Independent Women's Forum - Research Areas > School Choice: Charter Schools, Vouchers, Home Schooling, and Women for School Choice

Teachers' Unions Against Teachers

info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:55:00 EDT

Teachers' Unions seem to be having an increasingly tough time hiding the fact that they really don't care about what's best for teachers, or kids for that matter. Washington state's teachers unions have refused a $13 million grant that would have gone to help teachers of Advance Placement course. Why? Because teachers would have been rewarded if their kids test scores improved. Read the whole sorry story here.

Marion Barry Supports School Vouchers

info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:08:00 EDT

There has been a steady stream of Democrats across the country embracing the idea of giving parent more control over where their children go to school, but there is still something jaw dropping about reading Marion Barry come out for school voucher and the DC scholarship program in today's Washington Post:

I know it may surprise some that I would support a school voucher program, but I am proud to do so -- and I especially support the D.C. scholarships. Many here in Washington also favor this program: community and business leaders, educators, parents, and elected officials who are putting children first. I would oppose this voucher program if it took money from the D.C. public schools, but it doesn't.

I support this package because it provides much-needed financial support to all D.C. schools and because it offers parents a choice without hurting public schools. That's a win-win situation. We must make sure that children in the District are given every chance to attend schools that work for them. To do anything else is wrong.

I disagree with the idea that voucher programs ever "take" money from public schools, but that's an argument for another time. Barry recounts his conversations with parents in DC whose children are receiving a better education because of this greater freedom:

One mom, Wanda Gaddis, has worked for a long time, including serving as a parent advocate at her daughter's public elementary school, to make sure her daughter gets a great education. At the meeting, I learned that her daughter is attending a private school in Ward 8 through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Gaddis told me, "The schools in D.C. were not educating my child. At first I did not have a choice, but I am so thankful that I and so many other parents did get choice with the Opportunity Scholarship Program. I can't begin to tell you how much my child's education has improved since starting with this program. It is a program that is helping to educate our children so they can have better, more productive lives and in turn create better communities here in Ward 8 and across D.C."

I am a father and understand how parents want and need to choose what's best for their children. When my son, Christopher, was entering fourth grade, my wife and I had to decide where he would go. We had enough money to send him to a private school and had the option of doing that, sending him to our neighborhood school or sending him to an out-of-boundary school. We chose to send him to Murch, in Upper Northwest, even though we lived in Southeast.

Over the years, Christopher went to public schools, and I am grateful that we could choose the right environment for him. I was fortunate that I could afford the right school for my son. As I have been in years past, I am focused today on those who most need help. We need to give the same opportunity to the District's low-income parents, and this package would help ensure that all parents in our city have choices about where their children attend school.

It's a very convincing defense of voucher program, making a point that seems plainly obvious that people do better when given more choices. Could Elenor Holmes Norton be next?

Florida Education Association vs. Parents

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Here's the scoop from the Orlando Sentinel:

The Florida Education Association is threatening a lawsuit to shut down the state's scholarship program for low-income kids. Under this program, businesses can donate to nonprofit scholarship organizations, and then claim a tax credit up to a certain limit. The scholarship money brings the option of private schooling within reach of families that couldn't otherwise afford it.

Why this talk of a lawsuit now, after the scholarships have been operating for seven years? The union worries that the program might offer educational choice to too many poor children.

The Legislature is considering raising the cap on the amount that businesses can donate toward scholarships, and the public-school-employee union is seeing red. Ron Meyer, lead counsel for the FEA, told the media recently that if the program were to triple in size over the next five years, "they may go to court" to kill it.

Meyer doesn't cite the best interests of children or families in this decision. The union's concern is simply that the program might grow too large. But the only way the program can grow is if poor parents want it to. The Legislature can raise the cap on donations, but the law requires all funds be assigned to recipient students in the same year they're given. And scholarship organizations cannot carry over more than a quarter of total donations from one year to the next. So unless demand triples in the next five years, the program couldn't triple.

More details here.

