Schools of Choice

School Choice or Voucher Programs are again gaining appeal among politicians and the media. The idea seems logical enough -- parents/kids should be able to choose the "best" school. The money connected to that student (which would normally go to their neighborhood school) would follow the student to their choice of school. This would occur whether their choice school was public, charter or private, and variables such as attendance boundaries would not matter.

The very definition of School Choice means some students will be able to go to the school of their choice, while the other students will be left behind. The idea of School Choice is another top down policy brought in from the business sector. Essentially, the premise is that competition will make all teachers and schools "work harder." The belief in school choice means that schools under this policy would have to compete for students (read money -- under this plan students become walking dollar signs) and that all schools would get better.

As someone who has dedicated my life to working in education, I can tell you that schools are already working very hard to get better. Improvements in education are needed, but the School Choice/Voucher Program is not an improvement. It is a program designed to maintain or actually increase the disparity in education. Some students will gain access to schools with new technologies, books, libraries, a full rich curriculum and services and supports needed to give students an amazing education. Other students will continue to have schools with no library, broken computers and a severe lack of resources and supports needed to truly improve the quality of life for every student.

Schools in disadvantaged communities will stay disadvantaged, because they will not be able to "compete" for students. Parents who have the time and knowledge about how school choice would work would be able to get their student into a school of their choice, as long as that school wasn't full. Parents who either lack sufficient time, knowledge or political leverage to get their student into a "better" school will be labeled as "bad" parents who have made poor choices for their children. It will allow the system to continue to blame parents, as well as teachers for the short comings of the school system, city and state.

more . . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-stieber/schools-of-choice_b_1957335.html