School Choice – Retaking Control of our Children’s Education

What was the Founding Fathers' intent for public education?
The Founding Fathers did not see public education as a federal concern, but an issue to be decided by the people and states.

In fact, the Constitution and Bill of Rights do not even contain the words "education" or "school." Accordingly, education falls within the 10th Amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
What were the Founding Fathers' personal beliefs on education?
They believed that education …
– Ensures citizens are sufficiently knowledgeable and moral to conduct self-government.
– Helps the nation thrive by tapping into the talents of all citizens.
– Should include religious instruction.
– Should be available even to the poorest among us (“universal”).

What were the Founding Fathers' personal beliefs on education?
“Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”
–Gouverneur Morris, 1792

“[Education is] the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore [funded it to develop] men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1749

"Of all the views of this [Virginia state universal education] law, none is more important … than that of rendering the people the … ultimate guardians of their own liberty." – Thomas Jefferson, 1781

The History of Public Education

Early Stages:
Development of universal public schools with religious instruction.
1642 – Massachusetts Bay Colony passes law requiring parents and apprentice masters to teach their children “to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of this country.”

1776 – The Pennsylvania Constitution drafted to provide that “a school or schools shall be established in each county by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct youth at low prices.”

Ultimately in 1836, Pennsylvania’s Free School Act established a system of free public education, creating local school districts and empowering them to levy taxes to pay for elementary schools.

1806 – President Thomas Jefferson proposed an amendment to the Constitution to permit federal support for education. It was never brought up for debate.

1836 – William McGuffey begins publication of his “Readers,” ultimately selling more than 125 million copies. One passage reads, “If you can induce a community to doubt the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures …you have broken down the barriers of moral virtue and hoisted the flood gates of immorality and crime.”

“Modern” Stages:
Public education “heroes” force questionable practices on citizens a. Horace Mann (1796-1859): State control and secularism
In his career as a Massachusetts legislator and official, the so-called "father of public education" left a legacy that paved the way for state control and secularism. He justified a state takeover of local schools by redefining their diverse educational experiences as a "problem." He forced the replacement of mild, non-sectarian Protestant instruction with humanistic and secular moral lessons of republican idealism.

"What the church has been for medieval man the public school must become for democratic and rational man. God will be replaced by the concept of the public good." –Horace Mann

b. James Blaine (1830-1893): No funding for religious instruction
Blaine was a politician who attempted to ride a wave of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant bigotry to the White House. He proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting use of public money for schools “under the control of any religious sect.” He also flamed popular fears that Catholic schools would teach students to oppose liberty, thereby imposing mandatory public school instruction to save America.

“[Immigrants] must be taught as our own children are taught. We say ‘must be’ because in many cases this can only be accomplished by coercion …The children must be gathered up and forced into school, and those who resist or impede this plan, whether parents or priests, must be held accountable and punished.” –from “The Massachusetts Teacher” magazine, 1851

Blaine’s constitutional amendment failed, but supporters successfully implemented it in state Constitutions. Moreover, new states entering the Union were forced to adopt this language. Today, 37 states have such provisions that restrict aid to religious schools, and “Blaine amendment language” remains a key obstacle in the courts for those seeking school choice.

c. John Dewey (1859-1952): "Child knows best" education, moral relativism
A self-proclaimed "humanist," the "Father of Progressive Education" popularized theories that were morally relativist, anti-religious, and dismissive of parental authority. He rejected behaviorist molding of children in favor of experiences from which they could draw their own individual conclusions. He opposed tests, grades, rewards, punishments, and promotion.

