In the Washington Post, editorial page editor Fred Hiatt describes the kind of school choice program he thinks would show immediate dividends for poor kids.

DeVos could offer one or two cities the chance to become laboratories of choice.

Any city where schools are struggling would be eligible to volunteer. (That is a big pool.) The federal government would offer financial help, on the condition that the city and state not reduce their contributions.

The system would then stop funding schools and begin funding families. Every child would be given an annual scholarship. Poor children, who often enter school needing extra attention, would get bigger scholarships. Children with disabilities would get more, too.

Every school would then have to compete for students.

Back in 2004, Spencer Hsu told the story of how the first federal voucher program was launched, when George W. Bush signed legislation providing grants worth as much as $7,500 each to children from dozens of public schools in the District of Columbia for their use at private or religious schools in a five-year experiment.

– Education Next