NATION IN BRIEF : COLORADO : Bush to Advocate Tuition Vouchers

Tuition vouchers will play a key part in the Bush Administration’s drive for education reform, Education Secretary Lamar Alexander said. The system would give parents tax dollars to allow them to choose the schools their children will attend, he said in Denver at the first of eight regional meetings being held by the National Education Goals Panel. He said the concept that “choice improves competition” should apply to schools, but he did not say whether private or parochial schools would be included. “The President believes parents should have the broadest choice in where they send their children,” Alexander said. Critics say that vouchers would undermine public education and would do little to help students in poor or geographically isolated school districts.