Misam Abidi on Education

Support vouchers, but not as a blanket policy

A: Support where they create genuine opportunity, not as a blanket policy. School choice can be transformative where families are trapped in persistently failing schools and meaningful alternatives exist. In those communities, carefully designed vouchers may provide opportunities that parents could never otherwise afford. However, vouchers do not make equal sense everywhere. In rural communities without realistic alternatives, removing money from the local public school may leave every child worse off. There, we must invest more deeply in that public school. Any school receiving public funds must meet transparent academic, financial, safety, accessibility, and nondiscrimination standards. Whether a child attends a public, charter, technical, or private school, every Tennessee student should graduate with more than a diploma: a real income-producing skill, college credit, an industry certification, or an apprenticeship pathway.