Under No Child Left Behind, low income students can transfer to another public school in their district that is performing better. The only problem? There aren’t enough successful schools to accommodate all the kids who want to move. Clint Bolick with the Alliance for School Choice says under the new plan, parents could also choose charter and private schools.

“Kids who are in failing schools would get a chance to immediately transfer to a good school, in other words, a life preserver for their education.”

The average voucher would be worth about $4,000 per student and would help families, trapped by location and circumstances, move their kids to better schools. Brian Backstrom with the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability commends the plan.

“Giving them a voucher to give them financial resources to choose among any school, as the president is proposing, opens up the entire market to low income parents where they never once had any choice before.”

Detractors say what’s really needed to improve public education is more money, but Dr. Vicki Murray with the Pacific Research Institute says, nationwide, education spending has tripled while student achievement has flat lined.

“What has been working tremendously well over the same 30-year period is giving parents options.”

The new proposal is modeled after the highly successful Opportunity Scholarship Program in Washington, D.C.