Teachers Union Exposed

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:14:00 EDT

The Center for Union Facts (CUF) launched an unprecedented $1 million advertising assault on teachers unions. The campaign will launch a new division of CUF that will focus entirely on exposing how these massive unions are damaging America's public schools by blocking reform and protecting bad teachers. For more information, visit: http://www.teachersunionexposed.com/

Related topics:

Empowering Teachers with Choice: How a Diversified Education System Benefits Teachers, Students, and America by Vicki Murray
IWF Podcast: Does School Choice Benefit Teachers? with Charlotte Hays and Allison Kasic

School Choice in NY

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:11:00 EDT

On many issues, Lt. Gov. David Paterson is expected to be even more liberal than Eliot Spitzer. But John Fund offers hope on one important issue, school choice, over at the Wall Street Journal:

But on at least one issue, Mr. Paterson breaks from liberal orthodoxy. He is passionately in favor of school choice and has even spoken at two conferences held by the Alliance for School Choice. At one, he pulled off the rare feat of quoting both Martin Luther King Jr. and individualistic philosopher Ayn Rand approvingly in the same speech.

Here's hoping Mr. Paterson puts education reform ahead of tax policy as he draws up his list of priorities.

FOX's America's Newsroom: Teachers Unions Exposed

info@iwf.org (Michelle D. Bernard) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:27:00 EDT

IWF President and CEO Michelle D. Bernard joined FOX Newsroom to discuss the campaign against teachers unions launched by Center for Union Facts (CUF).

California vs. Homeschooling

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:06:00 EDT

Over at NRO, Liam Julian has more on the outrageous homeschooling ruling out of California that I reported on last week. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles responded to the ruling saying, "What's best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher." This doesn't fly with Julian:

Such statements are risible. Los Angeles Unified School District enrolls some 700,000 students taught by the credentialed teachers that Duffy represents, and a mere 33 percent of those pupils are proficient in reading, only 38 make the grade in math, and only 44 percent ever graduate. What's best for a child, it seems, has little or nothing to do with the credentials Duffy cherishes.

Furthermore, it is particularly noxious for the head of a big-city teachers' union, the members of which are failing to educate a stunning number of their pupils, to cheer a court decision that denies the competence of parent educators. Duffy - whose motivations for pushing more students into L.A.'s classrooms may be laudable, but may also stem from a desire to swell the ranks of public-school students to force the district to hire more dues-paying teachers - ought not lecture parents about "what's best" for their own children.

More info here.

Podcast Alert: School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:55:00 EDT

Over on the podcast page, Carrie Lukas and I discuss IWF's Women for School Choice initiative. Give it a listen here.

IWF Podcast: Women for School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:33:00 EDT

Allison Kasic and Carrie Lukas discuss IWF's new initiative Women for School Choice.

Outrageous ruling out of California

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:45:00 EDT

Last week, a California appeals court sent a tremendous blow to the homeschooling movement, ruling that parents must obtain a state teaching license in order to home-school their children. The ruling puts the parents of an 166,000 children at risk of prosecution.

But does certification make for better teaching? Over at Cato @ Liberty, Neal McCluskey points to research that says 'no.'

More details here.

Education Reform in Los Angeles

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:42:00 EST

The latest video from Reason.tv's Drew Carey Project is a must watch. Carey chronicles a brave principal's battle against the local teachers union and school district in an effort to reform a struggling school in Los Angeles. Here is a preview of the episode:

Vikki Reyes has had it with Locke High, the school her daughters attend in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. She walked in on class one day and recalls "the place was just like a zoo!" Students had taken control, while the teacher sat quietly with a book.

Frank Wells has also had it with Locke High. When he became principal he says gangs ruled the campus. He tried to turn things around but ran into a "brick wall" of resistance from the school district and teachers union.

Locke seemed destined to languish in high crime and low test scores until Wells, Reyes, and many reform-minded teachers joined with a maverick named Steve Barr in an attempt to break free from the status quo. Their battle is just one example of the charter school education revolt that's erupting across the nation.

Watch the video here.

Women for School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:52:00 EST

Over on the left-hand menu, you'll note a new button for "Women for School Choice" which is the latest IWF project. Here's all the info:

No issue is more important to our country's future than the education of the next generation. Unfortunately, America's public education system does not do justice to the promise of our youth. Too many schools provide a substandard education, leaving children-particularly those in urban areas who are disproportionately low-income-without the skills necessary to participate in the modern workforce and society.
Across the country, there is increasingly widespread recognition that the top-down, one-size fits all approach to K-12 schooling has failed. The school choice movement is working to incrementally build support for school choice and expand school choice programs around the country. Recent successes include the creation of the first universal voucher in Utah, the District of Columbia voucher program, Arizona's adoption of a voucher program for foster children as well as an expanded corporate tax credit program to fund scholarship programs to low-income children, and the embrace of the concept of school choice by a growing number of lawmakers.
Women for School Choice, a project of the Independent Women's Forum, focuses on building support for school choice specifically among women, educating the public about the benefits of school choice, and demonstrating the broad support that the concept of school choice has among women across the country. IWF engages in important research about the benefits of school choice, with a particular emphasis on the impact on women and families.
IWF is committed to advancing policies that promise to give children the opportunity to have quality educations. Learn more about school choice and sign up to voice your support of the idea of giving parents more choices and more control over their children's education.

