Gov. Ted Strickland announced on March 14 that he intends to roll back Ohio’s tiny school voucher program to save money in the next budget. The problem is, it would cost a lot more to send the thousands of children in the program back to the failing schools from which they escaped.

More “Will Strickland’s Proposal to Cut the EdChoice Program Pay Off? (Adam Schaeffer)”

An anthropology professor by the name of Greg Laden has been studying the pros and cons of homeschooling on his blog and summed up his arguments against the practice (and parental choice in general) in this post, which I discovered by way of the Homeschool Cafe (hat tip to Alasandra, who is also hosting this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling).  I zeroed in on one part in particular. 

Home schooling is a way of cheating the system.

Home schooling and private schools both have this characteristic. There is a small subset of families that can afford the money it takes to send their kids to private schools. When this happens, an important part of society withdraws from the public, collective endeavor to educate our children. [emphasis from the original post]

"Our" children?  So who do they belong to, precisely?   As I’ve said elsewhere, this sort of language is very interesting; it seems to say that children belong to everybody, which tends to mean nobody is responsible for them.  (More on this particular wording later.) 

This can have many implications. Even something as simple as the funding of a class field trip serves as a microcosm of a broad array of effects, many less obvious but probably very important. My daughter attends a school that has a very ambitious yearly field trip for one of the grades, in which the children go away for three days and two nights. It is a little expensive (cost per child) but there is a guarantee that every child can go. Fund raising activities are carried out, and the surplus funds are set aside to subsidize any child who’s family can’t afford the fee. Chaperons (parents) pay their own way as necessary so as to not increase the cost of the trip.

This happens to be an outstanding public school, so there is a full range of economic levels represented there, so only a small percentage of the kids need some help paying for the trip. But imagine if 10 or 20 percent of the parents pulled their kids out of this public school, sending them to private school. Suddenly, the marginally poor and middle class would be responsible for funding the much less fortunate on this trip. It may become impossible and have to be dropped as a program.

But as Laden admits later in the post, homeschooling actually saves districts money since they end up paying for services they don’t use and frees up more money to be spent per pupil.  And other forms of school choice can also save districts money: as Mike Antonucci pointed out in a prior Communiqué, per-pupil spending in Ohio public schools has increased thanks to widespread charter schools in that state (because charters spend less per pupil than public schools, the schools the charter students came from had money left over that they were able to spend on their remaining students). 

However, to be fair this really doesn’t address what he’s bringing up as he’s talking about a field trip paid for independently of the school budget.  In response, I’ll be blunt: complaining about the possible loss of a field trip is fiddling while cities like Detroit–with a mere 22 percent graduation rate and where 48% of its adult population is functionally illiterate–burn. 

I’ll use the next passage of Laden’s post as a springboard for my broader point.

There is a correlation between wealth and ability to invest time and energy into a school via the PTA, as a school volunteer, and even in terms of helping the children at home with their homework, etc. There is a correlation between wealth and educational level, and in turn, there is a correlation between educational level of parents and the educational success of the children. All the students gain by increasing the number of involved and available parents, and all of the students gain by increasing the educational success by even a proportion of the children, by raising expectations and providing positive interactive experiences. Society as a whole gains by all of this.

When a large number of parents send their children to private school, society as a whole pays the cost of benefits reaped, and sequestered, by the few.

That is an indictment of private schools. But a similar argument can be made of home schooling. In many cases, home schoolers may not be able to home school because of wealth, but they can because of available time. One way or another, home schoolers are able to do this because of differential distribution of resources, and the act of home schooling, like the act of attending private schools, contributes broadly to a lowering of quality of experience for everyone else.

This is America. The American Ethic allows for such selfish behavior. But it should be understood to be what it is..

As an aside, let me say that I appreciate Laden’s candor.  Really, I do.  It’s refreshing for me to see a school choice opponent finally have the honesty to indict parents for making what he or she regards as the wrong choices. 

That said, consider the galling injustice of what he is proposing.  Millions upon millions of parents are being taxed to support a system that simply doesn’t work.  Laden would tell those parents that not only must they stay to wait for the system to right itself, but that they are responsible for helping fix the problem–and goes so far as to call them selfish for wishing to leave!  If I buy a car that turns out to be a lemon, I can go to the manufacturer to either demand a refund or a car that works.  Based on Laden’s reasoning, the manufacturer could require that I help work out the design flaws and build the replacement. 

