Proponents argue that the competition inherent in publicly funded tuition voucher programs will increase school quality and family choice, but voucher systems would be subject to the same forces that shape public schools. The efficiency and effectiveness of voucher plans must be assessed in light of those educational goals important to the state--socialization of children to a common culture and education for citizenship--and those primarily important to the individual--preparation for further education or occupational life, equal educational opportunity, and education in each child's best interests. None of these goals would be well served by a free market voucher system due to information problems, some parents' preference for exclusiveness, and the importance of geographical proximity to parents' school choices. A dialectic between equal opportunity and education in the best interest of the individual child involves such issues as equal access and who knows the child's best interests. Although vouchers are intended to deregulate education, state bureaucracies would need to regulate and monitor finances, school quality, curricula, and policies for personnel and admissions. The inevitability of regulation reflects a fundamental problem: that the voucher concept attempts to achieve public goals through the private market without the public accountability provided by pluralistic decision-making. (MJL)