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Children and parents rally in Dayton, Ohio, for the freedom to pick their schools.
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Key figures,
United States
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Total population
(millions, 1999): 273
Adult literacy rate (1998) 99%
Gross enrolment ratio (1997):
- Primary education: 102%
- Secondary education: 97%
- Tertiary education: 81%
Private share of expenditure on
educational institutions, all levels (1997): 25%
Sources: World Bank, UNDP, OECD. |
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In the U.S., parents are claiming
the right to spend their tax money as they see fit and are rallying in growing numbers
behind voucher plans. A critical look at the school choice controversy
 The industrialized world’s first public education system is
under siege, with fierce attacks pitched from all sides in the U.S. political arena.
First the administrative leadership of large urban school districts is reeling from
accusations of being inefficient, overly bureaucratic and more preoccupied with rules
and regulations than with providing quality education to students. Meanwhile, teachers,
students and parents, especially those from low-income areas, are the targets of
blame for what has been characterized as the “rising tide of mediocrity that threatens
our very future as a nation and a people.”
Never before has education received such attention in a presidential campaign. The
nation tuned into televised debate where Al Gore and George Bush clearly marked out
the battle lines. The Democrat pledged to pump $115 billion more into a school system
in need of greater accountability and innovation, while the Republican vowed to dismantle
the system and replace it by privately managed schools that operate on marketplace
principles.
At the centre of the debate lies the highly controversial voucher plan: instead of
paying taxes to support their local public school, parents can opt to use that money
to send their child to a private school. In 1998 Florida became the first to adopt
a statewide plan, while California and Michigan will vote on similar initiatives
in November 2000. California’s is notably supported by Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley
venture capitalist. The proposed policy: to provide state-funded scholarships of
$4,000 (compared to the $5,627 per student the state now spends) to any parents who
want to send their children to private or parochial schools.
Despite their power, teacher unions have been left to the margins of the debate.
Often castigated as stubborn defenders of the status quo, unions have been forced
into a defensive posture, attempting to fight off the most radical reform measures
while working to raise the salaries and benefits of their members, which are widely
recognized as inadequate. Although the American Federation of Teachers and the National
Education Association continue to play a major role in statewide elections, their
influence in the debate over educational reform has been minimal.
Support for the privatization camp is drawn largely from certain corporations which
perceive public education as hopelessly unfixable, religious conservatives who want
to exercise greater control over what their children are taught, and a growing number
of middle-class parents whose children already attend private schools and who resent
being taxed to support a system they do not patronize. In most states, this coalition
has been unable to muster the support needed to implement privatization proposals
beyond a small number of isolated cases. But this appears to be changing.
Other constituencies who once were viewed as reliable supporters of public education
now appear willing to back efforts to radically transform the system and replace
it with new models, many of which remain undefined and untested. A recent study conducted
by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that 88 percent of African
Americans were in favour of education choice plans, with the highest support (95
percent) coming from families earning less than $15,000 a year. For parents whose
children have long constituted a “captured market” and been forced to attend the
most inferior schools, the various privatization proposals hold out the promise of
providing access to quality education.
The white middle class takes
flight
How do we explain this groundswell of interest?
The answer is far from straightforward. Though the right to education is not guaranteed
by the U.S. constitution, access to education has effectively become a universal
entitlement. Moreover, many significant advancements in civil rights for racial minorities,
the disabled, language minorities, and more recently gays and lesbians, have first
been achieved in public education before spreading to other sectors of society. Schools
in the U.S. are governed locally, and throughout the country communities increasingly
look to their public schools for solutions to a growing list of social problems.
Yet so many schools are in such a lamentable state that the entire system is now
under attack. Severe funding cuts in the 1980s forced many school districts to eliminate
academic programmes (such as art, music and athletics), increase the number of students
per classroom, and reduce access to services such as counselling. Fractious labour
relations, decaying buildings and an array of social problems, many of which are
related to impoverishment of the children they serve, have overwhelmed school personnel.
Such conditions have compelled many middle-class families to flee urban school districts
and transformed many schools into institutions of last resort. African American and
Latino students are grossly over-represented in these failing schools. So it may
be only natural to find their parents increasingly open to voucher proposals.
Fear, racial prejudice toward minorities, and the arrival of new immigrants have
also contributed to the flight of the white middle class. States such as California,
Florida and New York have experienced substantial increases in public school enrolment
due to the immigration of large numbers of Asians and Latin Americans. As the demographics
of the student population has changed, registered voters, typically older and disproportionately
white, have been less willing to cover the costs of public education through tax
increases.
The airline model and the
future of schools left behind
Despite their many weaknesses, public schools
continue to offer one of the only sources of mobility and social support to poor
and working- class families. Under voucher schemes, elite schools may become even
more selective as an increase in the demand for admission allows them to raise the
cost of tuition and moves them even further beyond the reach of low-income families.
And what will happen to those schools and students left behind? Funding is based
largely on enrolment, so it seems unlikely that the undesirable schools will receive
the resources needed to improve. The State of California’s legislative analyst projects
a major cut in public school funding if the children already in private schools receive
vouchers and if five percent of those in the public system use vouchers to leave.
Shifting the burden of responsibility
The essential difference between the present
situation and what is likely to occur after privatization is that individuals rather
than government will bear responsibility for ensuring access to quality education.
Advocates point to the example of the new airlines that were established shortly
after the industry’s deregulation in the 1980s. Most of the new airlines no longer
exist, however, and those that do are widely seen as offering inferior quality albeit
at a lower price. But the advocates still argue that new schools couldn’t possibly
be worse than the public ones now operating in certain districts. But unlike public
schools, which are required to meet legally established educational standards (mainly
teaching credentials and accessibility for students), there is no guarantee that
private schools will be held to similar requirements.
The advocates seem to be gaining the political advantage. In such a climate, defence
of public education must be based upon more than its potential to improve, but on
evidence that this can in fact be done. Public education is in desperate need of
reform, and those who value and appreciate its role in society must be at the forefront
of efforts to hasten the pace of change, otherwise America’s “one best system” could
very well be terminated.
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