Schools of Choice

MAY 30, 2010

School is out for summer and most kids, teachers and parents will celebrate for about 24 hours then wonder what to do with their free time. Folks who are not teachers (counselors, nurses, librarians, etc.) but follow the same calendar will celebrate as well. Other folks like principals central office administrators and superintendents will continue to work regardless of the school calendar - in fact, their summers are busier than the school year in many ways, but that is another story. Ah, summer time.

Every time I see one of those little red synthetic apples (or desk plaques, wall plaques, note paper, etc. ad nauseum) that states, "The three best reasons to teach: June, July and August", I want to just puke. No wonder so many people have waged war on public schools. We appear lazy, incompetent and down right expensive. One of the major ways to attack public schools is to promote schools of choice, the choice being something other than the public school. Time to get real about that conversation.

There is a very simple way to make all schools "schools of choice": End compulsory attendance. Why spend all our time fighting over vouchers, charter schools, private schools, home schoolers, etc. Simply end compulsory attendance. If parents do not want their kids to get an education then fine, keep them at home. If Legislators of the conservative ilk wish to promote competition as a motivator for public schools, then simply undo the monopoly on students. It is a simple, cost-saving measure that ends a host of educational problems. The wide spread resentment of schools based on their monopoly, their cost, their size, their bureaucracy would vanish over night. Want to get into college? Want to get a good job? Get in line to go to school. Want to argue that your kid would not lie to you about stealing, cheating, doing drugs, losing their homework, etc? Fine, go find another school because you are out of here.

The reality is parents have always had a choice. We would not track student mobility if they did not. Parents can move, parents can withdraw their students to home school them, and parents of means can transfer them, enroll them in private schools or charter schools. Public schools have never had choice. We always take the kids who live in our attendance area. We take the kids and their parents, and we take the Board members and the Legislators who are elected to set policy and provide funding. If you really want schools of choice, then give the schools a choice.

Wow. Would that change things or what? We could change funding formulas for schools so that they receive tax dollars based on enrollment, rather than average daily attendance. (Schools have to prepare for the number of kids enrolled, but only get paid based on how many actually show up. Hence, perfect attendance awards and truant officers, pizza parties for the class when everyone shows up for the test, etc. All that would go away. You don't show up, fine, you loose your spot to someone else who wants to come to school.) While we are at it, we could tweak the public support system so that no citizen without at least a high school diploma is eligible for welfare, food stamps, etc., and their kids are not eligible unless they are enrolled in school. Want to continue multi-generational poverty, OK. Get an education. But, you better show up, behave, and do the work because the school can now kick you out and we do not have to take you back. Every school is now a school of choice.

First to complain in this new system will be law enforcement as they quickly figure out they have a bunch of kids roaming the streets during the day. Next to complain will be teachers who initially support such a rule change only to discover we need far fewer of them. Parents will begin to revolt and demand that we return to the old system where kids are required to go and schools are required to take them. Now, parents will wonder, what are they supposed to do with their kids from September to June? Public schools are "free." Babysitting isn't.

We should keep the child labor laws just as they are, and keep the laws that required kids to be either in school or in doors during school days.

What I propose will dramatically reduce the cost of public education, make every school a school of choice, and remind our current angry constituency that we provide an incredible service. Our rules exist because the kids outnumber us and we must, first and foremost, maintain safety and order. After that, we will bust our butts to teach your child, but he or she has to be here, has to have a willing to learn attitude, and has to know that learning is often hard work.

The end of compulsory education will send ripples through society and our profession. Let's talk about the impact on teachers next. For some parents and teachers, summer will become a year-long event!