| Does
school choice improve public, government-run
schools?
Does school choice drain
money from public schools?
Does school choice serve
the students who need it most?
Is school choice constitutional?
Does school choice lead
to more integrated schools?
Is school choice popular?
Is school choice supported
by people from all walks of life?
Is school choice good for
teachers?
Does school choice lead
to more regulation?
Does school choice improve
public, government-run schools?
Yes. Public schools pay attention
when school choice is on the table. For
example, even here in Florida, public schools
identified as failing are already publicizing
their efforts to improve by hiring more
teachers, increasing funds for after-school
tutoring and lowering class sizes. One superintendent,
Earl Lennard of Hillsborough County, even
vowed publicly to take a five percent pay
cut if any of his county's schools received
a failing grade.
Information gathered through the Freedom
of Information Act showed that in Escambia
County, site of Florida's first two failing
schools where vouchers were offered officials
responded to school choice by providing
tutoring on Saturday, hiring new teachers,
and requiring parent teacher conferences
each grading period.
In Milwaukee, Cleveland, San Antonio and
Albany, New York, school choice has had
a similar positive impact on public schools.
The Milwaukee Public School Board, in addition
to closing six schools identified as failing,
now guarantees that they will teach kids
to read by the second grade or provide a
tutor. In Albany, the introduction of private
vouchers for every child in Geffen Elementary
school led the school board to replace the
principal, hire new teachers, and set aside
$125,000 for books, equipment and teacher
training. (Forbes, June 1997)
Conclusion: public schools respond positively
to competition.
TOP
Does school choice drain
money from public schools?
No. The Collins Center For Public Policy issued an updated report this year that showed that the program has saved taxpayers over $140 million in its first three years. These savings can be used to increase per pupil spending in the public schools—which in fact went up 16% in that three year period.
Click here to read the report.
Conclusion: school choice does not drain
money from public schools, rather it allows
public schools to use their money to educate
students more effectively.
TOP
Does school choice SERVE
the students who need it most?
Yes. Research shows that prior to
receiving a voucher, the majority of participating
students score well below the national average
on standardized tests. In Milwaukee, for
example, children scored in the 31st percentile.
In New York, children scored in the 27th
percentile. In addition, a recent study
showed that the majority of charter schools
in America serve academically under-served
children. Basically, prior to receiving
a voucher, students perform in the bottom
third academically.
Moreover, since voucher programs in Milwaukee
and Cleveland have income eligibility requirements
equal to 175% and 200% of the federal poverty
level, they level the economic playing field
between parents who have money and those
who don't.
Conclusion: school choice programs serve
the students who need them most. They also
level the economic playing field.
TOP
Is school choice constitutional?
Yes. In determining whether a program
violates the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme
Court primarily uses the precedent set by
the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman decision.
The so-called Lemon Test says that in order
to ensure the separation of church and state
a program must have a secular purpose, which
in the case of vouchers is the education
of all children. In addition, no program
aiding sectarian institutions can have the
"primary effect" of advancing
religion or result in "excessive entanglement"
between church and state.
While this test has led to puzzling decisions
by the U.S. Supreme Court and State Supreme
Courts, recent cases have shown the High
Court's willingness to allow public aid
to students in religious schools. In 1998-99,
the U.S Supreme Court upheld a federally-funded
program to provide remedial instruction
by public school teachers at religious schools,
and let stand decisions by the Wisconsin
and Arizona Supreme Courts upholding vouchers
and tax credits, respectively.
Moreover, the High Court did not strike
down the GI Bill or Pell grants, both voucher
programs allowing college students to attend
the public, private or religious university
of their choice. Nor has the Court overturned
the use of public funds for programs such
as Medicaid, public housing, Head Start
or numerous other programs, within which
private and faith-based organizations participate.
Conclusion: when an individual uses
public funds to make a private choice, in
this case when a parent uses a voucher to
make an individual decision to send his
or her children to a public, private or
religious school, it does not violate the
First Amendment.
TOP
Does school choice lead
to more integrated schools?
Yes. According to researcher Jay
P. Greene, "analyses of a national
sample of 12th graders collected by the
U.S. Department of Education show that private
school students are more likely to be in
racially mixed classes than are public school
students."
In addition, Greene and Nicole Mellow point
out that 63 percent of private school students
observed in a lunchroom setting (where children
could choose where to sit) were sitting
in an integrated setting, compared to 49.7
percent of public school students.
