Vouchers are alive and well, because, regardless of whether the schools themselves want them, the politicians want them, and many religiously-motivated voters want them, because it means more money for religious education. I don't think they're really worrying about issues of governmental control -- I guess they figure they can always deal with those issues after they have a foot in the door.

The voucher concept is making its way to healthcare as well, though the red team is finding that it's not politically popular to take away guaranteed benefits and swap them for only a guaranteed contribution toward that category of benefits, with the recipient being responsible for paying the remainder. It will be interesting to follow these education voucher programs for a few years to see if they run into similar problems, especially as the "haves" flee the more troubled public schools.