State and Local Innovations in Educations Choice. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. United States Senate, Ninety-Ninth Congress, First Session, October 22, 1985.

Testimony concerning innovative state and local programs which expand family choice in education, and the Federal government's role in facilitating such programs, is presented. Testimony reviews research findings that bear on the issue, variables involved in planning educational choice, reforms proposed in the Minnesota plan for K-12 education, Minnesota's Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Act of 1985, private sector alternatives in education, and disadvantages of alternative education programs, such as tuition tax credits and tuition voucher systems. Copious additional material submitted for the record includes: (1) three issues of the periodical "Educational Freedom" which focus on educational vouchers and the advantages and constitutionality of tuition tax credits, (2) discussions of the effectiveness of public and private schools, and the organization of the schools in relation to politics and markets, (3) a description of the Prince George's County school system's "Workplace School," (4) a discussion of how the selection of strategy for designing federal programs influences program operation and effects, (5) arguments against the use of tuition vouchers, (6) a brief position statement of the Minnesota Federation of Citizens for Educational Freedom, Inc., (7) the Minnesota Congress of Parents, Teachers, and Students' statement on legislative proposals concerning open enrollment and parent choice, and the desirability of limiting publicly funded choice to public schools, (8) the brief position statement of associated liberal organizations, (9) recommendations for the fundamental restructuring of Minnesota's educational system, and (10) the Clearinghouse on Educational Choice's analysis of population sectors most likely to support educational vouchers. (RH)