“Children in their early years are neither moral nor immoral, but simply unmoral; their sense of right and wrong has not yet begun to develop. Therefore, they should be allowed as much freedom as possible; prohibitions and commands … are bound to be meaningless.” –John Dewey

"Schools serve best the cause of religion in serving the cause of social unification: … schools are more religious in substance and in promise without any of the conventional badges and machinery of religious instruction than they could be in cultivating these forms at the expense of a state-consciousness." –John Dewey

Consequences of Takeover by Government and Elites
• Increasingly unresponsive to values and wishes of parents, needs of individual children
• Loss of religious and moral instruction
• Declining school performance because of lack of consequences to school administrators and teachers for poor performance
• Bureaucratic and ineffective School Board governance structures that bear little resemblance to executive structures in commercial enterprises – “a squabbling committee of unpaid amateurs”
• Ongoing interference by politicians who pass intrusive bills that dictate policies and programs
• Filling of power vacuum of parents filled by self-interested teachers unions

Examples of Damage Done to Education by Teachers Unions blocking changes that might improve schools, such as:
– Merit, performance-based pay for teachers
– Disciplinary action for incompetent teachers
– Use of standardized tests to compare students, teachers, programs, schools
– Use of parental volunteers where they might possibly hinder creation of union jobs

Preventing parents from choosing their own children’s education by opposing:
– Voucher plans and tuition tax credits
– Participation of home-schooled students in extracurricular activities in public schools
Support for fads and secular agendas
– Demands for "separation of church and state,” driving-out values education
– Multi-cultural agenda that discriminates against Christianity and American patriotism
– Emphasis on the teaching of moral relativism, nihilism, and evolution
– Programs that emphasize self-esteem over achievement
– Ineffective "whole language" techniques instead of phonics
– Bi-lingual programs that delay fluency in English, impeding career preparation

Poor Performance of Government Monopoly in Public Education
From “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform” National Commission on Excellence in Education - 1983

“The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

“SAT scores fell 50 points in verbal, 40 points in math from 1963-1980”

“Nearly 40 percent [of 17 year-olds] cannot draw inferences from written material; only one-fifth can write a persuasive essay; and only one-third can solve a mathematics problem requiring several steps.”

School Choice Movement:
Returning Control to Parents, What is school choice?

Empowering parents to select educational institutions for their children other than neighborhood schools.

Why school choice works…
Schools are forced to compete for students, improving the quality of all schools.
Parents can tailor their choice of schools to meet children’s needs. Benefits of School Choice
School choice is proven to help students do better in school
Almost all studies show that students using vouchers perform better on standardized tests. No study has found that vouchers hurt student achievement.

The American people want school choice!
Most studies show that 55-65% of all Americans support school choice.
This same high level of support is shown among African-Americans & Hispanics.

• The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that vouchers are constitutional even if parents redeem them at religious institutions
• School choice can save money. The average private school tuition (i.e. cost) is about $5,000 vs. public school average per-pupil spending of $9,000.
• Students helped most by school choice are those from low income households. These households lack feasible exit options from poor performing neighborhood schools. By contrast, higher income families can relocate to districts with better schools or send their children to private schools.

Types of School Choice
• Universal Voucher Programs. Allow all parents, regardless of income, to direct all or part of the funds set aside by government to a public, private, or religious school of their choice.

• Means-Tested Voucher Programs Voucher programs that only apply to parents who demonstrate they have low income.

• Failing Schools, Failing Students Voucher Programs Vouchers redeemable at alternative schools, awarded to students who are doing poorly in school or who attend failing public schools.

Types of School Choice • Charter Schools Public, government-operated schools that offer organizers exemption from many regulations in exchange for accepting performance standards.

• Direct Tax Credits/Deductions Allow parents to claim tax credit/deductions off state income taxes for approved educational expenses.

• Scholarship Tax Credits Allow individuals and/or corporations to make tax-deductible contributions to fund scholarship-granting organizations.

The Good News:
School choice is making steady progress. Adoption of school choice:
– 5 states have voucher programs
– 6 have education tax credits or deductions
– 41 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws
– 15 states guarantee public school choice within or between districts
– All states allow parents to home school their children

What can be done to expand school choice?
Primary battleground is at the state level... Citizens should:
– Work to elect state legislators who support school choice and defeat those who do not.
– Persuade legislators to copy successful programs from other states.
– Expose and defeat teachers unions who are blocking reform.