Wasting Taxpayer Money on Unaccountable School Voucher "Innovators." Do we look like suckers?

Sweden is often mentioned as the model for a country wide voucher education system. What is never mentioned, not even in the “informed” article below, is the requirement that all schools follow a national curriculum and national standardized test. That puts all schools on a level playing field, and allows each school to compete and innovate to achieve their educational goals.

With that fact in mind, check out how removed from reality the following commentary is, and how taxpayer money is really the prize without all that accountability stuff to worry about. Bottom line: Anyone want their hard earned money going into the “innovative” for profit pockets of privateers, under the guise of “academic freedom?” Does your kid have a few extra years to be their guinea pig? Voucher advocates think so.

EdWeek: Adam Schaeffer, an analyst at the Cato Institute who has questioned the financial implications of Indiana's landmark new voucher law, has … a second essay that argues that the measure could undermine private schools' academic and institutional freedom. In a piece published by the Huffington Post, Schaeffer says the plan will detract from private schools' curricular diversity and effectively "homogenize" them by requiring that they follow many of the testing, reporting, and academic requirements of public schools.

Sweden has basically “homogenized” their education system enough to be one of the best in the world, and again, is the voucher advocates poster child example in the U.S.. 

Schaeffer bashes the Swedish model by insinuating the poor owners of private schools would have a set of actual standards that would have to be met, or be "accountable" if they want to get their grubby paws on taxpayer money. Boohoo!!!  

He notes that participating private schools would be required to take part in state tests and the state's A-F school grading system, and follow some basic state academic standards for what can and cannot be taught—some of it related to the study of government and the U.S. Constitution.

The final commentary here is from Edweek, who should know better if they’re familiar with the Swedish model, and not land somewhere in the middle giving credibility to a vacuous argument against accountability. The answer is obvious, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise. 

In his essay, Schaeffer says the Indiana voucher law amounts to "a tactical victory for highly constrained choice won at the price of a broad strategic defeat for educational freedom." Will Indiana's measure result in private schools being compelled to follow more of a public school-oriented academic model, as Schaeffer suggests? Or are the state's requirements a fair price to ask of those schools, in exchange for access to public funding?