Laden raises the importance of parental involvement in education as a principal reason for restricting choice.  But does he really think restricting parents from doing what they believe to be best for their children is somehow going to make them more devoted to a system out of a motivation for the good of all?  Look, forget vouchers, charters, homeschooling for just a minute.  Does he seriously believe that he can tell a parent, "Look, I know you think private school is best for your child–but you’re forbidden from leaving, because the group is more important than your kid"–and that the parent in question is going to be sold on the system?  As Eduwonk put it:

…the idea that we restrict the choices that parents have in the alleged service of the greater good just doesn’t fly in a society like ours. One inescapable theme of the last 40 years of school reform is that if unsatisfied parents can walk, one way or another, they will. What’s different now is that low-income families can increasingly walk through ideas like vouchers. That ought to discomfort public school supporters more than it apparently does. Essentially, saying that a good public option like KIPP [or private schools, or homeschooling, or any other choice option--ed.] is skimming the "best" families so we shouldn’t have it, is saying to these families that they should forgo something that might be in the best interest of their kids because of a potential abstract good for all kids. That’s not exactly how you build brand loyalty and it’s not what we ask more affluent people to do and not what they do. To beat a dead horse some more, the way to build support for the public schools is not to give parents fewer choices in the public system but to give them more.

However, what disturbs me most of all is the notion indicated in the subheading from Greg’s post: that pulling one’s children out of public schools "cheats" the system.  In response, this statement comes to mind:

The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.

Who might that be?  Some Bible-thumping fundamentalist?  Actually, that’s a passage from the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Pierce vs. Society of Sisters, a case directly relevant to this discussion.  In the mid-1920s, the enlightened legislators of Oregon passed a law that expressly prohibited parents from sending their children to private schools and required them to enroll their children in public schools.  Thankfully, it only took SCOTUS a matter of weeks to strike the law down by a rare 9-0 vote. 

In a sense, some things never change.  Eight decades removed, the arguments against non-government schooling are pretty much the same.  By his own admission, Laden holds fealty to the system above all else.  Individual needs or preferences just don’t appear on his radar.  Anything that might distract from or get in the way of the monolith is, in his book, unacceptable.  And those were some of the same justifications behind the Oregon law: that a government monopoly on education would be most conducive to society, that private schools were somehow damaging to the social fabric.  And I’m not taking anything out of context here; consider the title to this section of Laden’s post, where he says homeschooling (or any form of school choice, really) "cheats" the system.  He speaks of the "collective" endeavor to educate "our children," a statement that in a way channels a spokesman for the state of Oregon who defended the law before the Supreme Court:

"As to minors, the state stands in the position of parents patriae, and may exercise unlimited supervision and control over their contracts, occupations and conduct, and the liberty and right of those who assume to deal with them."

I’m quite pleased to take the other side of that argument.  

One last thought.  If parents who enroll their children in private schools are selfish and "cheat" the system, I wonder what Laden would say to those public schoolteachers who opt for private school for their own children.

Education Week: Vouchers Eyed for Students With Disabilities

More than half a dozen states are considering legislation to offer private school vouchers for students with disabilities.

They are looking to join the ranks of four others—Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and Utah—that already offer that school choice option.

Supporters say that such vouchers are an important safety valve for parents when public schools don’t offer programs to meet those students’ specialized needs.

But opponents warn that parents who take advantage of those vouchers may be giving up procedural protections guaranteed to their children under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Seismic changes in the Phila. School District

What a decade it’s been for the Philadelphia School District.

The 174,000-student system has undergone a state takeover, launched the largest experiment of private management of public schools in the country, and presided over a proliferation of charter schools, new thematic-based small high schools, and a burgeoning system of disciplinary schools.

It has gone from a district known for its lack of technology to the home of one of the nation’s most technologically advanced high schools, opened in September in partnership with the Microsoft Corp. The district has seen a significant rise in test scores in the last five years, although high school performance continues to lag.

And despite a boost in public confidence ushered in by the can-do style of its chief executive officer, Paul Vallas, the district still is viewed largely as a system in academic crisis and, more recently, in fiscal crisis. It has seen a loss of nearly 20 percent of its student population as children flee for charters and other schools.

“Scores have gotten better. Some schools are better resourced, but we still have a very, very long way to go,” said Debra Kahn, who has been a school board member, city education secretary, and education advocate over the last decade.

