We have a plethora of schools. So perhaps instead of 10 public elementary schools, it might 7 or 8....still a whole lotta choice.
So then there was choice - and therefore competition - available in the first place? Why the need for vouchers, then?
But even in a large school district, consider this: urban and suburban public schools, especially elementary schools, are generally laid out so that the vast majority (if not all) of students are within walking distance of their school. When you close 20 to 30% of public schools like you describe, the catchment areas of the remaining schools would have to increase. Those students coming from the new, expanded parts of the catchment areas will typically live too far from the school to walk (since normally, if they could've walked before, they would've been in the catchment area to begin with).
This means more buses, which means more expense to the school board.
Here in Ontario, on average, busing costs $371.74 per year per student bussed to school. This means that even before you consider factors like economies of scale or the other problems I mentioned before, vouchers will have created a significant new cost to public schools even before the kids step through the school doors in the morning.
What could a cash-strapped school board do with an extra $372 per student? What would that board have to give up in order to come up with the money to bus these new students?
If the board is lucky enough to be in a jurisdiction where they get more money (from the state, for instance) to offset this cost, that money's still not free. What would the state government have to give up to fund all those new buses?
As I previously said, there'd be turmoil in the short run.
Yes - and slow decay in the long run. I don't see any upside to these sorts of programs.
I think you're generalizing from the case of very small school districts....not a very cromulent argument.
I don't think vouchers would have much applicability there.
So... vouchers aren't really practical in the sorts of districts that actually do suffer from lack of competition?