>Your last sentence is economically unsound. The costs of lack of education are far higher than the costs of education; consider free/public education an investment with a high ROI.
>
>Standardized, universally available basic education is one of the arguably very few things a government should be mandated to provide (either through government direct hires, or 3rd parties), and raise taxes to fund.
>
>That's not saying vouchers is a bad idea ;)

>Standardized, universally available basic education
That's OK. That's what Horace Mann had in mind.

However, Mann never said:
- it was compulsory
- there no miminum standards for those who would take advantage of it.