ABSTRACT
Many governments, not just the British, are actively wrestling with the merits of and the means for further privatization of schooling arrangements, although none has gone as far in establishing a comprehensive melange of policies favouring privatization. The debate between advocates of increased and decreased privatization crystallizes around certain key claims and counterclaims. Among them are claims and counterclaims about the effects of various alternative methods for enhancing privatization without undermining the major equity rationales for publicly funded and regulated education. The crux of the tax-credit case is the ease with which it can be tailored to take into consideration relevant personal income and other tax structure considerations. An ongoing and vigorous debate about public and private sector education conducted in a spirit of compromise, a debate which puts the common good at the fore, can become a nexus of social policy-making which draws out the best of free-market choice and universalist provision.
