FREE CHOICE SHOULD APPLY TO SCHOOLS

OCTOBER 8 , 2006

The Texas legislature has considered school voucher legislation in previous sessions, and will be considering it again. I support vouchers, and want to share my reasons.

First, take a glance at public education today. As of the last census, in the State of Texas there were 3,991,783 students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, in 1,077 school districts. This represents 97.8% of the school age population. The other 2.2% are enrolled in private schools. The per capita expenditures on K-12 students was $6,092, compared with the national average of $6,857. Today, it’s around $9,000. As a nation we are spending $420 billion on 46 million students. The average Texas teacher salary is approximately $40,000 annually.

According to the Friedman Foundation, which has studied education and advocated for vouchers for over 50 years, the U. S. spends more on each student than any other developed nation. Yet, 9- and 13-year-old U.S. students rank lowest in mathematics and science among those from the seven largest countries that administer the International Assessment of Education Progress NAEP).

In spite of all the public concern and all the efforts that have gone into improving and reforming our educational system, the Foundation says, no significant improvement in academic achievement has been measured in the NAEP tests since the 1980s. At the same time, after its most recent testing, NAEP reported that “Students at grades 4, 8, and 12 in all categories of private schools had higher average scores in reading, mathematics, science, and writing than their counterparts in public schools. In addition, higher percentages of students in private schools performed at or above Proficient compared to those in public schools.”

The perennial question is, “How can we improve student academic achievement levels?” In response, some propose greater funding, but if money were all it took, the Washington, D.C. schools would be providing the best education, because they spend $15,000 on each student annually, the highest in the nation. Yet, they have the 51st worst achievement results! Throwing more money at the problem is clearly not the solution. The answer lies elsewhere. The schools in Texas, incidentally, rank 37th in academic achievement.

What is the heart of the problem? Some point their finger at the teachers, or the students, or the parents. I do not believe any one of these is the problem. Other critics say the problem lies in the system itself. These critics say the system has become too bureaucratic, and has taken too much control away from local school districts, and centralized it at the state level in ways that makes it unwieldy and inadaptable to local situations and needs. Teachers complain of too much paperwork that keeps them from devoting themselves to teaching. In the end, say these critics, public education has become a monopoly, and all monopolies deliver an inferior product at an exorbitant price.

In addition to these complaints, growing numbers of parents are rightfully up in arms over public schools’ increasing encroachment on their own parental rights. Sex education, for example, is often presented in a mechanical way that divests the mystery of sexuality from its sacred meaning. Some schools in other states have even begun to give mandatory indoctrination to students in matters of sexual orientation in ways that are an affront to the moral law. Then, there is always a problem when the light of faith is segregated out of the educational process, leaving only the light of reason, as is the case in the public school systems of our nation today. Removing God, moral instruction, and the opportunity for prayer from schools is not healthy for children or society. Schools have a vital character-forming purpose to fulfill, and today they are hamstrung in their efforts to fulfill that purpose.

Vouchers would put money into the hands of parents to select the school of their choice, and be able to afford it. But, do people want a voucher program?

The Freidman Foundation asked, in a 2004 poll, “Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose any school, public or private, to attend using public funds?” Sixty-three percent of Americans responded affirmatively. Similarly, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that 69% of respondents supported the idea that parents should get tax-funded vouchers to help pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools instead of public schools.

Another study conducted by Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) asked respondents at which type of school they would use a voucher covering full tuition, if they had one. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said they would select a private or parochial school. So, the support for vouchers is there. Free choice is the American way.

A number of school voucher programs are already in use, and the results are noteworthy. In Milwaukee, for example, math scores of students who received vouchers improved from 5% to 12%. Reading scores improved from 1.5% to 2.3%. Parent involvement and satisfaction increased. In Cleveland, voucher students scored 7% higher than the national average in reading and 15 points higher in math. Parent satisfaction, again, was high.

Some have expressed fears that a voucher system would signal the end of public education in America, and with the end of that, an end, too, of a sense of national identity and commonality among the citizens. But vouchers wouldn’t necessarily take children away from public schools. They would create choice, and challenge schools to prove themselves to parents as institutions worthy of being chosen.

There are a number of other misconceptions about the consequences of adopting a school choice initiative in Texas, and I shall address them in my next column.


+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap