Republican Presidential candidates claim to be for choice, including vouchers, charters and opportunity scholarships, and they also claim to be for local control of schools.
But school choice and local control are like oil and water. You must choose one or the other.
For example, Brandon Wright, in “Donald Trump Quotes about Education” from The Thomas B. Fordham Institute quotes Donald Trump as saying:
And we’ve got to bring on the competition—open the schoolhouse doors and let parents choose the best school for their children. Education reformers call this school choice, charter schools, vouchers, even opportunity scholarships. I call it competition—the American way….
And then Trump says:
Education has to be local.
Likewise, Jeb Bush, in a Washington Post Op Ed from March, praises choice by saying:
In 1991, Minnesota led the way on creating charter schools. When I was governor, Florida began grading schools on an A-to-F scale in 1999 and offered dramatic school-choice options to parents. Now, 16 states grade their schools, 19 have choice programs and all but eight have charter school laws.
But he also starts out in the same Op Ed:
Given all the challenges facing education reform, we need to remember who really should make the decisions about what happens in our schools: state and local authorities and, most important, parents.
But choice and local control do not mix.
Local control
Local control means citizens own their schools. They pay taxes for them and they can individually, or collectively, question what is taught. They can hash out problematic curriculum, like Common Core—even reject standards. They might demand better school safety, or they can affect a zillion other issues surrounding their schools.
There is school pride! Parents and citizens shore up schools, attend student plays, give a few dollars to the band boosters, cheer for the hometown sports teams, praise graduates, and elect and work with the school board to find solutions to school problems.
The state and the federal government might overstep their power, but they should support local schools and fill in the gaps in funding. Local public schools should still belong to the people.
When you hear of the state taking over the local schools, there’s a serious problem and citizens should question and understand why that is occurring.
And foisting one set of standards or tests on all schools, across the nation, raises concerns about a national curriculum that stifles the voices of local communities.
That’s why so many people from both political parties are upset about Common Core.
Choice
Choice means the local community relinquishes local control to charter, parochial, or private schools. This may seem like more control is given to parents and supporters, and maybe it is upfront, but once the choice has been made, the public has no more voice concerning the school.
Sometimes a school district might be able to shut down a bad charter school, but too often these schools lack transparency.
Tax dollars, through a voucher or opportunity scholarship, may be spent in a variety of schools, but no one cares what the community thinks about it. You pay but have no say!
In good scenarios, of course, private schools care about parents so they can stay in business, but the private school will be run the way the owners think best. They don’t care what the public thinks other than maintaining a reputation of being a good school.
And they can be selective with the students they accept. If they don’t think a student measures up—out they go.
It is much the same with parochial schools.
Charter schools like to claim they are “public schools,” but they are often criticized for being selective with students too.
Charter chains like Green Dot, Aspire, and Rocketship (there are many others) are popping up across the country like McDonalds. There’s nothing local about them. They run on their own terms. Any talk about local support is artificial.
They aren’t really public schools. They are quasi-private schools. They get tax dollars without taxpayer input.
And they have been criticized for being too selective.
Some charters might involve parents. These are the good charters. But in most cases, parents and students sign contracts with rules telling them what the charter demands from them. This might sound good on the surface, but where do you put the imperfect kids or those whose parents don’t measure up?
No real public school can dismiss a student due to lack of parental support or a student’s troubled behavior. Real public schools accept everyone and their great challenge is to help those who have problems.
So, whether you like choice or local control it is important to know the difference. Democratically run local schools are unlike choice schools. You can be for one, or the other, but you can’t be for both.
Republican candidates need to learn the difference too and get their facts straight.
Donald Trump, you and politicians like you, who claim choice and public schools are one and the same thing, “You’re Fired!” Well not really, but it was fun to say anyway.
Nancy – Your analysis is exactly right and we are very familiar with it here in England. Our government is refusing to allow locally elected public authorities to open new local schools. At the same time it is trying to force existing local schools to become Academies or Free Schools (like your Charter Schools). Our Academies are increasingly run by Academy Chains. which are private businesses that hide behind ‘Charitable Trust’ status. Parents and local electors have no say or control over the way these schools are run.
Check out Local Schools Network
http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/stories-views/
Anyone can post comments or stories on LSN. We are fighting the same battles on this side of the Atlantic.
Thank you, Roger! You make it clearer for us to understand the similarities between our schools. And thanks again for mentioning the link to this important website. Best wishes.
It’s interesting that teachers I speak with, who’ve moved to an Academy from a state school, feel such a sense relief at being part of a school that values them as people. These chains are providing real relief, I can’t deny that. But, why is it such a relief for teachers to get out of state schools in the first place? Perhaps if state schools experienced less judgement from the top, the need for private chain schools would disappear? Education and judgement don’t sit well together.
Leah, I don’t think the charters here provide teachers with relief. Most of the older teachers do not get rehired after their public school is closed. Many of the charter school teachers also can be fired easily. But I do agree that if the public schools here were decent schools, teachers would be happier. Thanks, as always!
The hypocrisy of Jeb Bush is off the charts. “We’ve seen more than 40 states voluntarily work together to create the Common Core standards for language arts and math. I support such rigorous, state-driven academic standards. Some states would rather set their own standards, and that’s appropriate, provided they are high standards. But no matter what, no state should be forced to adopt standards mandated by the federal government.” He is pandering to the right, people who decry federal involvement, but makes no mention of the organizations that he led that essentially ruined public education in FL. Then he boasts that these ruinous programs have been adopted by many other states. Follow the money. Parental voices are suppressed when they loudly cry out against Common Core, against high stakes standardized testing, and against school closures and replacement of neighborhood schools with charters.
Jeb Bush should not mention local control with anything having to do with his reforms. You are definitely on point as usual, Sheila! Thank you! .
The problem with ‘local control’ being at the municipality level is the same problem with all the control being at the state and federal government level – it designs towards the averages. School choice allows for design to the edges.
Pause here to view the TED Talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBmyttcfU4
We do have a lot of students that can mostly fit into 1 standard deviation of average in many aspects – intelligence, maturity, learning style, disability, morality, etc. And public schools, for the most part, are very good at teaching to within 1 standard deviation. And sometimes law requires them to teach outside of 1 standard deviation, such as lower intelligence or disability. But when an issue affects only a small number of students and law does not require modifications, schools designed towards average – be it at federal, state, or local level – fail to educate the students at the edges.
I really have no desire to have charter schools that simply copy public schools, although sometimes the public schools are so in shambles that these charters are needed. Charter schools, private schools, parochial schools, AND home schools should be to help teach to the edges, the kids overlooked by averages or perhaps even where public schools are forbidden to teach to the edge – such as areas of morality or early entrance to kindergarten (some states).
I’m sure an argument could be made that public schools could teach to the edges. Some actually do. But most have chosen not to through policy and practice. I’ll take my chances with a school that recognizes the needs and teaches to the edges than one forced to by legislation or need for retaining student count. I want a school happy to teach my child, not one reluctantly acquiescing.
Coming from special education you will get no argument from me, Joshua, when it comes to the importance of teaching to “the edges.”
I guess I don’t understand your logic that private, parochial, and hm. schooling should pick up the slack with student differences. Those schools have something special to offer but it isn’t usually special ed.
Yes, I do believe public schools can serve gifted students and help them maintain opportunities to interact socially with peers who are not intellectually as far along..
But you are correct, that most public schools do not have decent programs…not even close.
Hey! It’s good to hear from you. Hope all is well.
School Choice v. Local Control—Oil and Water! Capstone—Another national corporate education program?