Over the past several years, indeed since the Locker Room began, I have bucked the trend among many of my colleagues both here at the JLF and in the conservative/libertarian think-tank world generally, in ardently opposing much of the agenda of the so-called school choice movement. Probably the argument I have made most frequently is that with government money flowing to private schools will necessarily come regulations and controls. This is a point that most supporters of government funding of private education have never denied, but they argue that we just need to do the best we can in fighting for private school autonomy as the issue comes up.
Well the issue has come up in Florida and those freedom loving school choicers have just thrown in the towel. This article in the latest issue of the Heartland Institute’s School Reform News explains how the Florida Association of Scholarship Funding Organizations is now lobbying for new ?accountability standards? for private schools participating in a program that offers corporate tax credits for funding scholarships. As noted in the article ?among the coalition’s accountability recommendations are required standardized testing for tax credit scholarship recipients and teacher qualification requirements.? One of the arguments is that these proposals are meant to head off stricter requirements being proposed by those who oppose the program. A representative of the FLA/SFO is quoted as saying “our coalition is working toward accountability that makes the program stronger, without being so restrictive it prohibits good private schools from participating.” Hmmm. I thought parents were supposed to be capable of choosing between good and bad private schools.
This isn’t the first time proponents of ?school choice? have joined the anti-freedom for private schools movement. As the article notes, ?School Choice Wisconsin? pushed for and won ?accountability standards? for private schools participating in that state’s government funded private schools program. The article notes that ?Since Wisconsin passed its accountability legislation, dozens of schools have been prevented from entering Milwaukee’s 15-year-old citywide school voucher program based on fiscal ineligibility, which Mitchell [a spokesperson for SCW] says is often a proxy for poor academic performance.?
The SCW is further quoted as saying, “we hope that it continues to be an effective tool that weeds out schools that aren’t ready for prime time but doesn’t pose an unnecessary burden for other schools in the program.”
Apparently these are choices that SCW feels parents are simply not capable of making themselves-I guess we don’t want to carry this whole school choice thing too far now do we.
My sense has always been that in reality most advocates of what might be called a ?single payer plan for education,? simply think it’s all worth it. The tradeoff of freedom for private schools in exchange for more subsidized options for current public school students is just part of the bullet that we will have to bite in order to improve education. Unfortunately the ?school choice? advocates in Florida and Wisconsin are proving me right.
