Enrollment in the aptly named parental choice program in Racine, WI has more than doubled after the removal of a state-imposed cap, meaning over 1,200 Racine students in the 2013-14 school year will have increased choice and opportunity to be in a schooling environment that’s right for them.
School leaders in the area are reporting that the community has been receptive, and the leaders themselves feel gratified they are part of something that’s improving the chances of success for students most in need. The parental choice program in nearby Milwaukee is the oldest of its kind, and has proven to be a lifeline for students in urban areas who not only escape failing systems, but have also demonstrated academic achievement and college readiness. In fact, a 2012 longitudinal study revealed that students enrolled in the parent choice program made substantial gains in reading over their traditional public student counterparts, and increased their likelihood of graduating on-time and moving on to college.
Wisconsin lawmakers realized this potential for the rest of state when they answered the call for more access to quality options, and expanded the choice program statewide. Naturally, the program’s increasing popularity among parents has raised concerns of the state creating a dual funding system for schools. But financing should respond to the needs of the student rather than the needs of the system, because what good is a school to a student whose individual needs aren’t being met? Proponents also argue that student funding through the choice program is less than the per-pupil funding if the student stayed put. The right system is one that provides a gateway to a better option, rather than trapping a student solely based on where they live. Parent Power is clearly spreading across Wisconsin, and hopefully won’t stop at the state line.
Response to “Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin Calls for Moratorium On New NYC Charter Schools”
Alarming and disturbing – two words that are not normally associated with New York City charter schools. Two words that in no way describe the choice public schools that continually provide the most innovative options and stellar achievement for students. In fact, a study by Caroline Hoxby shows that the longer NY students are in charter schools, the higher they achieve.
Yet, Brooklyn-based Council member Steve Levin, clearly emboldened by Bill de Blasio’s mayoral victory, has called recently for a moratorium on all new charter schools in the city. He claims that everyone should be alarmed by the projected budget increase for charter schools across the city. To be clear, he called the increase “a bee in his bonnet”.
The inability of Levin to A) recognize that an increase in the budgets of charter schools will improve parents’ ability to free their children from mediocre at best traditional public schools and B) deal with the bee in his bonnet presents a threat to parent power in the nation’s largest city. New York City’s parents must be aware that the reign of charter-ally Michael Bloomberg is giving way to a hostile environment for high performing and innovative public schools of choice – and de Blasio hasn’t even been sworn in yet.
Not only are the proposals by de Blasio to charge charter schools rent, end all new charter co-locations, and now Levin’s call to halt the establishment of new charters in general threatening to the charter schools themselves, but also to parents. The power of parents to choose and to liberate their children from dismally achieving traditional schools is being damaged. Parents who know how great their children’s charter schools are working also know that establishing more great charters schools is necessary to spread power, choice, accountability, and achievement to other families. The Big Apple’s new political leaders, however, don’t understand that, and are bolstered to damage parent power and choice for our kids. That is what is truly alarming and disturbing.