This article is the second in a series of three articles on education reform
School choice proponents always face the question: Are you down on public schools? My answer is "no!" To be in favor of school choice does not mean that one believes private schools are better than public schools, it just means one believes that parents should have the right to choose the school that is best for each of their children.
A one-size-fits-all public school system may work well for many children, but it will not work for all children. That is why school reform efforts should concentrate on putting power back into the hands of the people who know their children best: their parents.
Harvard studies have shown conclusively that voucher programs are working to increase student learning. This should not come as a surprise. Children are different from one another. They do not all thrive in the same school environment. They do best when their parents have the ability to place them in the particular school, public or private, which works best for them.
Of course, school choice doesn't just help individual students achieve more. It also helps to improve the effectiveness of the public school systems which voucher or tuition-tax credit receiving students have left behind. Public school educators recognize that when parents have choices it is not enough for public schools to meet minimum standards. Instead, a school must convince parents that it is the very best school possible for a child. Accordingly, schools begin competing with each other by establishing diverse programs that are tailor made to the different needs of different children.
hotel rooms Odense A second way in which school choice helps public schools is by allowing public schools to increase per child spending without increasing taxes. This is possible because most states do not set their voucher or tuition tax credit amount at the same level as their per child spending within the public school system. When a child leaves a public school with a voucher or tuition tax credit, much of the money that was being spent on that child stays behind even though the child is gone. This money can be used to increase per child spending without increasing taxes. Per child spending is what is important in education, not the size of a school district's total budget. No one has ever said that Jersey City has a better school system that Short Hills, just because Jersey City's School District has a larger total budget than Short Hills.
A third way that school choice helps public schools is through the dynamic of "reverse skimming." When children are doing well in a given school, their parents do not move them. It is when children are not doing well that parents look for educational alternatives. When school choice programs are implemented, many of the new schools created tend to be oriented towards meeting the needs of students who are failing in school. These new schools relieve existing public schools of some of the most difficult and expensive children to educate. Thus, the public schools end up not only with more money per child as a result of school choice, but with an easier group of children to educate.
School choice is moving forward in New Jersey, and is already showing success. Charter schools, which are governmentally funded and regulated, but managed by independent Boards of Trustees (usually parents and teachers), have blossomed in New Jersey since the proposal I first drafted was adopted in 1996. There are currently 39 charter schools throughout the State, every one of them a school of choice, with fifteen more scheduled to open next year. Jersey City alone has five charter schools, with two large ones (500 students each, K-5) coming in the fall of 1999. The majority of these new schools are filled with low-income children who were not doing well in the public system, but have begun to thrive in their new schools.
Of course when we speak about improving the educational effectiveness of our schools, we are not speaking about academic learning alone. I send my daughter to a Christian school because I want my child to know not only her ABC, but also that God loves her and has a plan for her life. Like me, there are many parents who will still want to send their child to a private school even after the implementation of public and private school choice legislation has caused improvements in public education and a significant expansion in the availability of charter schools. For parents such as me, a voucher or tuition tax credit would not represent government subsidization of our religious beliefs, but rather a refund to us of some of our own tax payments for the purpose of educating our children in accordance with our faith and values.
This holds true even for vouchers received by low-income families. Low-income people may not pay income taxes, but they do pay sales taxes. A voucher for the education of a low-income child would not equate to the government giving that child money, it would simply represent the government giving that child an advance against the future taxes that he or she will pay in life.
Glasgow Alojamientos baratos To conclude, to support school choice is not to be against public education or to be for public support of religious education. It is to be for improving educational achievement and for respecting parents' rights to at least use their own money to guide the education of their children. It is just one tool in the tool box that parents should have at their disposal when making one of the most important decisions in their child's life.
To those who are skeptical about school choice plans, remember this: It is your child and your money. It should be your decision as to where your child attends school. Whether you choose a public or private, district, charter or parochial school, you, the parent, should have the final decision about who will educate your child. And you should know that whatever choice you do make, that school will meet the most rigorous academic standards, have the most dedicated and caring teaching staff, and create a safe and peaceful environment that will nurture your child's development and reinforce your moral values and your fundamental beliefs.