In less than three years universal school choice policies have been adopted by 14 states, all Republican leaning. Given the growing desire of education reformers to make similar progress in America’s more liberal bastions, the recently formed Blue State Action Coalition asked Andy Rotherham, co-founder of Bellwether Education, to host an April 2 webinar on “How to Talk to Democrats about School Choice.” Joining him were two people who have had a lot of experience trying to work with the Left on improving America’s K-12 schools: Ashley Berner, Associate Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University, and Chris Cerf, former New Jersey Commissioner of Education.
Here is a summary of the tips they offered school choice believers trying to engage a political liberal on the subject:
Do not start off by talking about the right of every family to choose its child’s school.
As much as this idea appeals to conservatives and libertarians, political liberals have a longstanding and sincere fear of turning K-12 education into an unregulated marketplace. Instead, begin with the one thing everyone left and right can agree on. As Cerf described it, “We want all children to graduate from high school having mastered, at minimum, the foundational skills necessary for a successful and fulfilling life.”
It’s hard to argue that the $900 million America currently spends each year on primary and secondary education is achieving anything close to this goal, and from there you can make a persuasive case for choice based on measurable outcomes. In other words, if your position is that providing families with a range of educational options, both public and private, has been shown to improve student learning while also equalizing opportunity, it is difficult for a Democrat to keep a closed mind on the policy.
Should the person you’re speaking with proudly declare “I believe in public education” or “I believe a single district school which brings everyone together is a good thing,” say that’s fine, but such sentiments are personal values, not facts about how to improve the quality of K-12 education. If the one thing all taxpayers can agree on is that every child must be academically prepared for the kind of world they will inherit, we must do what has been objectively documented to accomplish that.
Note that the current debate over school choice is not about whether every state should have it, but about what kind of choice is best.
The problem in 36 states is that most families are still forced to pick the school their child will attend by buying or renting a home in the town district that particular school serves. And given that residences in districts with better schools tend to be more expensive, poor and middle-income families have far fewer educational options for their children than the wealthy do. In Rotherham’s words, Americans “actually have a lot of school choice… it’s just reverse means tested.”
No one imagines there is any system in which the children of the wealthy don’t have some educational advantage — if nothing else, they get to travel more and have access to more cultural activities. But by providing all families with more schooling options regardless of income, state governments can get a lot closer than they currently are to giving every student the minimum skills he or she will need to become a successful adult.
Remind Democrats that the goal of empowering minority parents with the option to take their kids out of low-performing public schools has long been a progressive priority.
As Berner pointed out, prominent Democrat civil rights leaders like Marquette University professor Howard Fuller and Boston University’s Charles Glenn have fought for this right ever since the 1960s. Indeed, Martin Luther King III himself has often spoken in support of school choice, arguing that it aligns with his father’s desire to create better educational options for families of limited means. More recently, trade union officials in both New York and Illinois have backed tax credits for private education.
You could add Rotherham’s observation that school choice is the only issue where conservative and progressive positions seem inexplicably inverted. An alien from Mars studying Earth, he said, would be hard pressed to explain why it is the Democrats who are denying an education benefit to less fortunate families while the Republicans are saying “give money to the poor and let them do whatever they want with it.”
Let Democrats know that school choice is far more common in other countries.
www.ksfct.org). His latest book is Living Spiritually in the Material World (Fidelis Books).
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