Sign our petition to support school choice here.

IWF publications on school choice available here.

Other school choice resources available here.

Podcast Alert: School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:01:00 EST

In the latest IWF podcast, Carrie Lukas and I talk about the recent school choice vote in Utah. Give it a listen here.

A Sad Day in Utah

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:37:00 EST

The editors of National Review eloquently sum up yesterday's disappointing loss in the Utah school choice battle:

What was probably the most significant - and disappointing - outcome [of yesterday's elections] involved school choice in Utah, which more than 60 percent of voters rejected on Tuesday. School-choice ballot initiatives have a long record of poor performance - just like many public schools, it might be said. Reformers had hoped that conservative Utah would prove different. Voters were asked to endorse a plan that their state legislature had narrowly adopted earlier this year, giving financial support to families that choose private schools for their children. The teacher unions poured money into the state - by one estimate, the National Education Association spent $1 for every teacher in the United States to defeat school choice in Utah. This effort crushed a local movement. The ultimate victims are kids who remain trapped in government-run schools, not just in Utah but in other states that might have found inspiration in Utah's example, had it actually set one.

John Stossel Makes the Case for Utah Vouchers

info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:43:00 EDT

Utah voters will decide the fate of their state's voucher program next Tuesday. John Stossel today makes a persuasive case for why they should vote to keep the innovative plan in place:

Vouchers will make schools accountable to parents rather than a bureaucracy. Principals and administrators will have to convince parents that they are doing a good job. That's real accountability. And the Utah law requires private schools to submit to independent financial audits and give students a nationally recognized test each year. The results would be publicly disclosed, giving parents information they can use to judge schools.

Opposition to the program is being lead--surprise!--by the teachers unions who want to maintain a monopoly on education money. Utah teachers should check out IWF's latest paper on school choice since good teacher have a lot to gain from a competitive education marketplace.

School Choice for Middle Class Families

info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:03:00 EDT

The Wall Street Journal reports that the debate about greater educational freedom shouldn't just be about low-income families--the middle class needs school choice too.

Proponents of educational choice tend to focus on the underprivileged, which is understandable given that low-income kids are overrepresented in failing inner-city public schools. But an emphasis on the plight of the poor can leave the impression that middle-class public school students are doing fine. And that would be a false impression, according to a new book-length study by the Pacific Research Institute, "Not as Good as You Think: Why the Middle-Class Needs School Choice."

The PRI report details how many supposedly good public schools that serve areas with expensive homes are failing to educate their students. It's a good warning for parents who may wrongly assume that high property values automatically translate into high quality schools.

One of the authors of the PRI study is Vicki Murray, who wrote this study for IWF. Her study examined how teachers benefit from educational freedom. Both studies are important contributions to this discussion. Everyone has something at stake when it comes to improving our school system.

Selling School Choice

info@iwf.org (Carrie L. Lukas) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:57:00 EDT

National Review

Governor Romney has an opportunity to improve his standing among conservatives, by helping to deliver a historic victory at the ballot box in Utah.

On November 6, voters in Utah will decide whether to repeal the state's recently-enacted universal school voucher program. The program, which Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. signed into law in February, offers private school scholarships to every child in Utah's public schools, and to all low-income children currently in private schools. Vouchers are worth up to $3,000 for the neediest families, and all children are eligible to receive at least $500 for tuition.

If allowed to move forward, by 2020, the Utah voucher program would enable every child in the state to attend a school of their parents' choice. It would be by far the most sweeping school choice initiative enacted in the United States to date.

The benefits of sustaining this kind of program are clear: An education marketplace encourages innovation, greater efficiency, and more diversity. Instead of being stuck with one-size-fits-all, local-government-run public schools, parents are able to choose the schools that best meet their children's unique needs and talents. Schools respond by offering a variety of curricula and specialties. Parents have the ability to hold schools accountable. If they have doubts about whether their child is thriving, they can take their business elsewhere. Schools, in turn, hold teachers accountable: they expect professionalism, and accordingly, reward teachers that provide the best service.

