Vol. 4, No. 28
July 16, 2002

* BUREAUCRACY: Much has been written about students -- from Maryland to Nevada -- not using the choice options available to those who attend failing schools. School officials attribute the small number of choices being made to satisfaction with their schools, warts and all. But the Center for Education Reform has found something else that may be causing fewer parents to choose: it's called bureaucracy.

        CER investigated a representative sample of Maryland school districts and determined that the process is designed to discourage parents from making choices. Take, for example, the tone of a Montgomery County school district letter to parents of children in failing schools: "Special efforts are under way to continue to improve student performance in a group of federally funded Title I elementary schools . . . .principals, teachers, parents and all staff are working hard to make improvements for next year. Parents have the option to keep their children enrolled in these schools, at their home school, or to seek enrollment in a designated school for the 2002-2003 school year." The same letter lists all the great things that have been "invested" in failing schools, and constantly reiterates that if they choose to send their kids to schools with proven records of success, parents will be missing out on all the new programs. Add to this that several districts offer parents the "choice" of only one other school (selected by the district), and that parents are often given only a few weeks to make their decision, and the picture becomes clear: Too many districts are more interested in persuading parents to keep their kids in failing schools than they are in providing them with the choices to which they're entitled.

* CHOICES: In addition to the barriers districts are creating, there is only a finite number of slots in schools that are almost completely filled, thus pointing out the folly not only of letting school districts run choice programs, but of limiting those choices to district-run schools. Maryland remains one of the eleven states without a charter school law, and its districts are so large that choosing outside of districts -- as permitted in states such as Minnesota -- is typically out of the question. Without some consequence for failing to expand choices, districts will continue to thwart the intent of the law designed to prevent children from being left behind in failing schools.

* UNIONS: Speaking of failing schools, why is the American Federation of Teachers, whose affiliates mainly serve troubled urban areas, attacking charter schools based on irregular and irresponsible data analysis? On the eve of this school employee union's annual conference -- this year in Las Vegas, which fittingly is home to one of the most anti-charter unions in the country -- the AFT releases a questionable report. On Wednesday, CER will have in-depth analysis from some of the country's top charter school leaders who also have experience with the AFT. In the meantime, beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. With school choice validated by the Supreme Court and this attack on the growing charter school movement, the AFT is no doubt going to be having itself a very lively convention.

* CHOICE and the MEDIA: Newsweek and MSNBC correspondent Jonathan Alter points out suburbia's disdain for school choice in his June 28 column, and while outlining the problems facing schools today, puts Democrats and Republicans in a challenging box that begs consideration. Says Alter, "Can wealthy white liberals -- many of whom send their kids to private school -- really say to poor parents: 'We can have choices, but you must not?' This is a glaring hypocrisy sitting at the heart of the liberal opposition to targeted vouchers . . . . Right now, Democrats are in a highly compromised position on education. They're in bed with the teachers unions (as are Republicans in many states)." But Alter concedes that the union agenda is not the reform agenda, putting Demos in a hot seat of losing credibility if they continue their age old alliance. Alter joins the chorus of those like CER who believe that "the best answers for education are unfettered charter schools wherever parents want to start them, targeted vouchers in inner city school districts that have otherwise utterly failed and adequate funding for education." (Though we'd add it has to be equal per child and move with the child!)

* ACHIEVEMENT: Let's start the above prescription in New York City where middle school student reading and writing scores dropped dramatically this year. Despite higher standards, this nose-dive suggests that schools are failing to keep up with the demands that they help children meet those standards. The passing rate was only 29.5 percent in the city, and in the state's other large cities, only an average of 19. 3 percent of eighth graders passed the English test. Across the river in Newark, NJ, one school had a 2.5 percent passing rate in the AFT-controlled district. Has anyone heard a call for that school to be closed?

* CHARTERS: A new charter school in New Mexico is running into numerous roadblocks at what appears to the behest of the local superintendent and the Carlsbad Municipal School District. The Jefferson Montessori Academy, a K-9 school expected to open this fall, has faced obstacles ranging from being frozen out of participating in the school board's public meetings, to being charged $1 per page for copies of public records or policies, while other public schools are charged at cost. On a more critical issue, the school has had its budget vote postponed, then denied (twice) by the local district and now remains pending at the state level where the school has been told it will have to make a few more "changes." Apparently the necessity of a budget for hiring teachers, ordering supplies and confirming enrollment has escaped the reviewers. This situation illustrates why charter schools need real fiscal autonomy where they actually have complete control over their own budgets.

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