Private schools do twice the job on half the money.
Some do, others not so much. What if someone says it costs more than that for them to provide a proper indoctrination in their particular religion? Do they get more money?
Tax credits to parents, tax credits to those sponsoring a child, and tax credits to those donating to private voucher foundations would ease the transition.
Eventually, parents would pay for their own child's education. Charity would take care of the poor.
The only children who would likely need government welfare would be the catastrophically handicapped child,...but,..even those expenses could and should be covered with private insurance for this very sad event.
Can American's afford it? Yes, they can. We spend more on government K-12 education (state,federal, and local) each year than we do on the military, and we are a war in Iraq. This does not include what we are spending on government welfare for college.
If government were to get completely out of the education business, those add up to **significant** tax credits to parents and others that are more than enough to ease the transition.