The problem isn't what school the parents pick, it's that the voucher schools cherry pick high scoring kids to hold up stats and aren't accountable to the state for the education the state is paying for.
But isn't it a good thing where birds of feather flock together? Just not being dragged down from low scoring kids is worth it. Why can't they select for criteria they are looking for?
In practice this means discriminating against students who are non-native English speakers, students with learning disabilities, etc.
> Just not being dragged down from low scoring kids is worth it.
It depends on the kind of society you want to live in. I would rather live in a society that prioritizes decreasing inequality rather than exacerbating it.
I could equally (and accurately) argue that in practice public school means discriminating against people by wealth, using zip code as a proxy.
And anyway, why would "discriminating based on competence" exacerbate inequality? Shouldn't competence-based discrimination lessen inequality e.g. by giving bright, poorer schools a shot at more prestigious institutions while financially-but-not-intellectually privileged kids move to more middling institutions?
Given the choice between wealth discrimination and merit discrimination, I would prefer the latter.
