The Cato Institute has two more responses to the suggestion, made by Sol Stern, that market-focused reformers switch their energies to curriculum and other matters.

First up, Andrew J. Coulson says that today's voucher programs don't operate in a true market: their participation is capped and there are significant legal barriers to entry for would-be teachers and school operators, to start with. He says:

Among other things, markets require: prices determined by supply and demand, private ownership of businesses, low or no barriers to the creation of new businesses, few or no barriers to workers entering the profession, minimal regulation, the ability of owners and investors to profit from their efforts, unfettered consumer choice, and payment by consumers rather than a third party. Furthermore, to see any significant market forces, there must be large scale demand – millions of potential customers.

Neal McCluskey, then, addresses Stern's contention that the failure of markets can be seen in this syllogism: Schools of education represent school choice at work; they turn out bad results; therefore, school choice doesn't work.