Guest opinion: Empower parents with school choice and support public education, too
On Feb. 21, the Idaho Statesman Editorial Board published an editorial titled, “Don’t let school vouchers come to Idaho. Properly fund our public schools first.” In that editorial, the board impugned a piece of legislation that I wrote, “The Empower Parents in Education Act.” This op-ed is a rebuttal to that one-sided, misleading editorial.
First, I trust parents. Second, I support our public schools. I believe that we should empower parents to make the educational decisions for their children. Trusting parents and supporting public schools are not mutually exclusive. If you were to read the editorial, you’d be led to believe that giving parents choice in education was antithetical to supporting public schools. That false choice is a lie.
When Steven Thayn (current chairman of the Senate Education Committee) and I created the Advanced Opportunities program, many had similar concerns as this editorial espouses. As has been shown in the past decade, Advanced Opportunities has revolutionized our education system and has increased educational attainment for students across Idaho. By any measure it has been a success.
As to the Empower Parents in Education Act, in endeavoring to write an anti-school choice narrative, the editorial board left out many vital details. First, there is currently a considerable disparity in per pupil spending between public school districts. For example, the West Ada School District receives approximately thirty percent less per student from the state than the Boise School District. The act corrects that grave inequity.
Next, the act ensures that small public school districts, defined as those with fewer than 2,000 students, will never receive less funding on a per pupil basis. In fact, under the act, 95% of all public school districts and 85% of public school students will see an increase, or at a minimum maintain their current level, of funding on a per pupil basis. In other words, the vast majority of public school districts and public school students benefit, including nearly all Treasure Valley districts including West Ada, Nampa, Kuna, Vallivue and Caldwell.
It also gives school districts expanded flexibility in how they spend the money the state appropriates to them. For years school districts have asked for this flexibility so they could put money in the places that their local communities needed it most. This act does just that. For small districts, this is a critical benefit that may also give them the ability to retain and attract faculty using district leadership and ingenuity.
The act tells parents that we trust them and that we recognize that, like President Reagan stated, “Education begins in the home, where it is a parental right and responsibility.” In the act, we operationalize this axiom by having some (but not all) of the money follow students at the discretion of parents.
Just like with Advanced Opportunities, it can sometimes be hard to see how a vision of something different will work and benefit students. And just like Advance Opportunities, the act relies upon the engagement of parents and students. A model that we know works. The educational literature is clear — when parents are engaged, student achievement improves. When parents are empowered, students win.