CER Guest Editorial
by Jeanne Allen, President
The Center for Education Reform
Investor's Business Daily, August 22, 1995
In less than a month, school starts. Kindergartners will begin a new adventure. High-school seniors will contemplate their future. It's an American tradition. Fall. School. Friends, Teachers, Hope.
But there's a lot going on below the surface. Most kids are not getting as good an education as their parents expect. The problem is as bad in the suburbs as in the inner cities. And it won't go away until more Americans acknowledge that the system is in crisis. Consider:
A third of all college students need remedial training in reading and math. Barely 6% of high-school seniors bound for postsecondary school meet the criteria of very selective colleges.
America's highest-performing students are performing better than only two other industrialized nations in math and science.
The Nation's Report Card shows us that almost half of fourth-graders and 31% of eighth-graders cannot read at even a basic level.
Only 44% of teachers think our nation's public schools do a good job preparing students for the world of work. But 68% of school superintendents think schools ARE doing a good job.
In fact, the only insiders that say schools are doing great are groups with a vested interest in the status quo:
''Those who say our schools aren't doing a good job are wrong.'' - The National Association of School Boards.
''Education does quite well, for the majority of students.'' - National Parent-Teacher Association
''Public education is not failing.'' -National Education Association.
''Things are getting better, not worse.'' -Deputy Education Secretary Madeline Kunin.
Bunk.
We have relied too heavily on bureaucrats and the education cartel to make decisions, instead of relying upon the insights and professional know-how of those closest to our children. We took control of our schools from our local communities and gave it to strangers.
Authority for day-to-day operations no longer rests with principals. Teachers are no longer the king and queens of their classrooms. They can't address the concerns of parents, respond to community demands or meet students' needs because they aren't allowed to.
Leaders from the vested interest groups fight, not for better education, or even for the interests of those they claim to represent (be they parents, teachers or janitors), but to preserve their influence.
That is why schools too often don't educate, don't demand and don't inspire. Once, the goal of public education was to teach and train all children for a productive, enlightened life. That has been buried under a mass of verbal posturing and endless paper-shuffling efforts to institute policies, follow guidelines, meet mandates and amass as much state and federal money as possible.
As scores have declined in recent decades, spending has skyrocketed. Real per pupil spending has grown 62% since 1975, 40% since 1980. Education costs top $345 billion a year, $5,900 per pupil. Coopers and Lybrand estimates that, on average, less than 50% of this money ever reaches the classroom. In the urban areas, it is often less than 40%.
Public education is, sadly, a Business 101 case study of a failing industry: investment keeps increasing while productivity declines. There's light at the end of the tunnel. An ever-growing number of parents, educators, school board members and administrators are ignoring the rhetorical blitz. They KNOW there's trouble in their schools, and they're looking for innovative solutions.
In communities across the country, parents and city leaders are taking back control. Virginia and New Hampshire are even forgoing millions of dollars by choosing not to participate in the federal Goals 2000 program. School choice was once unthinkable. Now fourteen states and hundreds of cities let some parents choose the public school they feel is best for their children. Three states even allow parents to take some public funds to send their kids to private schools.
By this fall, more than 200 charter schools - public schools free of many of the rules and regulations that so plague educators - will be in operation.
More than 23 states have private scholarship programs run by businesses and entrepreneurs to help low-income parents defray the cost of sending their kids to private schools. Schools in 10 states are now working with private firms to provide instructional services.
You don't read much about these reforms because they don't conform to the views of the education cartel. But they're bringing about changes critical to the future of our children and our country.
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Jeanne Allen is author of THE SCHOOL REFORM HANDBOOK: How to Improve Your Schools, and president of The Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC, a national non-profit advocacy group providing support and guidance to thousands of individuals and communities nationwide who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For more information, please call (202) 822-9000 or (800) 521-2118, or send e-mail to cer@edreform.com.