Yes. The amount of time & money spent on special education programs is _incredible_. Private schools just don't tailor to this student population, and that's a _huge_ reason why private schools, on paper, look better.

My wife is an SLP (i.e. "speech teacher", but more recently in management) and has dealt with several cases where very well-off families keep their children in public school so the state picks up the cost of special programs, even for simple stuff like articulation. In some states/counties, some students are entitled to government-funded therapy even if the kid goes to private school during the day!

Given everything we know about how _little_ teaching methodology matters to overall, aggregate outcomes--that what matters most, by far, are the home environment and the peer environment--I don't even see the debate about vouchers as remotely legitimate. From a 10,000 foot view, public education has the maximal benefit with minimal _actual_ burdens on other students. Rich kids will tend to go to rich public schools, and that's all that really matters. Poor kids will go to poor schools because poor parents rarely care, nor have the time or wherewithal to care, about those issues. But at least public schools will meet a baseline. Those parents that do care usually are able to make busing arrangements. Basically, all the corner cases can be adequately handled with smaller programs. There's no need to upset the existing structure of public school education.

Only bad things can happen. The history of education is littered with foolish ideas. The only obvious good idea was to institute public education in the first place. Beyond that, there are no easy solutions to improving educational outcomes. It's largely a cultural issue, and you can't legislate culture, nor can you throw money at it.