California was given the choice as to whether they wanted vouchers. They voted NO. Of course, the teachers unions helped to defeat it.
Some people (in the private sector) are getting creative about solving education problems:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030331-042003-6845r These people will ultimately decide the direction education is going to go in this country, and it probably won't be public schools.
In NJ, we had a chance to vote for Brett Schundler who offered a scholarship plan that would have filled empty classroom space in churches and at the same time make overcroweded public schools manageable again. The teachers union went out of their way to make sure he didn't win the election and implement his plan. The teachers union thugs also sabotaged Coke machines because Coca-Cola was interested in developing scholarships for children who couldn't afford private or parochial schools.
Now we have vastly overcrowded public schools with the poor dear teachers (my brother being one of them) teaching some classes in broom closets. Tough! I'll never vote for expanding our public schools.
The teachers unions are going to become their own worse enemies, and I say it's about time.