# Why are Democrats opposed to school vouchers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-democrats-opposed-to-school-vouchers/669084>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 17, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-democrats-opposed-to-school-vouchers/669084 "2013-09-17T19:47:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 22

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-democrats-opposed-to-school-vouchers/669084/22 "2013-09-17T21:15:20Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> [Previous recent thread on vouchers.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=654999&highlight=voucher)

That is _not_ the only previous thread on the topic. Indeed **ITR champion** asked the same question in a previous thread:

> [@When school vouchers and NIMBYism collide](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-school-vouchers-and-nimbyism-collide/665027/2):
>
> The real mystery is why liberal Democrats are almost uniformly opposed to education vouchers while at the same time being happy about vouchers in other areas.

I refer Mr. Champion to the answer I gave in that thread:

> [@When school vouchers and NIMBYism collide](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-school-vouchers-and-nimbyism-collide/665027/5):
>
> For the near future, most children will be educated in public schools. Public schools have disadvantages compared with private schools; for one thing, unlike private schools _they cannot reject applicants_.
> 
> Thus, however strong the arguments for school vouchers may be, the majority of American children will be adversely affected if voucher programs “scoop off the cream” and reduce funding for public schools.
> 
> I think many progressives support such programs when they’re part of a plan to cooperatively improve education overall. Instead, some of the programs are motivated just by a philosophy of “I want mine. Screw you.” and a pretense that public schools will benefit from their own _creative destruction_.

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