This, of course, means trouble for the teachers unions, which have relied on the government's near monopoly on K-12 education to thwart efforts to hold teachers accountable for their performances. They are fighting the program in Utah as if their very existence were at stake. In the spring, the Utah Education Association led a statewide petition campaign to gather support for striking the voucher program. They succeeded in forcing a ballot referendum to decide the program's fate this November. Recognizing that a successful program in Utah could encourage other states to adopt similar programs, the National Education Association has pledged $3 million to help the Utah chapter anti-voucher campaign.

Vouchers have a poor track record at the ballot box. In 2000, initiatives to create school voucher programs in California and Michigan were soundly defeated. But supporters of school choice have reason to hope that Utah should be different. Voters aren't being asked to create a program, but rather to approve a program that has already made it through the legislative process and become law. There is an active pro-voucher coalition. The Salt Lake City-based Parents for Choice in Education is leading a statewide campaign in support of the program.

Governor Romney is uniquely positioned to lend a helping hand. The former Massachusetts governor's popularity in Utah is well known. In 2002, he earned national acclaim by rescuing Salt Lake City's Olympics. And as a Mormon making a credible bid for White House, Romney draws wide support in a state where more than 60-percent of citizens also belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Romney has stated that he supports school choice and vouchers while on the campaign trail. But skeptical conservatives might note that as Governor, vouchers were not a priority. Other GOP hopefuls have a stronger record on the issue. Rudy Giuliani pushed vouchers while he was Mayor of New York City, and both John McCain and Fred Thompson cast votes in the Senate to provide school vouchers for children in Washington, D.C.

The Utah ballot initiative gives Romney the opportunity to prove his bona fides as a strong school voucher supporter at a critical time. By talking about the importance of parental choice and the power of market competition, he could help to raise awareness about the importance of this program among Utah voters. By urging his supporters to give this program a chance, he could ensure that more parents control where their kids go to school, and help Utah become a national model for universal school choice.

In 2002, Mitt Romney saved Utah's Olympics and earned national acclaim as an effective manager and problem solver. In 2007, Romney has an opportunity to help rescue the nation's most expansive school voucher program and deliver a historic victory for conservatives. It's good policy, and can't hurt on the primary campaign trail either.

-Carrie Lukas is vice president for policy and economics at the Independent Women's Forum and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism.

School Choice in Utah

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:11:00 EDT

Over at National Review Online, IWF's Carrie Lukas calls on presidential candidate Mitt Romney to step up his support of school choice by supporting Utah's upcoming ballot initiative to keep or reject the recently passed universal voucher program:

"Governor Romney is uniquely positioned to lend a helping hand. The former Massachusetts governor's popularity in Utah is well known. In 2002, he earned national acclaim by rescuing Salt Lake City's Olympics. And as a Mormon making a credible bid for White House, Romney draws wide support in a state where more than 60-percent of citizens also belong to the Church of Latter Day Saints.

"Romney has stated that he supports school choice and vouchers while on the campaign trail. But skeptical conservatives might note that as Governor, vouchers were not a priority. Other GOP hopefuls have a stronger record on the issue. Rudy Giuliani pushed vouchers while he was Mayor of New York City, and both John McCain and Fred Thompson cast votes in the Senate to provide school vouchers for children in Washington, D.C.

"The Utah ballot initiative gives Romney the opportunity to prove his bona fides as a strong school voucher supporter at a critical time. By talking about the importance of parental choice and the power of market competition, he could help to raise awareness about the importance of this program among Utah voters. By urging his supporters to give this program a chance, he could ensure that more parents control where their kids go to school, and help Utah become a national model for universal school choice."

Read the whole article here.

Teacher Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:48:00 EDT

Charlotte Hays continues the discussion about school choice and teachers in her weekly column. Give it a read here.

How Should Teachers Be More Like Lawyers?

info@iwf.org (Charlotte Hays) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:26:00 EDT

Feminists complain constantly about perceived inequities in the work place-and yet most vocally oppose something that could provide real benefits for thousands upon thousands of working women: school choice.

Not only would choice allow teachers to improve their financial outlooks, but they could give them more autonomy. This is the argument of an important new study, Empowering Teachers with Choice: How a Diversified Education System Benefits Teachers, Students, and America, by Dr. Vicki Murray. The study is published by the Independent Women's Forum.

