In a surprisingly objective article, Michael J. Petrilli examines the claim that school choice programs will kill government schools. Petrilli, who admits that he isn’t “crazy” about universal school choice programs, concludes that “we should root for the myth about the ‘death of public schools’ to die.”
Petrilli cites two recent reviews of studies that looked at the impact of school choice on government schools. One review identified nine studies that found positive effects, three that found negative effects, two that found mixed effects, and ten that found no effects. Another review found twenty-five of twenty-seven studies show that school choice programs have positive effects on government schools and two showed no effects.
Opponents of school choice like to point to recent studies in Ohio, Indiana, and Louisiana found that “disappointing results for the students participating in the school choice programs—while at the same time finding benefits for the public school students ‘left behind.’” When the critics of school choice point to these studies, they conveniently omit the fact that students in government schools are benefiting from competition.
As any regular reader of this blog knows, I would prefer to see government schools disappear. However, that isn’t something that will happen soon. The best we can currently hope for is more choices for parents when it comes to their children’s education.
School choice is obviously a contentious and controversial topic. If we want to make the best decisions possible, then we must examine the full context. We must look at both the positives and the negatives of each alternative. To do otherwise is to intentionally blind ourselves, and that will invariably lead to bad choices.
The literature on school choice programs indicate that giving parents and students more choices is overwhelmingly beneficial for all students. If we want to have an adult conversation about school choice, then we must recognize that fact. And, as Petrilli suggests, we should discard the idea that school choice will be the death of government schools (though that would not be a bad thing)..
For the next 2-3 weeks, I will only be posting on Fridays.