LA Times: Schwarzenegger names education chief

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday appointed David Long, Riverside County’s superintendent of schools since 1999, as the new state secretary of education.

Long, a 67-year-old Republican who lives in Canyon Lake, will be paid $175,000.

Schwarzenegger said Wednesday, "David shares my values when it comes to education: improving student achievement, bringing up low-performing schools, hiring quality teachers, building new facilities."

In Riverside, Long oversaw 23 school districts and more than 400,000 students. He came to that elected position, where he was in his third term, from the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.

He has also served as chairman of the U.S. Education Department’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee, which reports to President Bush’s secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings.

As I started reading this Sacramento Bee column by Peter Schrag, I was feeling pretty good. I thought that Peter and I were on the same page regarding the "Getting Down to Facts" study. Then Peter took a left turn out of nowhere that left us on opposite sides of this street.

More “If You Control the Test, You Control the Results (Dave Johnston)”

School choice - Opinion: The latest report card on school achievement in New Jersey provides further evidence that we need to change our education funding policy.  The time is ripe for discussion. We can achieve progress toward implementation of school choice.

School study draws doubt - The head of the Winston-Salem chapter of the NAACP said yesterday that he doubts a recent study showing that school choice has had no effect on test scores of students in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

In the Legislature - The House was sharply divided Wednesday over whether tax dollars should help pay for children in South Carolina’s worst public schools to attend private schools and was poised for a vote on the issue today.

DeMint bill would alter school law - Sen. Jim DeMint’s A-PLUS proposal would change the most fundamental aspect of NCLB. The bill gives states more autonomy to monitor academic progress, which differs from the current system in which the federal government sets regulations for states and schools.  DeMint’s bill would give states the ability to opt out of No Child Left Behind requirements without losing federal education funds.

Strickland is undemocratic in opposing school vouchers - Letter to the editor: Regarding “Strickland calls school vouchers ‘undemocratic’”: This is the most undemocratic comment I have ever heard. Removing the ability for a parent to decide where to send his or her child to school is undemocratic.

Charter schools deliver success - Opinion: We don’t have the luxury of turning our backs on models of public education we know are working. This is why we support proposals to substantially lift the cap on the number of charter schools and hope that an ambitious plan to do so will be included in the New York state budget.

Chester Upland looks to restrict charter schools - In Delaware County’s Chester Upland School District, the Rendell administration has come down against allowing charter schools to grow because the district needs the money for its regular schools.

Multiple choices for city schools - Editorial: Leaders of the Detroit Public Schools have mainly themselves to blame for the welcome mat that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick plans to extend to charter and private schools to open in the city.

Charter schools fight new law - The boards of 19 publicly funded charter schools went to court Wednesday in an attempt to block a new state law that could prevent them from ending their relationship with White Hat Management, a for-profit company founded by Akron businessman David Brennan.

Seismic changes in the Phila. School District - A state takeover. Charters. Privately run schools. The decade has seen improvements, but financial problems persist.

Against the odds, success - Reporters visited six schools in the Philadelphia area and New Jersey to observe some of the techniques that educators say are showing results in attempts to improve performance under NCLB.

State official calls for changes in No Child Left Behind - Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak has called for changes in the federal No Child Left Behind Act to provide more money and flexibility.

You can’t leave it behind - Opinion: Other than Iraq, No Child Left Behind may be the most hated part of Bush’s legacy. But critics who think they can destroy the education law are gravely mistaken.

No Child Law Faces Medley of Changes - If President Bush wants the next version of his signature No Child Left Behind education law to carry his imprint, the White House will have to compromise with a host of disparate groups seeking changes in the 5-year-old act.

Public biased on achievement gap, study says - Scholarly and political attention directed at the gap between whites and Latinos in educational achievement can be divided into two categories of bias, according to a University of Texas graduate student.

Merit Pay for Teachers Improves Student Achievement in Arkansas (School Reform News) - Merit pay programs for teachers result in a better work environment for teachers and better test scores for students, according to a study released in mid-January by the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform.

Florida Merit Pay Program Under Fire (School Reform News) - If the opposing parties in a lawsuit filed last December against Florida’s Special Teachers Are Rewarded (STAR) program can agree on anything, it’s that changes need to be made for Florida to have a successful performance-based pay program.

Proof positive - Editorial: The fact is the Los Angeles Unified School District is still failing students, and we need real reform - not excuses.