The voucher program in Cleveland proves
this point. Almost 20 percent of voucher
recipients attend private schools that resemble
the racial composition of the Cleveland
metropolitan area, while only 5.2 percent
of children in public schools are in similarly
integrated schools. Also, 60.7 percent of
public school students in the Cleveland
metropolitan area attend schools that have
either more than 90 percent white enrollment
or fewer than 10 percent white enrollment.
Conclusion: students in school choice
programs are more likely to experience racial
diversity in their schools.
TOP
Is school choice popular?
Yes. The polling results are uncontestable.
Parents, particularly public school parents,
support school choice.
According to the annual Gallup/Phi Delta
Kappa Poll:
-
Nationwide, 52 percent of parents, and
59 percent of public school parents, support
school choice.
-
Since 1994, support for school choice
by parents, particularly public school
parents, has risen by 7 and 11 percent,
respectively.
Minority parents support school choice,
and minority support exceeds general public
support.
According to the 1999 National Opinion
Poll conducted for the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies:
-
60 percent of minorities support vouchers.
-
87 percent of black parents aged 26-35
and 66.4 percent of blacks aged 18-25
support vouchers.
-
Minority support for school choice is
20 percent higher than general public
support.
Perhaps the best indicators of popular
support for school choice come from polls
in Wisconsin and Ohio, and from teachers
in Milwaukee and Cleveland.
-
76 percent of Wisconsin and Ohio taxpayers "favored extending each state's urban
pilot program; 83 percent wanted religious
schools to participate; and 53 percent
believed all children, not only those
who are poor, should be able to receive
vouchers. The Plain Dealer, Feb. 1998
-
50 percent of Milwaukee's and 40 percent
of Cleveland's public school teachers
send their own children to a private school.
-
71 percent of voucher parents chose
their private school because they believed
it would provide higher educational standards.
State Audit of the Milwaukee Parental
Choice Program, Feb. 2000
Conclusion: parents want school choice.
TOP
Is school choice supported
by people from all walks of life?
Yes. Far from being a white, conservative
issue school choice is supported by a broad
spectrum of people and groups, including
Democrats, Republicans, teachers, minority
activists, business leaders, and school
board members.
"My involvement with the Milwaukee
Public Schools as a member of the school
board, as a parent and as an active and
concerned citizen has persuaded me that
MPS's internal reforms require the sustained
challenge and competition of the Milwaukee
Parental School Choice Program. The program
puts effective pressure on MPS to expand,
accelerate and improve reforms long deliberated
and too-long postponed." John Gardner
in a 1997 affidavit submitted in defense
of the parental choice program.
"Shame on us for not realizing that
there are parents in this country who today
support vouchers not because they are enamoured
with private schools but because they want
a choice for their children." U.S.
Senator John Kerry (D), speech at Northeastern
University, June 16, 1998.
"After much soul-searching, I have
reluctantly concluded that a limited voucher
program is now essential. To force children
into inadequate schools is to deny them
any chance of success. To do so simply on
the basis of their parents' income is a
sin." Arthur Levine, President of
Columbia University Teachers College, Wall
Street Journal, June 15, 1998.
"Saving the future of our country
by educating our children should not be
thought of as a Democratic or Republican
idea. Indeed, those who ponder whether or
not they should support school choice because
it is a "Republican" or "conservative"
initiative are missing the point that the
future of our children is at stake."
Reverend Floyd Flake.
Conclusion: support for school choice
comes from all quarters.
TOP
Is school choice good for
teachers?
Yes. With school choice, there is
more opportunity for advancement and recognition
for our country's best teachers. As Nobel
laureate Milton Friedman points out, vouchers
would lead to an innovative educational
industry that competes for teachers, and
that pays more attention to teacher quality
than to certification.
School choice will also enable teachers
to create more effective partnerships with
parents, and give parents more access to
teachers, particularly since teachers would
be more likely to answer to parents first.
Conclusion: school choice will help
teachers.
TOP
Does school choice lead
to more regulation?
No. The idea of school choice is
that competition without regulations improves
the quality of education. However, this
does not mean there won't be attempts to
increase regulations on private schools
by opponents of school choice.
In Milwaukee and Cleveland, for example,
school choice opponents have worked to increase
regulations on private schools, primarily
for two reasons: 1) to scare schools away
from participating and supporting the program;
and 2) to force them to violate the First
Amendment, which prohibits "excessive
entanglement" between church and state.
If opponents can prove there is "excessive
entanglement" between church and state,
a school choice program might be found unconstitutional.
Ironically, it is the First Amendment that
protects private schools from attempts by
the state to regulate them.
Conclusion: the First Amendment protects
private schools from excessive regulation.
TOP
|
