School Lessons

Why school choice matters:

All parents should have the option to choose which school their children attend. But in most states, government school bureaucrats won’t let them. Sometimes, it’s because they receive large political donations from teachers’ unions. Unions don’t want competition. Years ago, New York City’s teachers’ union staged a protest outside my office because I did a TV special about school choice. I’d confronted union boss Randi Weingarten about how hard it was to fire even a terrible teacher. Instead, principals sneakily transfer them to another school. “Dance of the lemons,” they call it. Weingarten just replied, smugly, “We’ll police our own profession.” Her protesters then picketed ABC News headquarters, shouting, “Shame on you, John Stossel!” “They don’t want people to be able to take their kids somewhere else because they know that they’re failing your children,” says education researcher Corey DeAngelis in my new video. “Money doesn’t belong to the government schools. Education funding is supposed to be meant for educating children, not for propping up and protecting a particular institution. We should fund the student, not the system.” Then, parents can use education funding to attend a charter or private school. Schools get better when they have to compete for your kids. A recent study found that “more education freedom is significantly associated with increased NAEP scores.” Florida’s math and reading scores were once among the worst in the nation. After they expanded school choice, says DeAngelis, “They ranked #1 ... And it’s not a money issue. They spend about 27% less than the national average, and they’re knocking it out of the park.” A study on Florida’s expansion of school choice found “benefits include higher standardized test scores and lower absenteeism and suspension rates. Effects are particularly pronounced for lower-income students.” When there is a choice, public schools improve as well. Twenty-nine studies examined the impact of school choice on test scores, with 26 finding a positive effect.

This is what happens when you remove the middleman...