New Hope for School Choice

After the reupdiation of the Republican Party in November, you might be forgiven for thinking that all is lost.  But at least where school choice is concerned there are grounds for hope, according to George Will.

The public school lobby, which apparently has little confidence in its product, lives in fear of competition -- the fear that if parents’ choices are expanded, there will be a flight from public schools. But the tide is turning[.]

Of course, the public school lobby is fighting all of this.  And usually, it is fighting again and again as in Arizona where the usual suspects are gearing up for a third challenge to school choice in that state.

In Arizona, some amazingly persistent and mostly liberal people are demonstrating the tenacity with which some interests fight to prevent parents of modest means from having education choices like those available to most Americans.

But maybe, just maybe, the train has left the station. Politicians, eastern politicians are starting to push for school choice.

• Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker, a member of the board of the national Alliance for School Choice, proposes a scholarship program similar to Arizona’s...
• New York’s new Democratic governor, Eliot L. Spitzer, proposes lifting the cap that restricts the state to a mere 100 charter schools...
• Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg... [of] New York City... is dividing large schools into smaller ones, emancipating many principals to be educational entrepreneurs under a system that holds them accountable for cognitive results.

Well, it can’t come too soon. Too many millions of children have already been sacrificed on the altar of teacher tenure and teacher pensions.

Because they just don’t care about kids.