“How could choice possibly lead to fewer options for parents?
In cases where parents are forced to charter or private schools, the schools operate with less regulation than a typical public school, so they can practice abhorrent discipline policies, deny access to hard-to-teach students, or, if it is a private school, teach a religion-based curriculum that would never be allowed in a traditional public school.
So all of a sudden a “choice” becomes a consequence where parents don’t have the leverage of any democratic governing system.
Further, more taxpayer dollars diverted to charter and private schools means less money for traditional local schools, which affects the options of the parents “left behind” in their community schools.
And regardless of the choice scheme, more well-off parents will always have the means to game the system while less well-off parents are left scrambling in the wake of a more competitive landscape.”
By Jeff Bryant
READ THE REST HERE: The Disempowerment Of Public School Parents
The best article I’ve read on the subject in ages – well worth the read. Dianne
LikeLike