A report this week out of Florida is warming the hearts of voucher opponents. The report appeared in the Miami Herald on Sunday under the headline, “Many reject vouchers, return to public schools.” The story has also made the rounds on the Associated Press and has shown up on the CNN.com Web site under the headline, “Voucher students going back to public schools.” The subheadline of the CNN.com story, however, puts in sharp contrast the game being played with this story, “Newspaper: 1 in 4 transfer out of private education.” The gist of the story is that out of 607 students in Florida who requested vouchers this summer under the state’s A+ plan — which allows students to get out of schools that receive failing ratings two years out of four — 170 have quit their private schools and returned to their original public schools.

One might wonder why the headline to this story wasn’t, “Three Out of Four Voucher Students Stick.” A gubernatorial campaign was going on, of course. Governor Bush was thought to be in a close race with the Democrats’ William McBride, and education has been a signature issue for the incumbent governor. His A+ plan is the only statewide voucher program in the country, and thus far looks to be a huge success, giving Opportunity Scholarships to many of Florida’s neediest kids. A Herald story bemoans low salaries in Florida schools and mentions, only in passing, that scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test “have risen in some grades.”

The fact that some students from failing public schools who made a go of it in private schools turned back in no way reflects badly on the idea of vouchers. Some children left because of “trouble with transportation, a lack of familiar faces, a more demanding curriculum or firmer discipline” the Herald notes. The latter complaints suggest that the private schools were doing their job. The fact of choice is a victory in itself. A study of Florida schools conducted by Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute in 2001 found that failing public schools threatened with losing students to vouchers improved significantly more than other public schools since the implementation of the A+ plan. More recently, Mr. Greene came out with a study finding much the same in Milwaukee, which also has a voucher program. The real news is that students are choosing in Florida, and they are better off for it.