School choice

(Another in a series of comments on national education policy)

The current political campaign has again brought the issue of school choice into the public conversation.

If a school is not effectively educating its students, it seems both reasonable and fair to give parents the option and financial resources to send their children someplace better.

But it seems to me that there’s a problem with the underlying assumption of the school choice argument.  If a particular school is inadequate - and unquestionably, some are, for a list of reasons - wouldn't every parent choose to send their children somewhere else? Are "school choice" proponents suggesting that we build the capacity that would allow every student to opt out of the public school?  If not, who would be left behind?

For example, one current proposal would use public funds to give private school vouchers to low-income families. I would be all for that - as long as there's enough public money for everyone. And it begs the question: what might be the result of investing that much money in the public system?

(It should be noted that if money really didn’t matter, as some pundits insist, per pupil expenditures in the wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia wouldn’t be nearly so high. These taxpayers – the majority of whom one would expect to be fiscally conservative – would not be supportive of high property taxes unless they thought they were getting a good return on their investment.) Perhaps money isn’t the solution, but it’s certainly part of the solution.

It should also be noted that for practical purposes, the rhetoric of school choice applies only to urban communities. If State College failed to make AYP, and its students suddenly had the legal option to go to another school, where, exactly, would they go?  How would they get there? And here’s the ‘secret’ nearly everyone fails to mention: the receiving school is under no obligation to take students from the under-performing school.

I’m sure that some of the proponents of school choice are well-meaning, but as current proposals are structured, it’s hard for me to see them as anything but a sham.

What am I missing?