Yet the vouchers/credits are the necessary milestone. The government has created a class of people dependent (or believing that they are dependent) on government services. If we propose a fully private system, we will expose ourselves to the populist argument that we "only care for the rich people". Of course, it's nonsense, but we can't respond to such argument with patiently teaching the basics of economy - it would be impractical.
Vouchers/credits is a good enough solution, providing that the system is universal and the parents can choose whatever schools they want. And it's a "marketable" idea, allowing us to counter the Left's populism with the following reasoning: With the vouchers, the good, private schools will become affordable. Not only the elites will be able to send their kids to safe schools, where they can excel academically. Inner city people or rural folks deserve good education too!
It is likely impossible to move directly to a completely private system. I support vouchers and tax credits if they can be used to do two things:
1) build a private school infrastructure.
In my county their are **no** private schools. Why would their be? The government is running a price-fixed monopoly that is giving education away for the price of “free”. If private CEOs colluded like this they would soon be in prison, but somehow it is morally and ethically OK for the government to destroy the private school market. ( Go figure! Geeze!)
2)If vouchers and tax credits can gradually be reduced so that parents take on the full responsibility of educating their own children, then I would support this. Ideally vouchers or tax credits would be used only for the poorest, and in a completely ideal world, charity would educate the poor.
Unfortunately we see what Pell Grants and government subsidized students loans have done to college and university tuition. It hasn't made the cost of college cheaper. Every time Pell Grants or student loans are increased the colleges and universities raise their tuition. And...Colleges and universities have powerful lobbyists to promote their interests. We would likely see the same phenomena if we had universal vouchers and tax credits for K-12 education.