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Vouchers for Me My Children, Please
01/06/2004

I received an email, today (well, yesterday, technically), arguing against "school choice." As it happens, it tapped into an issue that has had me down and disheartened all day today. Because I haven't said much about this issue, and because I didn't blog much today, I thought I'd post the bulk of my reply here. I've cleaned it up a little bit, but I still don't attribute to it more quality than that of an on-the-fly email of too great length:

I'll be honest with you that I haven't researched or considered the practical intricacies of "school choice," which is why I don't write about it as extensively as I do other topics. Suffice to say that people whose opinions I trust are almost uniformly for it, and that a sensible form of voucher system strikes me, without regard to others' opinions, as a great idea.

Here's where I'm coming from. My wife teaches grade school. Teachers in Rhode Island get an enviable deal; unfortunately, political and union corruption are such that our state is in a liberal-policy hell, and my wife and I have caught the bad end of it in every way. Public school teaching jobs are supremely desirable in our state, so they have a tendency to go to friends and family, or at least to people who are in the system and liked. My wife worked hard, as a substitute, to be among that last group in a nearby town. Unfortunately, when a job in her certified range came up, the hiring fell the other way because of an internecine battle that encouraged the superintendent/principal (one person, in that case) to hire from well outside of the system.

So now my wife works for peanuts (and no tangible benefits) at a Catholic grade school, which is, nonetheless, among the highest-rated in the low-income city of Fall River. Her pay is not sufficient for us to be able to afford the certification upkeep, such as professional development courses, that the states require and for which public schools offer assistance, days off, and so on. Thus, her certification is threatening to lapse in Rhode Island, and Massachusetts has continued to add requirements (usually $100 standardized tests), with all calls for information resulting in endless hold, presenting barriers to certification there. And yet, the lack of accountability in the public system, which benefits financially through continued failure, ensures that any and all funds or regulations meant to alleviate problems are applied too inefficiently to solve them.

From this perspective, I support any policy that shakes up a complacent system. School ratings, tying performance to cash, and so on will increase the incentive for public schools to hire based on quality, not for reasons unrelated to teaching, and to apply their massive funds in ways that assist the students and, for the students' sake, non-connected teachers. As that happens, private schools will be less able to satisfy quality requirements with the teachers whom the public system drives away without providing some form of compensation.

Now, from the parental perspective. Portsmouth, the town in which we rent (and in which Patrick Kennedy lives), has a great school system. Barrington, three towns over, has probably the best school system in the state. Between these two towns are Bristol and Warren, which share a dreadful school system. By dreadful, I mean that, despite the quality taxpayer-funded facilities, a combination of faculty/staff issues and the sort of families in the towns (heavily immigrant; 31% of graduates going directly into the workforce) keeps the public schools poorly rated, and private school is advisable for those who can afford it.

So, we're looking to buy a house. We can't even touch the homes in Portsmouth or in Barrington. (Let's limit our options to the towns listed for simplicity's sake.) Suppose we move to Warren (the cheapest town of the four). I assume that a reasonable and fair voucher system would work, essentially, by giving hometown families the standard public-school arrangement and opening up the extra seats to others on a competitive basis. That means that, as a motivated family in a poor town, we could use our vouchers either to help us with the cost of private school that our local school, through its failure, necessitates, or to send our children to Barrington or Portsmouth as slots and ability allow.

As I've found today, it seems that we can't afford even a moderately appealing house in Warren, so it doesn't much matter for us. At some point (rumors are that it might be this year or early next), our landlord is going to sell. The tiny undeveloped lot behind his much-larger property is currently on the market for as much as he was looking to sell his property and house for a few years ago. The deal that secured us relatively low rent was our role keeping the house lived-in while his family moved away for work reasons. They've since decided not to come back, and there's no way we can afford market-value rent in this town.

So, the upshot is that, barring unforeseen changes in our status or really dramatic (and really unlikely) dips in the local real estate market, we face the probability that we'll be forced to rent somewhere like Warren and to live with its public schools, however bad or good they might be. I'm well aware that education is more up to the parents and the individual student than anything else, but the school sets a tone, determines the height of distraction hurdles, and imprints its own reputation on the college applications of its students.

My wife and I are more educated than we need to be, and it hasn't done us much good. But I'd still like to give my daughter, her sibling still in the womb, and subsequent children the chance to start at least at the social level that we have somehow managed to squander.

