether the student is attending a public or a nonpublic school, and no school receiving vouchers be allowed to subject students to religious indoctrination.

FRANK S. MORRIS

Westminster