What the hell is with Kukui ' s expressions ? <| sep |> I ' m not sure the respomder ever clarified his earlier point . The point is that in many places the private schools cost more than a voucher would cover . Keeping the 10 k example as the amount you ' d get , lets say all the private schools in the area cost 20 k per year . That means that the school vouchers aren ' t actually going to make private school an option for those in the areas where it is likely most in need . In the other hand , all the families that already had the means to make private school happen are given a discount at the expense of the public school system dollars that are now supplementing those private school tuitions . To your food stamps analogy . It would be like saying we are taking money out of WICs to give everyone in the country food stamps but they can only be used at whole foods and are non transferable . The wealthy people that already have whole foods and have them in their neighborhoods are getting a benefit . The poor people who still can ' t afford whole foods even with their stamps dollars or who don ' t have access to them aren ' t getting help . In both cases there are a few working class people who are right on the cusp that are getting a benefit , but the majority is a transfer of wealth from a service that benefits the poor to a service that benefits the wealthy . Anyways , that ' s the argument being made . It is possible that a new market of voucheronly private schools would spring up but that ' s basically the existing charter system . It is also possible that private school prices would all balloon to account for this new universal basic income that all of it ' s users just got . It ' s not easy and i don ' t have answers , but those are the opponent ' s fears .