Vouchers vs. Charters (Joanne Jacobs)
This is a response to an article by former Alliance president Clint Bolick. -ed.
I’m not as optimistic about school choice as Clint Bolick. Some hard-fought battles have been won in recent years but there’s still enormous and entrenched opposition, especially to vouchers. Charters are more accepted. As the successful charter models expand, I think the reputation of charter schools will continue to grow.
The big change, I think, is in the attitudes of parents whose children attend low-performing and dangerous schools. Detroit is the most dramatic example. Parents are voting with their feet, leaving district-run schools for charter, private and suburban schools. They know they have choices and they are choosing.
Many teachers also are exploring their options. In New Orleans, teachers are choosing the new charter schools over the non-charters. Green Dot, which has its an in-house union, has been able to hire experienced teachers from the district.
I’ve been running around giving talks about my book, "Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the Charter School That Beat the Odds," which is about a high school that prepares left-behind students — most come from Mexican immigrant families — for college. Parents who come to readings know they have a choice in where to send their kids. Teachers are very interested in reading about a school with a shared sense of mission, genuine collaboration and support for trying things that might not work.
Americans aren’t satisfied with the status quo. They want change. And I think they want choice.
Joanne Jacobs, a former Knight-Ridder syndicated columnist, is now a freelance writer and blogger.
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Why should it be Charters V. Vouchers when both can work together in tandem.
First, one of the main arguments against vouchers is the lack of “non-public” infrastructure. It’s either parochial or too rich.
There are two key elements necessary to jumpstart both charters and vouchers simulatneously.
First, never take your eye off the “Fully Funded Voucher”. What does a state spend/child? That’s the voucher amount. Not a dime less.
Second, as much as possible, have ONE FUNDING Source. As I read and read and wondered and wondered why a clearly superior idea (choice) kept losing, it became clear that the current is designed with so much built in complexity that choice was never really an option. They always have a lame excuse about “local control” (like anything is more local than a voucher??!!)
The answer? Get rid of the school district. It is an utterly worthless entity that educates no one while wasting buckets of tax dollars. (spare me the theoretical argument that these are laboratories of democracy. The utter similarity of one district to another is proof that it’s a scam. They are merely franchises of the same single entity – ED MART, always the high price, always)
If the state is the sole funding source (kill/swap the politically unpopular property tax), then the road is clear to FUND CHILDREN, NOT DISTRICTS.
Now you are set up for the launch. Convert every public school in the state to an independent charter [501(c)3] run by the parents who choose the school. It redeems the vouchers/scholarships, and you have an instant infrastructure of newly de-bureaucratized and newly innovative schools.
Allow private schools that wish to participate to redeem, and you’re off to the races.
I’m working on the details, and the document will be ready soon. Maybe I can it posted here.