For those of us who remember and perhaps count among our blessings Miss So-and-So, that starchy Latin teacher who dragged us through all three parts of Gaul, or perhaps a female English teacher who helped us come to love Hardy, Murray's study will remind us how much things have changed-and how much they haven't.
In the stability department, the teaching profession remains a popular career choice for women. "Education is the second largest U.S. industry, and female employees outnumber male employees by more than 3 to one," writes Murray. It has ever been so. In the old days, talented women often had no other option. But now they do-the women who might automatically have become teachers in the past are just as likely today to become lawyers or doctors (though teaching does allow a degree more of flexibility for those women who want to bring up children).

With educated women now having the same choices as their male counterparts, schools, if they are to attract and retain bright women (and bright men, too, of course!), must present attractive career choices. Our current reliance primarily on the one-size-fits all public school no longer works in this more competitive hiring environment. But there is no reason that this system must be the only system. "Imagine," writes Murray, "if teaching resembled the medical or legal profession. Like doctors and attorneys, teachers would choose their areas and levels of specialization, and pick from a variety of employers that best match their unique specialties and interests. Similar to hospitals and law firms today, schools would operate according to various missions, attracting and serving general or specific populations. Schools would come in many sizes and operate in both the public and private sectors."

One of the best ways to achieve this is through school choice, as is reflected in the voucher and charter schools movements. In fact, as Murray notes, a burgeoning movement has a small number of teachers pioneering the kinds of schools where they can be happy and do their best work.

In a way, some of the great public schools really were charter schools-they just weren't called that. Take Boston Latin, the oldest public school in America, founded in 1635 (before Harvard), which was established to teach the humanities, with a grounding in Latin. Sounds like a charter school to me! My hometown of Greenville, Mississippi boasts a school named after Miss Carrie Stern, a school teacher from the 1920s and ‘30s, who taught generations to love the theater and art. She was famous for her theatrical productions, one featuring hanging Japanese lanterns for a Shakespeare comedy. Come to think of it, this too, sounds sort of like a charter school before we knew the word.

When Boston Latin's celebrated headmaster, Ezekiel Cheever, died in 1708, Cotton Mather, the famous preacher, noted, "We generally concur in acknowledging that New England has never known a better teacher." Having passed a portrait of Miss Carrie Lee every day of my life in elementary school, I can attest that Ezekiel Cheever wasn't the only teacher put on an Olympian pedestal. This kind of prestige is important to the profession, and it won't return until teaching becomes a more competitive field.

Many teachers today feel devalued. The charter school movement, by recognizing and utilizing their professionalism and knowledge, returns the esteem in which members of the teaching profession were once held. The point here is that when teachers can teach-really teach-they are respected.

Closely related to respect (I'm afraid this must be said) is money, and charter schools are conducive to merit pay. Teacher unions, which want pay raises without reference to the teacher's ability and dedication, vehemently oppose this. Murray quotes a study which argues that high-performing professionals are discouraged from entering "the one profession in which pay is decoupled" from performance.

"Uniform salary schedules are a significant obstacle to paying teachers competitive salaries," Murray writes, because this compresses the salaries of all teachers. About 75 percent of the decline of quality in the teaching profession, she writes, can be attributed to uniform salary schedules.

And what about the schools charter school teachers leave behind? If there is a brain drain, this might be all to the good. "The schools those teachers left behind," writes Murray, "are taking notice because their employees now have more appealing options."

Just like doctors, lawyers, and other professionals.

Charlotte Hays is senior editor at the Independent Women's Forum.

IWF Podcast Alert

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:03:00 EDT

Charlotte Hays and I discuss school choice, particuarly the benefits of school choice for teachers, in IWF's latest podcast. Give it a listen here.

IWF Podcast: Does School Choice Benefit Teachers?

info@iwf.org (Charlotte Hays) info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:45:00 EDT

WF's Charlotte Hays and Allison Kasic discuss school choice. What is the status of the battle over vouchers in Utah? Why do teacher's unions oppose school choice measures? Does school choice benefit teachers?

Also read:

"Teachers Choice " by Allison Kasic
"Empowering Teachers with Choice: How a Diversified Educations System Benefits Teachers, Students, and America by Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D.

Why so many teachers are quitting

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:54:00 EDT

IWF visiting fellow Vicki Murray had a great piece in the Orange County Register last week looking at teacher retention problems in California:

"Little has changed since 1983 when A Nation at Risk, a report based on 18 months of research by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, concluded that "the professional working life of teachers is, on the whole, unacceptable," which helps explain why the American schoolhouse has become a revolving door for teachers. Average annual national non-retirement teacher turnover rates exceed 14 percent, meaning around a third of the teaching workforce (more than 1 million instructors) are in transition each year.

