from page 17
TRIP BURNS
send their children. A legal team comprised system.’ That’s not true at all. I don’t pretend choice, even if their choice is to stay at the of advocacy groups, civil rights lawyers and to think that a private school or a charter public school—and because of a little healthy legislators fought the construction of the school is what’s best for every child. I just competition. new middle school, eventually winning and think the parent ought to have the choice of “Every industry in the world where getting the school built closer to the black a private school or a charter school or a tradi- you have competing service providers and community. tional public school,� Callen said. the consumers actually have a choice it Forest Thigpen, president of the MisCallen said that while public-school ad- makes the quality of the product better,� sissippi Center for Public PolCallen said. icy, which advocates school Leber, as well as most choice, believes those motives public-school advocates, aren’t present in today’s argudoesn’t accept this concluments against public-school sion. “I don’t understand funding. “Those are not the their thinking,� Leber said. parents who have children “I think (students at strugin schools now. Those argugling public schools) would ments are old arguments that have a very difficult time� if hopefully would not apply students were to leave, taking today,� Thigpen said. with them the money for the Civil-rights veteran public-school system, to alRims Barber said simply that ternative schools. Mississippi’s history of “not The AERA study notes doing right by public schools� that “school choice� policies Fran Leber sent her kids to Jackson Public Schools when she moved to the area in 1968. She then watched “white flight� in makes it hard for him to becan differ: “[I]t is still unJackson during the 1969-1970 Christmas break. lieve advocates for “school known whether other choice choice� today. programs, for disabled or oth“They keep camouflaging it, I’m afraid, vocates complain that “school choice� would er students, would produce similar effects.� so you can’t tell what’s really going on,� Bar- create a bigger divide between well-funded, Mike Sayer, an organizing and training ber said. high-performing schools and under-funded, coordinator with Southern Echo, says getWhen politicians, especially Republi- low-performing schools, he’s trying to do the ting educational savings accounts for special cans, cite “school choice,� what they prob- opposite. To give “school choice,� he said, is needs students passed is a way for people ably mean is some form of what David C. to give students who wouldn’t have the op- with a privatization agenda to “break the Berliner questions in his 1996 book, “The portunity to go to the school that best serves mold� that exists currently against vouchers. Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, And them—even if that is a private school—the “This is the camel’s nose under the The Attack On America’s Public Schools.� means to do so. tent,� Sayer said. “What would happen, for example, if, Fran Leber, vice president of adminas some Far Rights critics urge, the federal istration for the League of Women Voters and state governments gave up all support of the Jackson area, complains that these for education and control over the public “school choice� solutions are not really soluschools were ‘returned’ to parents and local tions, because they only cater to a very small communities?� Berliner wrote. percentage of students, leaving the rest with Berliner then answered his own ques- even fewer resources. “When they say everytion: The result would be chaos. In a purely body, that’s not true,� Leber said. community-run educational system, what, Callen says taking students out of he asked, would keep schools in a state like schools that don’t fit their learning style not Mississippi from becoming entirely dictated only benefits the students who leave, but also by religion rather than education standards? the ones who stay. Empower Mississippi uses “American society and industry do not the Florida model of “special education savneed a population that is ignorant of scien- ings accounts�—a program it adopted this tific knowledge, including knowledge about year—to show this. evolution, DNA, genetics and the inheriOnly 6 percent of special-needs students tance of traits and diseases,� Berliner writes. left the public-school system in Florida when Not to mention, “giving up govern- the state adopted a savings account option, Rep. Chuck Espy, D-Clarksdale, credits his support of charter schools mental control�—many public-school op- the McKay Scholarship Program, for those to President Barack Obama, but ponents now derisively refer to “government students. However, all special-needs stu- he believes it is best to use charter schools�—would also result in the loss of re- dents’ achievement, even in public schools, schools as a test and then apply their practices to public schools. cord-keeping and support of school research improved in the state. to make sure educational policies benefit the “[T]he positive, but small, improveoverall economic growth of the country. ments in public school student achievement related to McKay competition are consistent Giving Public Money to Parents A Choice for the Few? with earlier research that finds a weak but Empower Mississippi’s priority, CalToday’s “school choice� advocates like usually positive relationship between school len said, is helping students who need help Grant Callen, founder of Empower Mis- choice and public school performance,� most. The group supports legislation for sissippi, claim they don’t believe in “doing American Educational Research Association “educational savings accounts�—the ability away� with public schools throughout the reported. AERA is the nation’s largest profes- for parents to use the money the state spends state. For some kids, public school works just sional organization focused on the scientific on their child in public school for other edufine, Callen says. study of education. cational expenses like private schooling or “This education choice gets labeled: Callen says this must be because of the tutors—for special-education students. One ‘Well, you just want to privatize the whole empowerment parents receive when given a version of this bill, which is a rehash of the
COURTESY MS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
voucher effort popular in the 1980s after President Ronald Reagan showed his support of vouchers, was struck down during the last legislative session. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican who favors “school choice,� touted the bill, saying that the “coalition of the status quo� killed the proposal in the House of Representatives last year. He said he will support it again in the 2015 session. “The needs in our special-needs community are great,� Callen said, referring to the especially low achievement of those students—with a 23 percent graduation rate— in Mississippi. “I think you start somewhere.� Education savings accounts for special-needs students, then, seem like just the “start� for Callen’s lobbying group. While Empower Mississippi is only currently working on savings-account legislation for special-needs students, its overall philosophy—that all students should be able to go to the school that best suits them regardless of economic means—sounds like it would be in favor of giving all students this option in the future. Callen is careful to use the term “education savings account� instead of “voucher,� a word that has fallen out of favor in recent years due to failed voucher efforts. Thigpen said the special-needs bill works differently than a traditional “voucher�—which is like a certificate of tuition— because not all the money the parent receives has to be spent on the school. It can be spent in a number of different ways, like on tutoring, textbooks, or alternative educational programs and expenses. But Thigpen also said that choice advocates avoid using the term “voucher� because of the “negative political connotations that have been attached to that label.� Still, “School Vouchers� appears on the Secretary of State’s website under current initiatives—Initiative 45. It reads: “Should the Constitution be amended to require the Legislature to develop a system of issuing vouchers for school choice?� The proposal, sponsored by Lucedale’s Josh Hardy, would allow the state to give public-school dollars, in the amount the state spends per child, to the student’s parent for them to use on homeschooling costs or private schooling, including in religious institutions. Many question the constitutionality of such a program or of allowing any public dollars to be redirected to a program or school that pushes any particular religion, from Christianity to Islam—the kind of establishment of religion that the First Amendment expressly forbids the government to do. “Our Constitution doesn’t even allow that because taxpayers deserve to have oversight of the entities that receive public dol-
December 17 - 23, 2014 • jfp.ms
When ‘Choice’ Creates A Di vide
PRUH &+2,&( VHH SDJH 19