A blog post by National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia has popped up a few times with little to no traction, so ReformerRed isn’t going to help the piece along by linking to it here. However, it is worth addressing to set the record straight.
Garcia warns caveat emptor! Let the buyer beware when seeking alternatives to failing public schools.
Supporters of education reform in the United States argue the opposite. Caveat venditor! Let the seller (in this case, Garcia and the Status Quo) beware when the product fails to meet the standard of quality consumers expect and deserve.
Of course, caveat venditor has little meaning in a market where only one product sits on the shelf and the consumer is deprived the freedom of choice. That’s the current monopoly Ms. Garcia advocates for today – a world in which parents and children have been forced to accept flat achievement scores for the last forty years, despite huge increases in education funding. Students dropping out or failing to graduate remain high especially among African-American males, and parents of minority students must continue to accept wide racial achievement gaps year after year.
Why? Because for most families, it’s the only game in town.
Despite Ms. Garcia’s assertions to the contrary (assertions based largely on statistics from OECD nations whose public education systems rank far above our own in terms of achievement), parents and children are best served by an open market that forces schools to take responsibility for their educational mission – and that empowers parents and children to opt for a different school when that mission is neglected.
It’s simple economics. Monopolies harm consumers. It’s why we have antitrust laws that govern nearly every industry in the U.S. other than the one that matters most – public education. Caveat venditor puts the customers, parents and students, first. Where else is that more critical than in securing a bright future for our children?
It’s ironic that Ms. Garcia evokes the “buyer beware” mantra given that the product she’s pushing is the one parents are most wary of today. Instead of employing scare tactics and arcane statistics from half a world away to make the case that traditional public schools are doing just fine, she ought to be asking herself why the product she’s pushing is losing customers in droves when they are afforded the opportunity to choose something better. She might also ask herself why teachers themselves are becoming increasingly wary of the monopoly.
Around 300,000 children attend private schools of their parents’ choice thanks to private school choice programs, now enacted in over half the states. And three million students attend close to 7,000 charter schools in 43 states and the District of Columbia. In fact 95 percent of parents whose children participate in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program are satisfied with their choice, and with a 21 percent increase in graduation rates for those students, it’s no wonder parents in the nation’s capital are happy.
By the time a charter school student in New York City has reached the end of eighth grade, research show that she will be scoring about 30 points higher in math than she would have been scoring if she had been lotteried-out and remained in the regular public schools. To put this into perspective, 93 percent of scholars at Success Academies in New York City passed the state math exam, compared to only 35 percent of students citywide.
There’s also no denying the return on investment when looking at the cost effectiveness of charter schools and their student outcomes compared to their traditional public school peers.
When parents hold one product up against the other, there’s no comparison.
That’s why Ms. Garcia and the NEA want to maintain their monopoly. When parents and children are given options, failing traditional public schools lose out to the superior product – school choice.
So if and when you stumble upon Ms. Garcia’s blog, or the countless others generated by the Don’t Worry Be Happy crowd trying to perpetuate myths about school choice, keep a third Latin phrase in the front of your mind. Caveat lector. Let the reader beware.
Kara Kerwin is president of The Center for Education Reform, the pioneer and leading voice for substantive change that transforms learning opportunities and outcomes for America’s children. Additional information about CER and its activities can be found at www.edreform.com.