Has school choice improved public schools?

No

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by Bryan Jennings

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School choice programs sound like the perfect way to bring the inexorable power of the market to bear on one of the most important issues of the day, educating our children. In all places where school choice programs have been instituted, parents have responded with praise, while teacher's unions, understandably, have responded with scorn. While the case for school choice seems very common sense, the question has been asked repeatedly: "Does this work on anything other than a theoretical basis." The answer, unsurprisingly is no.

School choice programs allow low income parents to send their children to private schools using money from the government as a form of voucher. The idea being, that private schools would increase their quality of education to compete for voucher students, thus raising the level of education for all. In practice, this is hardly the case. Students who go to voucher schools do not do any worse than their compatriots in public schools, but all tests that have been done show that they do no better.

Let me say that again. Every single test that has been done on the academic effect of voucher schools has shown that students at voucher schools DO NOT do any better than they did in public school. Parents are more satisfied with voucher schools yes, but this is not due to any improved, statistically measurable academic performance. Students do not always feel safer in their new schools either, results differ from program area to program area.

The end result is a far larger tax burden on residents of voucher program areas, with no measurable results beyond parents being happy with it. While parents being satisfied is a good goal, it is hardly one that should overshadow the goal of actually educating children so that they can survive in the real world. Prescribing all the parents in the school district Vicodin would accomplish about as much academically as voucher schools, only it would cost tax payers significantly less money. Unfortunately, the money that is going towards voucher schools (as much $181 Million a year in Milwaukee) could be going to repairing the public schools that are suffering, instead of taking money away from them.

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