Thursday, April 07, 2011
Jeff W. Reed
Bend Bulletin
In states across the country, Democrats and Republicans have been united trailblazers in expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. Indeed, two school-choice proposals, currently before the evenly split Oregon House of Representatives, are advancing in other states in bipartisan fashion. Oregon could follow their pioneering lead.
Tax-credit scholarships and scholarships for students with special needs — bills introduced in the Oregon House — allow families to take all or a portion of the tax dollars “attached” to their children to schools of choice, including private options. Currently, there are 22 such programs in place across the country, and they are growing both in size and popularity.
Take Florida’s tax-credit scholarship program, which provides scholarships or vouchers, to 30,000 low-income students dissatisfied with their public schools. Today that program is supported by a majority of Republican lawmakers, almost half of the Democrats, all but two members of the Hispanic Legislative Caucus, and two-thirds of the Legislative Black Caucus. Ten years ago, just one Florida Democratic lawmaker was supportive.
Oklahoma became the newest member of the school-choice family last year when it created scholarships for students with special needs. Again, this was passed in a bipartisan manner with party-line Republican support in Oklahoma’s Senate, bipartisan support in its House, and approval by then-Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat. Recently, a tax-credit scholarship proposal — similar to Oregon’s — passed the Oklahoma Senate with bipartisan approval.
Also in 2010, Louisiana created its third school-choice program, for students with special needs, with bipartisan support in both legislative chambers.
School choice almost came to Illinois in 2010 when Democrat Sen. James Meeks, co-chair of Illinois’ Legislative Black Caucus and former spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama, introduced a voucher measure for students in Chicago’s failing and overcrowded public schools. The proposal, endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, gained Republican and Democratic support but ultimately fell a few votes short.
This year, Pennsylvania’s legislative effort to expand its tax-credit scholarship program, currently serving 38,000 low-income families, and to create a voucher option for low-income students in failing public schools, is expected to become law. The measure, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Jeff Piccola and Democratic Sen. Anthony Williams, passed Pennsylvania’s Senate Education Committee last week.
Also last week, Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley encouraged his state’s House Ways and Means Committee to pass a tax-credit scholarship proposal “to stem the tide of private school closures” and “save public schools [sic] systems from added costs that are far in excess of the public revenues needed to fund the tax credit.”
School choice is gaining champions among both Democrats and Republicans because of its ability to save taxpayers’ money, help public education, and provide a safety net for families. Of the 10 “gold standard” random-assignment studies conducted on voucher programs, nine found that some or all participants benefited academically from vouchers. Just one found no difference.
Moreover, of the 19 empirical studies examining vouchers’ impact on public schools, 18 concluded vouchers improve public schools and one found no visible impact. As Pennsylvania state Sen. Anthony Williams, a Democrat, recently wrote, “School choice is not an alternative to public education. It is a vital part of an innovative and productive public education system.”
He’s right. As evidenced by today’s 22 voucher programs nationwide, most voucher-eligible families elect to stay in public schools. Still, school choice can provide all parents greater comfort and reassurance that their children are educated appropriately. Think about it: The “threat” of families leaving encourages public and private schools to do better in meeting their needs. And for students who do leave, they are more satisfied; their former public school classrooms are smaller, with more resources; and their previous teachers are relieved of students who didn’t even want to be there in the first place.
Oregon could join Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida and others in transcending politics to do what is right for kids, families and schools: provide choices to high-quality learning environments and give schools and students a path to succeed.
Jeff W. Reed is a state programs director with the Foundation for Educational Choice.