Posted by Justin Katz @ 12:31 AM EST

3 comments

Wow - a letter of mine that promoted a specific web post ! I wonder if that will look good on a resume.

Let me explain further - I am in no way a fan of the public school system. I have MANY problems with it. My only point is that I don't feel that 'vouchers' are the solution.

First, we have much in common here. My wife is over-educated and did her time as a 'substitute'. Fortunately for her (and me), she found a job doing what she loves in the education department of the zoo making more money than she could have as a public school teacher (don't ask me how that works) - and the zoo is a public employee job also. She has kept her foot in the door while she's staying at home with our kids by working PT on evenings/weekends when I'm at home.

One of the many things that gets my blood boiling about the public educational system is the educational 'standards' and certifications needed to obtain and maintain these jobs. Being a former teacher without an educational degree, the standards are offensive and only hurt the quality of teachers - in my opinion. The public school system would be better off by allowing the standards of a private school for their teachers.

And don't get me started on tenure and pay based on education and not based on merit. Of course then they define 'merit' by the grades of the students. Did I mention not to get me started ?

Suffice to say, the public school system is seriously flawed. From the irrelevant certifications/requirements to the process of hiring - and I blame the unions for that. The fact that teachers are unionized is justification to hold them accountable for things they really do not have control over (which is the educational success of their students) but I'll admit they made their bed and should lie in it.

But I think the 'so-called' accountability of the teachers is part of the problem. That is because the administrators are too lazy to review teachers performance based on anything other than the grades of their students. Education IS NOT a bottom line business. It is being treated like 'sales' and that is unfair - to both the teachers and the students.

We moved last year and one of the things my wife looked at was the 'ratings' of the school system (avg test scores in math, % of graduates going to college, average attendance, etc.). My advice is to not put too much value into those. Of course there are 'better' school systems than others but I believe those are based on money (which in today's world is based on numbers). I was more interested in whether tax levy's were passed.

As conservatives, we believe more in personal responsibility. The success of our children is primarily based on them and us as parents. I'm sorry but the fact that the average test score is 85% for school system A and 75% for school system B does not make school system A more appealing to me.

You: "..... live with the public schools, however bad
or good they might be. Not that I care much. My wife and I are more
educated than we need to be, and it hasn't done us much good."

I both admire and agree with your sentiment. Isn't it ironic that both the public and private sector has made more educational hoops to jump through via certifications/education requirements the 'practical' value of those 'hoops' has lessened and lessened (some due to advances in technology). For example, a liberal arts major can get a tech job at Microsoft and based on his skills (not what he learned in college) he can be very successful at what he does. So what does the government glean from this ? That success in education should be based on the bottom line (as in the private sector) but the requirements to get a job in education be timely, expensive and very specific (not as in the private sector). As usual, they have it backwards.

Mark

Mark Miller @ 01/06/2004 01:27 PM EST

Mark,

Sorry for the delayed response. I've resolved to get things rolling this year, one way or another.

Regarding the topic at hand, I think the most significant thing causing our diverged opinions is the locus of that all-important "personal responsibility." You're phrasing it in terms of the students and parents, which is surely where it ultimately belongs in the broad view (although I would insist on a footnote that the school itself does have some degree of effect for students who are neither hopeless nor genius).

In the context of our public policy vis-a-vis schools — viewing you, me, and everybody else as the ultimate "bosses" of the public school system, I see the importance of personal responsibility as applying mainly to the schools and their employees. That's what I think some form of school choice would engender.

Don't you think that the potential for perpetually lost revenue would give administrators some incentive to better hire and assess their teachers and actually to stand up to unions when they put forward ridiculous claims?

Justin Katz @ 01/07/2004 01:15 PM EST

Justin,

You: Don't you think that the potential for perpetually lost revenue would give administrators some incentive to better hire and assess their teachers and actually to stand up to unions when they put forward ridiculous claims?

Me: I wish it were true - but it is not. The schools have lost tremendous amounts of revenue based on the number of levies that have gone down. Private corporations have lost large amount of money because of union contracts and the economy. This is all about money, power and politics. And all those will still exist regardless of whether education is privatized or not. That is really my point here. Not that the educational system is fine as it is, it is not. But the belief that 'changing' schools is the solution is mistaken.

I'm not saying I have the answers as to what will work. If I did I wouldn't be doing this ... but I do believe that 'privatizing' education is way too simplistic and will ultimately do more harm than good.

Mark

Mark Miller @ 01/07/2004 04:23 PM EST