NCLB Commission Calls for Further Centralization, Federal Power in Education (School Reform News) - In February, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Commission–co-chaired by former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) of Georgia and former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) of Wisconsin–released its reform recommendations, weeks before the Congressional committees responsible for overseeing the law’s reauthorization were scheduled to begin holding hearings.

McLean Students Sue Anti-Cheating Service - Two McLean [Virginia] High School students have launched a court challenge against a California company hired by their school to catch cheaters, claiming the anti-plagiarism service violates copyright laws.

Schwarzenegger names education chief - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday appointed David Long, Riverside County’s superintendent of schools since 1999, as the new state secretary of education.

UPDATE:

Committees outline options to racially balance Manchester schools - Four groups studied the pros and cons of starting a "controlled" school-choice program; redistricting; dividing the schools into five sets of pairs, with one school in each pair for preschool through grade 2 and the other for grades 3 through 5; and other options, such as redistricting only bused students or overlapping districts. 

More the same won’t salvage school reform - Opinion: Rather than placing all bets on compliance with no child, Washington policy makers should adopt incentives that would enable parents to find good private schools for their children and thereby exert competitive pressures on public schools to improve. To be most effective, school choice should be for all, not just for selected categories of need.

SC legislator, Guardsman on leave from training casts key vote - A proposal that would help parents pay for private school tuition with public money was defeated Thursday by South Carolina lawmakers, the fourth consecutive year the idea has failed.

More on defeat of vouchers - Opinion: Here’s the AP story on what happened. As I said before, dramatic stuff. It was truly a case of Capt. Smith of the 218th Brigade to the rescue of public schools.

Choice, but at a price - Opinion: High Point’s school board representatives are divided over a proposal one says offers more choice and the other fears will further separate white and black students.

Virtual high school a reality in South Dakota - South Dakota was once the leader in what was called distance learning. Fifteen years ago, every school in the state was equipped with high speed internet and video relay classrooms. Soon, technology will give South Dakota students a new way to learn.

District alters student exchanges - The Eugene School District has put the kibosh on Exchange Day, a longtime tradition that felt to many participants like a cruel April Fools’ Day joke.

High school swap comes as a shock - A proposal endorsed by four members of the Manchester school board that would have nearly all Hooksett freshmen attending West High School by the fall of 2008 isn’t sitting too well with school officials and parents.

House pulls education funding from bill for lack of votes - House Democrats pulled an education funding bill from the floor at the last minute Thursday because it didn’t have enough votes to pass, jeopardizing the Vermont Legislature’s chances of enacting property tax reduction legislation this year. 

Price bill aimed at teacher recruitment - Rep. David Price is making a second run with a bill that would create a national teaching scholarship program patterned after a successful North Carolina effort that has helped attract strong high school students to classroom careers. 

Mental health firms swarm schools - Some school districts are taking steps to shield students from the mostly private, for-profit mental health companies that are lining up to send mental health aides into public schools. 

Teachers vote to endorse . . . no candidate - For the first time since 1971, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has opted not to endorse a mayoral candidate in an open primary after a majority of members who cast votes in a referendum said that’s what they wanted.  

Progress takes a halting step - Despite negative attention for its fights, Bradley Tech is above the MPS average on key academic statistics. 

Children left behind with act’s mandate - Children do not learn at equal rates. Some children need more time to learn the same thing that it takes others very little time to learn. When legislators ignore this fact, they are ignoring the well-documented idea that learning is developmental.

Personal approach to learning -  In a turnout that heartened organizers and keynote speakers, local educators, elected officials and community leaders have pledged to provide a "personalized education" for every public school student.

Schools fail to use millions in aid - The federal government offers extra money for low-income students each year — funds that their schools can use for more teachers, tutors and other services to help them learn. But Columbus Public Schools left millions of these dollars unspent during the 2005-06 school year, meaning the individual schools — and the targeted students — essentially lost the money.

Secretary of Education to visit Mesa charter school - U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will visit a Mesa charter school known for beating the odds in a low-income neighborhood.

Charter school upstairs - Siblings take Arizona Connections Academy lessons in a classroom that’s in their home.

D.C. School Takeover - Frequently Asked Questions compiled by the Washington Post.

For a Change, Students Critique Administrators and Teachers - Students from four Prince George’s County high schools asked their teachers and administrators for more recognition, a looser dress code, refurbished buildings and better food at a quarterly meeting of the Region I Student Coalition last week.

Extra Credit - Readers respond to Washington Post education columns on homework and disabilities.