An education voucher system would be more egalitarian than the existing tax code and would force the educational establishment to pursue needed reforms. The current property tax deduction system favors the rich, but the voucher system would offer the same relief to every taxpayer regardless of income and even would provide assistance to poor, nontaxpaying families. The money for this program can come from transforming Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act into a voucher system, continuing the program's focus, but making it consumer-oriented rather than provider-oriented. This is essentially what the Equal Educational Opportunity Act would do. Those who argue against changes in Chapter 1 say it is a successful program, but there is no strong evidence in the form of increased student achievement. They suggest lower-income parents are not able to make the best education decisions on their own; such parents, however, are educationally perceptive. Opponents fear increases in racial segregation, yet the average private school is considerably better integrated than the average public school. The issue of principle is this: whose child is it? If the answer is "the parents," the burden of proof is on those who would limit, regulate, or deny parental choice. If the answer is "the state," then the burden of proof falls onto the parental mavericks who seek "exemption" from the universal presumption that government is the superior educator. Recent history has shown that as parental choice has been replaced by centralized educational decision-making, academic performance has declined. (DCS)