Clark has long been excited about educational vouchers in our country. But these days it seems like he's alone in his beliefs. Utah voters recently shot down the nation's first universal school voucher program. The system was originally pushed through by the state legislature, and it earmarked money for every child in every public school in the state. Parents were given the option to take the funds and apply them to private school admission for their children. Under the system, children from poor families would get more money than those from rich ones. But Utah is often considered the reddest of the red states, and voters overwhelmingly threw out the voucher idea. Clark is stunned and disappointed; he's obviously also out of touch with the opinion of many Americans.

Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington D.C. are all places where vouchers and charter schools have been popular. Clark loves the idea of parents having choice in the education of their children. He feels we spend way too much per child in public schools for the poor results we get. The problem, as he sees it, is that our educational system is a government-sponsored monopoly. In the marketplace, businesses must adapt to new conditions or go out of business. But there's really no equivalent in the schools -- and our children suffer because of it.