School choice – the new civil rights movement?

The man was regaling his school-age grandkids with a comparison to school in his day: “In those days we didn’t have busing; we walked to and from school.  And it was uphill—both ways.”

Lately, Governor Tom Corbett has been walking uphill on his educational agenda, with entrenched public school lobby and welfare rights activists demanding more money and protesting cuts.  But one possible winner for the governor might be his position on encouraging more school choice in the Commonwealth.

School choice suggests that parents be in control of deciding which school provides their child with an education.  That school could be one of the numerous publicly-run schools in a school district, a  charter or cyber charter school, a magnet school or a vocational technical school.  Or it could be one of the privately-run non-religious or parochial schools, a home-schooling program, or a combination of private and public (dual-enrollment) programs—all permitted by the Commonwealth .

With entry into postsecondary education more important than ever, and with greater public scrutiny over the quality of schools and their programs, getting the best K-12 education for their child is a priority for today’s parents.  From PSSA scores to ratings services, they want to know: How good is my child’s school?  If the answer is unsatisfactory, parents have some choices to make.

Educated and affluent families can pursue several options: 1) move to a better district; 2) send their child to a nonpublic school; 3) enroll their child in a charter or cyber school; 4) pay tuition to attend a better district; or 5) engage in home education of their child.  Many lower income parents with children who are stuck in a low-performing public school have fewer options.  And two possible options, cyber charter schools and home education programs, require a modest amount of parental supervision, which can limit the time financially struggling parents can work outside the home.

Enter Governor Corbett and his emphasis on school choice.  Public opinion surveys have shown that many economically disadvantaged families favor a program that will get their kids out of a failing school (or district), help them gain a good education and break the cycle where a poor education leads to continued poverty.  If the governor and his allies in the Legislature can craft a proposal that can provide the assistance to impoverished kids to acquire a good education (in whichever venue that might occur),  he might offset recent negatives.  That won’t be easy.  It could, however, also split his opponents in the coalition of welfare and public school special interests and assist him in his re-election.

How he sells his plan is crucial, but the message would have to be clear and unambiguous:  School choice is no longer purely an educational issue; it is the new “civil rights movement”.