After watching two teammates hit back-to-back home runs multiple times, baseball great and amateur philosopher Yogi Berra once quipped, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Some defenders of government schools are arguing that terms like “school choice” and “education freedom” harken back to the 1990s when a debate raged over legalizing charter schools.
Former Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa says that the claims being made today are similar to those made in the 1990s. Charter schools, like vouchers, would give parents more choices. Competition would motivate government schools to improve or lose students. Hinojosa reluctantly admits that that is what happened. “In a way, it really did make us step up our game,” he recently said. During his time in Dallas, Hinojosa oversaw a long list of new education options for students, including boys-only and girls-only schools and high schools offering college courses for college credit.
Duncan Klussman, former Superintendent of the Spring Branch ISD makes a similar observation. He said that
charter schools successfully prompted traditional districts like his to create more course offerings for eager students and families.
Because of this, he says that vouchers aren’t necessary.
While government schools may offer students more options than thirty years ago, that does not mean that they are offering every option that students and parents desire. We have more restaurant options than we did thirty years ago, but no rational person would argue that we should prohibit additional dining options.
If the competition offered by charter schools improved the options offered by government schools, why shouldn’t we conclude that the same will happen with vouchers. Charter schools motivate government schools to improve or lose students. That is what competition does. Those who innovate to meet the ever-changing needs and desires of consumers succeed. Those who don’t will ultimately fail.
It is déjà vu all over again. The defenders of government schools are using the same tired arguments that they used thirty years ago to oppose charter schools. They were wrong then, and they are wrong today.