School Choice is Improving Education in US

School Choice is Improving Education in US

If there is something good that came out of the so-called pandemic, it is this:

The school closures and particularly, the remote classroom experiences, appalled parents. These actions were enough to cause parents to seek better educational placement for their children. (Even though their actions sicced the FBI on parents at school board meetings and labeled them as terrorists.) The closures - demanded by teachers' unions nationwide - and/or what parents saw being covered on videos of classrooms for the schools remaining open remotely, acted as a catalyst for education reform. We have not seen such demand for improvement in decades.

Reading achievement scores have been reduced to 1992 levels – eradicating 30 years of progress. Families are demanding options and state legislatures are responding in the affirmative. Arizona became the first state to establish school choice. Since 2022 parents there can access up to $6,500 per year for use at charter schools, private schools, religious schools, even for homeschooling! Second governor to join was Florida's Ron DeSantis and now governors in Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Utah, Iowa and Ohio have similar programs in their states. Taxpayer dollars travel with the child. They do not go to the nearest government school. A positive side effect is that the public schools in proximity to competitive schools also tend to do better. Competition often has that effect in the marketplace.

A word of caution: there needs to be a mechanism to evaluate progress – testing is one way. In 1979 the US was at the top of the heap; now US is in the middle of the pack. Coincidentally, the US Department of Education was created in 1979.

Odd coincidence?

In liberty,

Audrey Taggart

This is an editoral from one of our members and not the official position of the Martin County Republican Executive Committee.