"This turnover costs California taxpayers an estimated $455 million annually, but better employment opportunities like those offered at charter schools could help.

"Among nonretiring California teachers at schools run by local districts, more than half who leave blame job dissatisfaction, compared with one in three of their peers nationwide. Inadequate support, excessive bureaucracy, a lack of collegiality and insufficient input under the current district-managed schooling system are leading reasons why California teachers quit."

Luckily, there appears to be some hope in charter schools:

"In contrast, overall satisfaction rates among charter school teachers nationwide, at 82 percent, are more than three times higher than for their district-managed counterparts. Also, more than one in four charter school teachers across the country said they would do something else entirely if they could not teach at a charter school. They cite as key elements of job satisfaction their influence over curricula, student discipline and professional development, as well as school safety, collaboration with colleagues and their schools’ learning environments."

Check out the rest of her article here.

Washington Post on School Choice

info@iwf.org (Anne Trenolone) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:58:00 EDT

Linking back to my post on DC schools and the charter-Catholic happenings yesterday, the Washington Post editorial page has also chimed in:

We strongly support the efforts of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to improve the public schools, but no child should have to wait to learn. That's why choice is so important in American education.

Teacher Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:27:00 EDT

National Review

Earlier this year, Utah governor Jon Hunstman Jr. made history by signing the Parent Choice in Education Act, the largest school-voucher bill to date in the United States. This massive school-choice program provides scholarships ranging from $500 to $3000 to help parents send their children to the private school of their choice. The program is open to all current public school children as well as some children already in private school. But the honeymoon in Utah was short lived. Before even one child could participate in the program, the scholarships were put on hold, pending a voter referendum this November on whether to retain the law.

Leading the charge against the voucher program is the Utah Education Association (UEA), the powerful state-wide teacher's union. The battle this fall will be the most significant battle over school choice in years and the UEA is taking no chances - they are calling in backup.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that UEA president Kim Campbell traveled to Philadelphia to ask the board of directors of the National Education Association (NEA) for significant financial help to oppose the voucher program. Her campaign, she said, would "be ugly, mean and expensive." The Education Intelligence Agency, a union watchdog, claims that Campbell's $3 million request for NEA assistance was approved. This will, in short, be a full-scale assault on parental choice in education, led by teachers' unions. But is opposing the voucher program really in the best interest of Utah teachers?

Discussions about school choice program typically focus on students. It is understandable that people are primarily concerned with students, but teachers - certainly an important player in any educational system - are also affected by school choice. And recent research suggests that increased school choice through programs such as Utah's stalled voucher program benefit teachers just as they benefit students.

In "Empowering Teachers with Choice: How a Diversified Education System Benefits Teachers, Students, and America," a recent report by the Independent Women's Forum, education analyst Vicki Murray sheds light on the benefits teachers receive through school choice. At the heart of the issue is a more diverse workplace. Education is the second-largest industry in America, yet teachers do not see the same range of employment options that other fields, such as the medical or legal profession, enjoy. Instead, teachers are met with the same limitation that most students face - that of an assigned, government-run public school.

Programs like Utah's Parent Choice in Education Act strive to create more options for students, parents, and teachers. Instead of sending their children to a government-assigned public school, parents can choose to send their children to the private school of their choice. By removing the government's monopoly on students, the program will force all schools to compete for students, improving both public and private education in the process.

The program would also move toward a more diversified education marketplace for teachers. Just as schools would have to compete for students, they would also have to compete for quality teachers by offering competitive salaries, flexible schedules, and other perks. This kind of diversified market already exists in Japan, and the results have been tremendous. Teachers report higher levels of satisfaction, and Japanese students consistently outperform students from other countries on international exams. The system also boasts strong parental support and involvement, benefiting both students and teachers.

There is no reason that the United States can't have an educational system that creates a positive working environment for teachers, while providing students with quality education. Polls indicate that private-school teachers are twice as satisfied as their public-school counterparts with their working conditions. Public-school teachers are twice as likely as private-school teachers to feel that doing their best is a waste of time. Teachers, overwhelmingly educated individuals committed to making a positive impact on children's lives, deserve better than a system that makes them feel ineffectual.

The UEA and NEA should stop their knee-jerk opposition to school choice and consider what is best for the teachers they are supposed to represent. School choice has the potential to give both parents and teachers better options, which is something that everyone should support.