Writing for Reform Houston, Jef Rouner tries to use Florida as an example of what will happen in Texas if some form of school choice is implemented in the state. However, he learns the wrong lesson from Florida and implicitly admits that parents desire more control over their child’s education. He writes that, in Florida,
Over the past three years, the percentage of students who left public schools for private ones more than tripled, and is expected to reach 30 percent by the end of next year thanks to DeSantis’s expansion.
Rouner wants us to think that this is an indictment of school choice. He is wrong. If a growing number of parents are moving their children out of government schools, then they are clearly dissatisfied with the education that their child is receiving. Rouner warns us that one in every three Florida students will soon be in private schools, ignoring the fact that parents are obviously dissatisfied with government schools.
The primary lesson here is that when parents have a choice, a large number will remove their children from government schools. Most parents cannot afford to do so because they are already paying for “free” government schools. School choice gives parents more freedom to determine how their money is spent.
A secondary lesson is that defenders of government schools fear what will happen if parents have a viable choice. Perhaps the best example is the claim that vouchers will destroy government school systems. In other words, they believe that given a choice, a large number of students will move to private schools. And so, they fight to prevent parents and students from having a viable choice. Government school advocates don’t want parents to be free to choose because those advocates fear the choices that will be made. They fear that an ever-growing number of parents and students will reject government schools.
The parents who are fighting for school choice obviously care about the education that their children receive. They want to have a greater voice in the ideas and values that their children are being taught. The opponents of school choice claim that they care about children. It is time for them to start acting like it and support more education freedom.