Let’s talk “school choice” for a few minutes.
With Republicans in control of the Oval Office and both houses of the U.S. Congress, there was never any doubt it would bubble up to the public conversation again — and that appears to be happening.
According to the Associated Press, President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order Wednesday telling government agencies to re-purpose federal dollars. The Department of Education is being told to use discretionary money to prioritize school choice programs and give states guidance on how to use federal money to support K-12 voucher programs.
We won’t debate the success or failure of the public education system, other than to remind that America created a middle class and rose to prominence only after it developed public schools.
We also won’t debate the value of alternative education such as private, cyber, charter or home-schooling.
Nor will we debate whether it is good for the country to funnel tax dollars into schools outside of the traditional public education system, though we believe there are legitimate concerns about overtly funding religious schools with public money.
No, the problem we broach here is the use of “school choice” to justify efforts such as tax credits and vouchers to schools that are not bound by the same rules as the public education system with which they compete.
Bluntly, unless rules change for all the non-public schools (and even for public charter schools), it is not real “choice.”
Public school districts don’t get to say, “We can’t fit you in.” If they lack room for enrollment growth, they must still take on all comers. They may be forced to erect new buildings, add on classroom trailers, or just push class sizes to sub-optimal levels — often without additional state or federal money to cover the costs.
Public School Districts don’t get to say, “We can’t teach your special education (or English as a Second Language) child.” If the child is enrolled and is deemed in need of services currently not available, the district must either hire people to provide them or contract with another institution that can.
Public schools don’t get to apply minimum academic standards as an enrollment requirement. They can’t refuse to let someone in because he or she failed an entrance exam or couldn’t pass muster on a review of prior school success.
Private schools — and even brick and mortar charter schools (a type of public school) — can do things that limit enrollment, class size and expenses. Which means giving parents the option of enrolling children in private schools by using public money is only half the equation.
The other half? Requiring all schools accepting public money to take all comers.
Vouchers and similar programs to help parents send children to non-public schools may have merit. But until the governments (federal and state) mandate that all non-public schools must accept any student who wants to enroll, require that they accommodate all special education needs, and assure that parents get enough public money to pay tuition to any private school they prefer, claims of creating “school choice” are simply false.
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