Politically universal vouchers is politically a bad move.
Look what happened in Utah when the legislature passed a voucher bill for all Utah students. The NEA immediately came in and organized the teachers and PTAs to gather signatures for a recall election on the voucher bill. The bill was shot down by the citizens of Utah in the recall election. Naturally citizens are wary of sudden and radical changes.
So?...Utah legislators then passed a very tiny voucher program aimed soley at children with disabilities. Reading disabilities qualified. ( Wink! Wink!)Soon there were long long waiting lists for these vouchers. Before long there were suburban parents who saw neighbor children attending private schools while their child had no choice whatsoever.
An active and powerful lobby of parents and private teachers in favor of expanding vouchers quickly formed.
Utah legislators used the same strategy for charters as well.
So?...A few movies like “Waiting for Superman” with pitiful scenes of children and parents in tears and long lines snaking around the block waiting to get into the lottery can indeed be very powerful.
Also...Starting small programs allows the ( justifiably) wary public to become comfortable with a new way of funding education.
Start small. Let the pressure build!
Over the last decade, Pennsylvania has seen the establishment of charter schools, cyber charter schools, and an effective educational improvement tax credit program. I think the snowball is rolling.