School choice is rapidly becoming a controversial subject for parents on both sides of the aisle. There are already high emotions with markedly different views on a number of items with school kids. This adds another controversy to the list. Is school choice good for students or not? Let’s take a look
What is “School “Choice?”
A 2023 article from the “We Are Teachers” website defines school choice as follows:
“School choice is the term used for options that allow families to choose where they send their children to school in addition to their neighborhood school. These options range from charter and magnet schools to voucher programs that provide funding to pay for private schools and even homeschooling.”
There are two sides to this argument and both have some credit:
- I pay school taxes and if my school is under-performing, why can’t I move my child to a private or parochial school with my tax dollars?
- If people are allowed to take their tax dollars when their kids change schools how will we be able to improve the school? This will mean some kids will likely fail?
Obviously, both are valid points and therein lies the controversy.
What are the benefits?
There are some very positive benefits related to school choice. A 2019 article from the Heritage Foundation highlights the benefits:
- It is good for student safety – This does help protect the children, but with less tax money for public schools how do we improve safety for the remaining kids?
- It increases parental satisfaction and involvement – This may have been the only silver lining from the pandemic. Remote school allowed parents to engage more with their kids and saw what they were being taught.
- It makes schools more accountable – There is an incentive for under-performing schools to improve and retain the budgets assigned from the state.
- It provides options for low-income families – This does break the link between where a child lives and the schools in the child’s area.
- It leads to higher graduation rates – Data shows that students participating in school choice increases the graduation rates.
These are the top five benefits of school choice in my opinion. There are more in the article and i recommend that you take the time to review.
What is the downside?
The are some very real downsides to school choice. A 2017 article in the HuffPost identifies these challenges:
- Charter and voucher schools take away funding at traditional public schools – This is very true and problematic.
- Properly funding parallel school systems would be incredibly wasteful and expensive – I am not sure that this is fair comparison. I do agree that funding for public schools would be reduced.
- School choice takes away attention from the real problems in our public schools – poverty and funding equity – I agree this moves some amount of attention off the public schools. Poverty is a critical issue and solutions are funded separately
- Charter and voucher schools don’t have to accept everyone – This may be true, but i don’t think this means the solution is wrong.
- Voucher programs almost never provide students with full tuition. – I don’t think this should be a consideration
What’s your view on “School Choice”?
For families that want their children to have religion included in their schooling, school choice is a good option. The ability to customize a child’s education is another option. This is a very complex issue and given these points, what do the parents out there feel about this issue? Do you have an experience with this you would like to share? Comments are always welcome and encouraged.
God Bless
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