icipating schools for tuition.
             School choice lets parents determine what schools best meet the needs of their children. Parents may choose any qualifying schools with space available, public or private, either within or outside the district. The dollar then follows the scholar. Students choosing public schools continue to receive state funding. Students opting for private schools may receive state scholarships worth, under most voucher proposals, half the per-pupil cost of public schooling. If a state's system of public education costs the taxpayers $6,000 per student-near the national average-a student attending an independent school could receive a scholarship of $3,000. That is more than enough to cover the tuition at most independent schools, a fact that in and of itself speaks volumes about the state of U.S. public schools.
             School vouchers dramatically increases equality of opportunity. Schools will be funded only to the extent that parents voluntarily decide to enroll their children in that particular school. Like private enterprises, the schools will need to compete to satisfy their customers. No customer will be forced to accept unsatisfactory performance." Agenda for America 131-133
             America's public education system is at a crossroads. Too many of our citizens are not educated. Illiteracy has become a national epidemic. American students are scoring significantly lower than their international counterparts on international exams, and our Scholastic Aptitude Test scores have fallen dramatically, down nearly eighty points in the past three decades. 1 America has the
             ...