RICHARD A. SOKERKA
As schools reopen for the academic year, this year more than ever, more parents want school choice to be available for their children.
School choice empowers parents with the ability to select the schools and learning environments that best meet the needs of their children. COVID-19 changed the K–12 education landscape, at least in the short term and perhaps permanently, a survey by School Choice Week shows. More parents are focusing on their children’s education than at any time in recent memory. In addition to immediate challenges, like ensuring that their children learn during the pandemic, parents are getting an even closer look at the curriculum and textbooks their children are provided. We have seen contentious school board meetings across the nation, where parents are voicing their opposition to curriculum changes brought forth by the U.S. Department of Education being implemented locally. But without school choice, where can they turn?
The most basic issue at hand when it comes to school choice is equality of opportunity. There is immense evidence that government-monopoly schools perpetuate inequality of opportunity for the poor and marginalized.
Who does not agree that the levels of opportunity in life depend in no small measure on the quality of education received when young?
School choice is a reform in this nation that truly serves social justice. If school choice was implemented by the federal government parents could use tax credits, vouchers, or other means of support to send their children to private, parochial, or other public schools. Denying any child the opportunity to learn in a quality academic environment based solely on geographic location or economic status of that child’s family is contrary to justice. However, the Biden Administration does not even have school choice on its radar. It is a non-starter because the Administration is in lock step with the American Federation of Teachers union and the National Education Association, two of its biggest donors that both turn a blind eye to school choice.
School choice can facilitate a greater understanding among children of diverse backgrounds. While critics of private and parochial schools often say that these institutions create a more “segregated” environment by accepting only “like” students, evidence has shown that private and parochial schools tend to be much more integrated than public schools whose student populations consist of children from the same geographic area. Parochial schools have consistently succeeded in breaking down the economic barriers that still divide students in public schools, turning underprivileged and disaffected youngsters into aspiring young scholars. Parents choose parochial schools because they want their children to not only learn in a safe environment but also to gain a moral understanding of life in a faith-based setting as well as academic excellence. This aspect is not offered by public schools, and it should justly be available for all families to consider.
The National Catholic Educational Association supports the concept of full and fair parental choice in education that is supported by tax relief, vouchers, scholarships, and other aid to parents so they may seek the educational opportunities they want for their children.
The bottom line is this: Is it socially just to force poor families to send their children to failing public schools, simply based on the locations of their homes? Is it just to force taxpayers to continue funding failing schools with no input on how their taxes are to be used? Is it just to place a bureaucratic system above our children? The answer to all is a resounding “no.”
The time for school choice is now and it must not be ignored any longer by the Biden Administration, if it truly supports social justice.