This South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation report, authored by Sven Larson, wins this year’s prize for the most fatuous cause-and-effect claim. The claim is that school choice will miraculously (our word, not theirs) decrease the unemployment problem of five poor, rural South Carolina counties. Reading this report, one feels transported to an old-time traveling medicine show peddling magic potions: That’s right, ladies and gents, just by being exposed to school choice programs, students will be given a dose of the elixir of private entrepreneurialism that will result in 329 student jobs in 123 new businesses!

As our reviewer explains, the claims in the report are based overwhelmingly on the “tuitioning” programs established in Vermont and Maine back in the 19^th century, whereby very small towns that do not operate schools pay tuition to schools in other towns. Milwaukee’s choice adventures are also cited, as children there are said to be more entrepreneurial. But none of the source documents were peer-reviewed and the data are simply cross-sectional; no causal inferences are (sensibly) possible. Moreover, while ascribing New England small town characteristics to South Carolina counties may seem fanciful, it is not too far a reach for Mr. Larson. Unencumbered with traditional citations, the author announces that the benefits of vouchers are “widely documented.”