"We have to be careful not to succumb to this nonsense that a public system is inherently flawed and that therefore we have to turn to the marketplace for solutions. I've never in my entire life seen any evidence that the competitive free market, unrestricted, without a strong counterpoise within the public sector, will ever dispense decent medical care, sanitation, transportation, or education to the people. It's as simple as that."

--Jonathan Kozol, author of "Savage Inequalities" and "Amazing Grace."

"The real equity issue is that there are radically unequal allocations of funds to schools. These unequal allocations routinely disadvantage schools in central cities and in poor rural areas. Private school choice, as it is currently being proposed, is a smokescreen to avoid tackling this real equity issue."

--Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of teaching and teacher education at Stanford University.

"Dangling the conservatives' voucher agenda in front of the nation's most disenfranchised Americans under the guise of helping them is both immoral and hypocritical. Inner city parents whose schools are not performing well are desperate for solutions and the Religious Right is exploiting that frustration. This is really an attempt to divide the African-American community against itself."

-- Timothy McDonald, chair of the national African American Ministers Leadership Council and president of Concerned Black Clergy in Atlanta.

"Voucher proposals take many forms, and some are designed to deliberately disguise the basic realities that will result over time. The best students will be skimmed off -- those whom private schools find desirable for their own reasons. Since families will have to make up additional costs, those in the upper-and middle-income brackets will be helped the most -- as long as their kids don't have personal, behavioral, or educational challenges that cause the private school to pass them by."

-- Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the NAACP

"The conservatives made me their poster girl as long as it appeared I was supporting their case. And now I am the odd person out. They want the religious schools to be tax-supported. Blacks and poor are being used to help legitimize them as the power group."

-- Rep. Annette (Polly) Williams, the African-American legislator from Milwaukee who for many years was the leading spokesperson for vouchers. Williams made the statement to USA Today in the Spring of 1999.