Let’s get real about ‘school choice’
There are some things John Hood (SMN, May 29) and his ilk don’t want you to think about in their relentless promotion of “school choice” and “educational freedom” — their feel-good euphemisms for the transfer of your taxpayer dollars to private, church-related and “charter” schools. Hood, who pops up everywhere these days, is a paid mouthpiece for the libertarian-conservative and free-market agenda of Art Pope (remember him?) — and it shows.
The overarching issue is whether schools not fully subject to state standards and citizen-elected local oversight deserve public funding. To this, many of us say, emphatically, “no!” The “choice” funds flow via two channels. One is the vouchers or “Opportunity Scholarships” paid to private schools to offset usually a small portion of a student’s tuition — in effect, benefiting mostly wealthier families who would send their kids to a private school anyway! The other is the direct public funding of so-called charter schools, which are governed by an in-house board but cannot charge tuition.
Church-sponsored private schools add another layer to the discussion: does a healthy separation of church and state allow for public funds to flow to religious institutions — of any flavor? It’s a thought question. I say “no.” Educators in church-related schools should not be conducting religious exercises and dispensing religious dogma (even partially) on the public dime.
Consider that both teacher salaries and per-pupil K-12 spending in N.C. already rank near the bottom nationwide. These are facts. And, yes, Mr. Hood, this is shameful. Meanwhile, the veto-proof, Republican-dominated legislature funnels ever more funding away from traditional public schools. Haywood County, for example, stands to lose up to $711,000 due solely to the latest round of voucher expansion.
The intentional strangling of our traditional public schools is nowhere more evident than in the Leandro case (look it up), still languishing before the N.C. Supreme Court after 30 years. Due to N.C.’s state-county mix for school funding, many poorer, rural (and heavily minority) counties have traditionally been left hurting, prompting several of them in 1994 to sue the state, simply to secure for their children a constitutionally mandated “sound, basic education.” Despite state coffers at times flush with billions in unreserved surplus funds (e.g. 2021-2022), the as-yet unresolved case highlights our legislature’s resistance to now court-mandated support for N.C.’s neediest students. I won’t call that racism, Mr. Hood, but people can figure it out for themselves.
Common sense (and the N.C. Constitution) dictate that our publicly funded school districts be uniform and accountable to the taxpayer, and ultimately to parents and students. But the public funding of “choice” schools, by whatever mechanism, simply does not include this element of accountability and oversight: teachers do not have to be state-certified, or even have a high school diploma. Charters, defined as non-profit entities, are allowed to contract (using public funds) with for-profit companies, including for the schools’ management, all without public oversight. “Choice” schools are never financially accountable to citizen-elected school boards. They are not required to follow the N.C. Standard Course of Study, not required to provide free and reduced-price meals, nor to provide student transportation or follow safety standards. There are no restrictions on class size. There are a host of other areas (including discrimination in admissions) where “choice” schools are cut way too much slack to warrant any level of public funding (consult Public Schools First N.C.).
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And charter schools, by real metrics, simply don’t perform as promised. First, they enroll a much smaller percentage of economically disadvantaged students than traditional public schools — they’re not serving “at-risk” children at the levels intended (giving the charters a statistical bump in comparative performance ratings). Even so, since 2016-17 the percentage of charter schools in N.C. meeting or exceeding expected annual academic growth has still been lower than traditional public schools. The charters just don’t measure up.
For perspective, remember how N.C.’s so-called “education” lottery was supposed to solve the state’s school funding woes? Well, it too proved a scam, as most everyone now realizes. While the gaming industry cleans up, only about 25% of revenues actually go to education, and much of that only offsets tamped-down budgetary outlays for schools. Promised as a flood of easy cash to benefit our kids, the lottery is just smoke-and-mirrors.
It’s tempting to think that everything can be fixed or improved through ever more privatization and corporatization — Hood’s holy grail of “competition” — but it can’t (think healthcare and, locally, Mission/HCA). Perhaps, despite Reagan’s cynical dictum of decades past, the government is not always the problem.
Look, the vast majority of us came up through the public school system and, I daresay, fared reasonably well, as did our parents and grandparents. Sure, our public schools can always be better, but only through adequate funding, high standards and healthy citizen involvement (but not the teacher-as-enemy kind). Sadly, too many good people, including parents, have simply abandoned our public schools. “School choice” may not be a conspiracy, Mr. Hood, but it is sailing us, through a thick smokescreen, into uncharted waters.
(Tom Powers lives in Haywood County.)
