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Sunday, August 7, 2011

A voucher system that caters to wealthy parents–and religious schools | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

A voucher system that caters to wealthy parents–and religious schools | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

A voucher system that caters to wealthy parents–and religious schools

(Thinkstock)

The Wall Street Journal's Stephanie Simon profiles a fascinating education experiment in a well-to-do Denver suburb.

The Douglas County School District has started a controversial voucher program. Advocates of the voucher system normally extol it as a way to help poor kids escape struggling public schools--but under the new program, Douglas County families (whose incomes are nearly twice the national median) can use vouchers to send their children to private schools, most of which are religious.

The school district passes 75 percent of the $6,100 per-pupil allotment they get from the state directly on to parents, telling them they can use that money to send their child to whichever