"Parents have the right to choose the formative tools that respond to their convictions and to seek those means that will help them best to fulfill their duty as educators…”

- Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Bishop Aymond Speaks at Rally

School Choice…A Parent’s Decision?
By Margaret McGettrick,
Director of Education at the Texas Catholic Conference

Here in Texas public school choice gives students in low performing schools the opportunity to transfer to another public school but less than one percent of eligible students actually do so. Unfortunately schools are not required to accept transfers leaving parents and students no choice but to stay put. Charter schools provide another form of school choice that has shown promise, but has failed to reach all of the students who need it, largely because of a legislative cap limiting their numbers. While these choices have contributed to increased achievement for a relative few, they are insufficient to meet the needs of all Texas students. The time has come for parochial and private schools to be included as viable choices alongside public and charter schools if all parents, regardless of finances, are given the responsibility of educating their child.

One of the speakers at the School Choice Rally was reporter John Stossel who spoke eloquently about his recent documentary “Stupid in America” which aired on ABC last month. He compared the educational system here in the United States to the failed attempts at monopolies in the former Soviet Union.

“American schools don’t teach as well as schools in other countries because they are government monopolies, and monopolies don’t have much incentive to compete. In Belgium, by contrast, the money is attached to the kids – it’s a kind of voucher system. Government funds education – at many different kinds of schools – but if a school can’t attract students and perform well, it goes out of business. When monopolies rule, there is little choice, and little gets done. In America the phone company was once a government-supported monopoly. All the phones were black and all the calls were expensive. With competition, things have changed for the better. We pay less for our phone calls. If we’re unhappy with our phone service, we switch companies. Why can’t kids benefit from similar competition in education?

Competition inspires people to do what we didn’t think we could do. If people got to choose their kids’ school, education options would be endless. There could soon be technology schools, science schools, virtual schools where you learn at home on your computer, sports schools, music schools, schools that go all year, schools with uniforms, schools that open early and keep kids later, and, who knows what else. If there were competition, all kinds of new ideas would bloom”.

One of the country’s greatest advocates of school choice, Milton Friedman, said that the beauty of competition is that we can get rid of the bad private schools as well as the bad public schools. Then we would be left with only high performing and effective schools from which parents could choose to send their children. Among the research for those who have participated in school choice programs that enable students to transfer to another public, parochial or private school, tests scores have been higher, special education students are less bullied, schools are less racially segregated and students exhibit stronger civic values.

I believe that one of the challenges we face in any new endeavor is that many people fear change of any kind. As a principal of an elementary school in Corpus Christi in the mid eighties I remember having countless meetings with parents and school groups over a period of several years before we took the “leap” to have a yearly educational calendar. After its implementation it was exciting to see the school grow in programs and numbers but most especially in student achievement and overall personal growth. Likewise in the middle school I was privileged to lead, the implementation of gender separate classes benefited the students academically as well as socially. As we go through life new territory can be unfamiliar and daunting but it can also be full of wonderful surprises.

The Bishops of Texas support an expanded school choice initiative that will improve academic outcomes for all Texas students, will increase racial integration, and will help to reduce the inequities faced by students of various socioeconomic backgrounds. It is our hope that a fair and just public policy will empower our parents to choose what is best for their children.