In the battle against government control of public education, advocates of parental control have unleashed several weapons:
- a drumbeat of criticism against the performance of public schools;
- growing support for school vouchers, particularly among inner-city blacks;
- the rapid defection of parents to other education options, including homeschooling, which now serves 1.2 million children;
- the rapid expansion of charter public schools, which have attracted some 200,000 students;
- the overwhelmingly positive response of low-income parents to CEO America’s private scholarship programs;
- direct attacks on the power of teacher unions by paycheck protection initiatives; and
- recent court rulings in favor of school choice, particularly the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Milwaukee voucher program, which includes private and parochial schools.