When I defended my dissertation on school vouchers five years ago, I promised myself that I would never write on a hot topic again. Keeping up with changing events and the rapidly expanding literature was stressful. I wouldn’t have that problem today.

My research looked at how the idea of school vouchers rose from Friedman’s work and inner policy circles to be embraced in the 60s by liberal Democrats looking for a relief for inner city schools. Much later, Reagan and the Republicans swiped the idea for their own. As a wonk, I enjoyed learning about how the ideas dreamed up by bookish sorts were translated into policy.

Then I traced the politics down to the state level and looked at how voucher politics played out there.

My conclusion was that vouchers faced a stiff fight in the future. The opponents from the suburban areas and the unions were a winning combination that would be difficult to combat. But I thought that charter schools would take off. Union leaders would be forced to allow charter schools as a compromise.

Sure enough. Vouchers are dead in the water. Florida’s Supreme Court ruled against their program. And there haven’t been any major new programs initiated in other states. But the fight for charter schools is still raging.

What happened? I am stilling thinking this over, but here are some quickie thoughts. 1. The media lost attention. The media has helped drive this voucher furor since the 1980s and without their constant stories on the topic, the movement lost support. 2. Bill Bennett has been a one man marching band for vouchers since the 1980s. When he isn’t gambling, he’s saying dumb things about aborting black babies. He is having some credibility issues at the moment. 3. Charter schools have had some high profile embarrassments 4. Suburban interests are king. Don’t mess with them. 4. With the war on, nobody is interested in education policy.