Morally we are correct, but you'll not pry middle-class entitlements easily out of the hands of those recipients. They are between a rock and a hard place.
Practical conservative politics requires steps to implement goals. The way out is not revolution, but evolution away from socialism. It has to work and it has to make sense to the average American. We'll need their support to succeed.
We don't want to overreach like Obama has. Hubris is an enemy.
Long established institutions can suddenly lose their legitimacy almost overnight. It all starts with an idea. Just ask Martin Luther.
Where there are vouchers, tax credits, and charters, there are LONG LONG waiting lists of children with parents desperate to get their children into these schools. These parents are highly well organized politically, and politicians will not be deaf to their pitiful pleas.
I am also encouraged that in one Los Angeles high school it was the **teachers** who voted for and did get a switch to become a Green Dot charter. Amazing! **Teachers** did this!
Of all the programs, I favor tax-credits the most. Hopefully, these programs ( vouchers, tax credits, and charters) will build an infrastructure of small schools that can later be fully privatized.
As the infrastructure grows, middle class families should be expected to take on more of the burden of paying tuition to attend. As it is now, some government schools expect parents to pay for all extra curricular costs, and some even mandate that parents pay several hundred dollars each year to rent textbooks for their children.
If parents ( in some states) are required to pay for book rental, why not bus transportation, or energy and heating/airconditioning “surcharges”, and then finally full-blown tuition?
Conservatives should also apply pressure on the government school institution from the private side.
Private conservative educational foundations could award grants to individual teachers. The teachers would open one room school houses, mini-schools, and homeschool co-ops. The foundations would certify the teacher, test the students, and certify the curriculum.
This would completely eliminate all the expense of brick and mortar. These “mini-schools” would have no more regulation or expense than the typical day care center or home-run baby sitting business.
Private conservative educational foundations should also run sports leagues, theater, dance, and arts programs. It is amazing how much “rah-rah” support sports generates for the typical government school, the rug needs to pulled from under this government monopoly.
Then there is the continued growth and **outstanding** success of homeschooling. It continues growing 7 to 15% each year. Estimates are now 3 to 5 million children are fully or partially homeschooled.
Chip, chip, chip, nibble, nibble, nibble! Even a lowly woodpecker can bring down a great big house, if he pecks away at the right spot.