That is hyperbole IMHO. If the private schools which accept vouchers are no better than public schools they will go out of business; granted that the vouchers may and, if Ted Kennedy has any say in the matter will, have undesirable strings. But the Kennedys of the world are on the defensive on the fundamental issue of ceasing to seperate responsibilty from authority in education.When a college sends out the bills for tuition it does not address the envelope to anyone but the parents of the students, and no public school educrat is willing to pay that bill for you. And that proves that it is not the educrat but the parent who is responsible for the child's education. If the parents - especially black parents who are the bedrock support of the Democratic resistance to uniting responsibility with authority - demand to have authority commensurate with their responsibility then vouchers will come. The battle will continue on the issue of educrat regulation of voucher-supported schools, but IMHO toney private schools will continue as they have without accepting vouchers at all.
No, they won't. Look at what happens on the collegiate level here in the U.S. -- it is extremely rare for a school to go out of business even as the quality of education has declined substantially. What eventually happens is that the bad schools will no longer be concerned about the quality of the education and will instead channel their efforts on increasing the size of the vouchers.
If you don't believe me, just ask yourself how so many mediocre private colleges stay in business these days even as the cost of "education" at these places goes through the roof.