Amendment 80, which would have enshrined school choice as a right in the Colorado Constitution, was defeated on the Colorado ballot in November, although it got 49% of the vote. Had it passed it might have paved the way for private school vouchers throughout Colorado, a movement that’s being adopted by a growing number of other states. That’s precisely why the teachers unions spent lavishly to defeat it here. When it comes up again in Colorado, here are some rebuttals to anti-choice misinformation.
“This will drain money from public schools.” A voucher system doesn’t “defund” public education, like leftists would defund the police, it just redirects the money. Taxpayer dollars earmarked for the education of children would follow the children to a school of their parents’ choice through a voucher equivalent to the current per capita cost per student. Why should government schools have a monopoly on the delivery of publicly funded education? Competition breeds excellence in a market economy and would force public schools to offer a better product to keep parents from joining the exodus. When parents select private or charter schools over poorly performing public schools, the remaining public schools will require fewer teachers, fewer buildings, fewer buses and fewer taxpayer dollars.
“Money would be diverted to religious schools.” So what? Taxpayer dollars can already be used for college tuition at religious schools. You can use military benefits for college to go to Notre Dame or Yeshiva University. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Establishment Clause of the Constitution is offended only if government favors or discriminates against a particular religion. In a voucher program, the parents are making that choice, not the government.
“This is a subsidy for wealthy parents whose children already attend private schools.” Wealthy parents can already afford to send their kids to private schools. A voucher system can be means-tested on a sliding scale to allow many lower- and middle-income families who can’t afford private schools to elect that option. There are plenty of non-wealthy parents who sacrifice to send their kids to private schools who will benefit from vouchers. Those parents and “wealthy” ones alike have been subsidizing public school districts for years with their taxes while relieving those districts of the cost of educating their kids.
“Some private and charter schools fail.” As well they should. And some companies go out of business. That’s what happens when consumers have choice and an enterprise doesn’t perform to their satisfaction. Successful private and charter schools have long waiting lists. The public school monopoly treats parents as captives, not customers. That’s why too many failing and poor performing public schools that should go out of business continue to squander public resources and underserve students, parents and taxpayers.
“Studies show that private schools and charter schools don’t produce any better academic results than public schools, and parents might make bad choices.” If you like your current public school, stay there but why deny that choice to others? Do you suppose wealthy parents are so foolish as to send their kids to poor performing private schools? There are dueling studies about private/charter school vs. public school performance. The public school establishment, teachers unions and teachers colleges – all in bed together protecting their rice bowl — solicit biased studies to demean the competition. Voucher advocates have their own studies with opposite conclusions. Let’s leave that judgment to individual parents.
In addition to academic rigor and performance, parents with school choice can make their selections on the basis of a school’s values, discipline, pedagogical philosophy, curricula, textbooks, or whether phonics is used to teach reading rather than “look-say.” Parents who prefer basic academics to progressive indoctrination, social engineering, DEI, and wokeness can seek out a school in line with what they want for their kids. Outrageously, two-thirds of public school students now fall short of grade proficiency in reading, and it’s even worse in math.
Many teachers who love students don’t like teachers unions. The unions aren’t welcome in private and charter schools, and the unions hate charters and vouchers for the competition they invite. Remember how unions catered to their members and kept schools closed way too long at the expense of school kids during the pandemic? Teachers unions dominate the public school establishment in Democrat-run cities and states, and the politicians return the favor by resisting charters and flatly blocking private school vouchers. Unions, politics, bureaucracy, and a one-size-fits-all mentality are the cause of our public school quagmire. School choice and vouchers offer a market alternative, the key to rescuing public education.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.
