Published: September 4, 1996

Space Mission

The superintendent of the Houston school system has proposed turning to private schools as one option for dealing with serious overcrowding.

In a July memo to the school board, Superintendent Rod Paige suggested that some students from overcrowded public schools could attend private schools at district expense. The idea was immediately branded by critics as a form of educational voucher, although Paige disputed that interpretation.

The superintendent of the 210,000-student district, the nation's sixth-largest, said such contracts with private schools would merely expand the existing practice of placing some special education and at-risk children in nonpublic schools. Houston administrators say they face a crisis because enrollment is creeping up each year, packing students in many parts of the city into increasingly crowded and deteriorating buildings. In May, district voters rejected a proposed $390 million bond issue to build 15 new schools and...