Known and Unknown, by Donald Rumsfeld: on Education


Donald Rumsfeld: 1969: Experiment with school vouchers

Our plan was to have OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity) serve as a laboratory for experimental programs, not as an entity that managed large operations in perpetuity. For example, OEO had tried a number of innovative approaches to education. Under my predecessors, to their credit, OEO had launched an experiment providing school vouchers for parents. The plan had the support of my friend Milton Friedman. Friedman and I believed that school vouchers could lead to improvement in public education by giving parents choices rather than forcing them to send their children to a particular school. OEO also had supported an experiment in performance contracting for teachers, an idea that was bitterly opposed by the politically active teachers' unions.
Source: Known and Unknown, by Donald Rumsfeld, p.125 Feb 8, 2011

Milton Friedman: 1969: Experiment with school vouchers

Our plan was to have OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity) serve as a laboratory for experimental programs, not as an entity that managed large operations in perpetuity. For example, OEO had tried a number of innovative approaches to education. Under my predecessors, to their credit, OEO had launched an experiment providing school vouchers for parents. The plan had the support of my friend Milton Friedman. Friedman and I believed that school vouchers could lead to improvement in public education by giving parents choices rather than forcing them to send their children to a particular school. OEO also had supported an experiment in performance contracting for teachers, an idea that was bitterly opposed by the politically active teachers' unions.
Source: Known and Unknown, by Donald Rumsfeld, p.125 Feb 8, 2011

  • The above quotations are from Known and Unknown
    A Memoir
    by Donald Rumsfeld.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Education.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Donald Rumsfeld on Education.
  • Click here for more quotes by Milton Friedman on Education.
Candidates and political leaders on Education:
2010 Retiring Democratic Senators:
CT:Dodd
DE:Kaufman
IL:Burris
IN:Bayh
ND:Dorgan
WV:Byrd
WV:Goodwin 		<2010 Retiring Republican Senators:
FL:Martinez
FL:LeMieux
KS:Brownback
KY:Bunning
MO:Bond
NH:Gregg
OH:Voinovich
PA:Specter
UT:Bennett 		Newly appointed/elected Senators, 2009-2010:
DE:Kaufman (D)
CO:Bennet (D)
IL:Burris (D)
MA:Brown (R)
NY:Gillibrand (D)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Mar 12, 2012