We came so close. Texas was on the brink of passing a significant school choice bill (HB1) that would finally achieve the impossible: break the public school monopoly and empower parents with a choice of where they send their children to be educated.
But then some weak-kneed Republicans in the state house joined with Democrats and voted to remove vouchers from the bill. Now, instead of a law that could help fix our broken public education system, Texan legislators will vote on yet another bill that throws money at the problem. As a public school teacher myself, I wouldn't mind the extra cash, but I know only a tiny sliver would end up in my paycheck, and today's systemic problems would continue to fester.
Clearly, most of my fellow Texans agree, and this issue will come up again. As Gov. Greg Abbott recently stated on X (formerly Twitter), "Today's vote is just another step on the path to provide school choice for parents and students across Texas." This means that HB1 as currently written will probably not pass, and another version of it will be pushed in the next legislative session.
The original bill would have "establish[ed] an education savings account initiative that would set aside $10,500 every year per student for private school expenses" and "include[d] a bump in per-student spending by the state, from $6,160 to $6,700." It also would have increased teacher pay. No longer would poorer students be forced to attend failing public schools in their area. They could use their voucher to attend an alternative.
If this same bill is proposed again and actually passes, it could be massive shot in the arm and offer a whole new model for American public education.
As one might guess, the success of a bill like HB1 comes down to funding and accountability. It's not enough to simply hand families a check and expect them to reward good schools with their business. First, there must be viable alternatives to the underperforming public school (whether private or charter) that offer families a real choice. Moreover, those alternatives must be amply funded and properly accredited to successfully compete with the public school.
As it stands, most charter and private schools have much smaller budgets than their public school counterparts. This funding gap limits the former's appeal and makes neighborhood public schools the default option for most families. After all, who wants to send their kids to a school that rents out space from an ugly building and is staffed with untrained adults?
School choice legislation that significantly boosts funding to public and charter schools can foster meaningful competition between campuses. Schools would be incentivized to increase academic rigor, offer interesting course options, hire the best teachers, and create safe, aesthetically pleasing environments. Additionally, they would likely find ways to cut down on waste and inefficiency—this would mean fewer useless administrators, expensive technology boondoggles, pointless trainings, and superfluous meetings and committees.
Such changes would benefit students at all levels. Ideally, they would have the opportunity to attend schools with advanced coursework, vocational training, and exceptional programs in fine arts and athletics. For once, this wouldn't only be a possibility for richer parents who can afford to send their child to such schools, but for all students who desire it.
Besides adding some strings to the money through a voucher system, Texan legislators cannot cheap out on the program. If the dollar amount of the vouchers is too low, then the only beneficiaries will be private schools and the students already enrolled in them. Private schools will simply raise their tuition, and the parents who already have their kids at those schools would apply for a voucher and enjoy a small subsidy—while those who do not will still be priced out. Already, this is happening with the LEARNS school voucher program in Arkansas.
If states increase per-student enrollment funding only marginally, or even reduce it, charter and public schools will have to cut back on what they offer. Thus, instead of schools trying to deliver the best product, they will be competing on who can provide the cheapest product and coax the best students. This is the current complaint of a lot of public school educators—they claim charter schools essentially steal away the most motivated students from public schools, which are then left with the most high-need, at-risk students. When vouchers are thrown into the mix, both public and charter schools may be left unequipped to handle their respective student populations. This in turn forces state and local governments to drop standards for teachers and cut back on various school programs, something that is now happening in Arizona.
Finally, if legislators do not add serious accountability measures beyond market forces, the result will be a proliferation of scammers exploiting the voucher system. Any profit-minded pseudo-educator could rent out space at a strip mall, buy a few test-prep manuals, hire some random people at minimum wage, and con a few unsuspecting parents into enrolling their kids at their "school." This is always the fear with new charter schools, and for good reason. The best way to deal with this problem is to set a high bar for schools to qualify for funding, and to provide reliable information on every school to help families make informed decisions—something similar to what's done at the university level.
Fortunately, these goals are neither impossible nor impossibly complicated. They only become so when lawmakers and educational reformers go halfway with their plan (like increasing funding without having a voucher system) or oversell school choice as a remedy for every problem in K-12 education. We should all try to see the big picture and unite in our desire to reward good instruction, student achievement, and well-run campuses. If Texan legislators can do this and eventually pass a law like HB1, it will be a huge step for reforming education, but only if its supporters stay focused and prioritize learning and student well-being above everything else.
Auguste Meyrat is a high school English teacher in North Texas. He is the founding editor of The Everyman, a senior contributor to The Federalist, and a regular contributor to The American Mind, Crisis Magazine, the American Conservative, and the Acton Institute.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
School Choice Can Help Save Public Education—If Done Right
3
0
22.11.2023
We came so close. Texas was on the brink of passing a significant school choice bill (HB1) that would finally achieve the impossible: break the public school monopoly and empower parents with a choice of where they send their children to be educated.
But then some weak-kneed Republicans in the state house joined with Democrats and voted to remove vouchers from the bill. Now, instead of a law that could help fix our broken public education system, Texan legislators will vote on yet another bill that throws money at the problem. As a public school teacher myself, I wouldn't mind the extra cash, but I know only a tiny sliver would end up in my paycheck, and today's systemic problems would continue to fester.
Clearly, most of my fellow Texans agree, and this issue will come up again. As Gov. Greg Abbott recently stated on X (formerly Twitter), "Today's vote is just another step on the path to provide school choice for parents and students across Texas." This means that HB1 as currently written will probably not pass, and another version of it will be pushed in the next legislative session.
The original bill would have "establish[ed] an education savings account initiative that would set aside $10,500 every year per student for private school expenses" and "include[d] a bump in per-student spending by the state, from $6,160 to $6,700." It also would have increased teacher pay. No longer would poorer students be forced to attend failing public schools in their area. They could use their voucher to attend an alternative.
If this same bill is proposed again and actually passes, it could be massive shot in the arm and offer a whole new model for........
© Newsweek
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
