Jennifer Buckingham, Centre for Independent Studies, 2001
In this 100-page book, Jennifer Buckingham, a policy analyst with the Australia-based Centre for Independent Studies, argues that Australia should move to a tax-credit approach as the mechanism by which to pay for school choice. She offers familiar arguments for a choice-based system (freedom, fairness, better schools, etc.) rather than a government monopoly. She notes that Australia's current arrangements for subsidizing private schools are inadequate and politically unstable. She contends that charter schools are a "stop-gap" because they're not truly independent; that vouchers make private schools vulnerable to excessive government regulation; and that - following the reasoning of some American libertarians - tax credits will bring the most advantages and fewest risks. She then sets forth a number of variants on the tax-credit theme (including the refundable kind that maximizes its value to low-income families) and explains the pros and cons of each. If you'd like to have a look, the ISBN is 1864320605. You can order it for A$21.90 from the Centre, which is most easily accessed via the Internet at http://www.cis.org.au.
