我國政府近年來努力致力於縮短公、私立學校間的差距，教育部研議對私立高中職及大專學生每人每學年發給新台幣一萬元的教育券，由於所需經費每年高達九十六億元新台幣，計畫一提出曾引起很大的爭議。台北市教育局自八十七年八月起發給五歲以上兒童每名每年一萬元幼兒教育券的作法。亦引起各界不同的看法。美國實施的教育券主要是藉著市場競爭的壓力，督促學校改進教育品質，增進教育機會均等，並鼓勵學生選擇適合自己的學校就讀。實施期間教育券的爭議不斷，他山之石可以攻錯，本文論述教育券的源起、發展、理論基礎、實施情形、正反意見，中美教育券的不同及對我國的啟示，或可供我國教育決策者參考。

During the past few years, the ROC Ministry of Education (MOE) has been making great efforts to narrow the gap between public and private schools. A proposed plan of educational vouchers, offering each student enrolled in private post-junior-high schools NT$10,000 a year, has been considered one way of carrying out these efforts. However, the proposal has caused a great controversy, because the implementation of the plan costs an enormous amount of money - about one tenth of the MOE's annual budget. Educational voucher plans have been at issue for decades in the U.S.A. By introducing market force into the educational system, voucher plans have attempted to improve the quality of education, to provide equal opportunity of education for the under-privileged, and to give parents freedom to choose schools for their children. The ROC's plan claims goals similar to those of U.S.A. plans, but its design does not seem to catch the essence of vouchers. This article attempts to learn lessons from the U.S.A. and to provide policy implications for the ROC.