SCHOOL CHOICE IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF THE SOLUTION
School Choice is “The civil rights issue of our time”.
David Barnhizer
Pastor Corey Brooks Cites the Wisdom of Thomas Sowell
Eli Steele offers the words of Pastor Corey Brooks in Steele’s wonderful report on Brooks’ 66th day of his 100-day rooftop vigil to build a community center in his Chicago neighborhood. Steele writes that Brooks wished to share a lesson he learned from Thomas Sowell relating to school choice. Please forgive the length, but Brooks captures the situation with a searing honesty as well as an enriching and vital message of the need for hope and a goal to which people can aspire.
Brooks explains:
“The reason why we need school choice on the South Side of Chicago is, in one word, aspiration. That word may not sound like a whole lot, but it is the key word. America is an aspirational nation. We aspire to be somebody. We aspire to create. We aspire to be better. The American dream at its core is aspirational. The problem is that many families here on the South Side are not given the tools to aspire. Make no mistake, there are those families that aspire, no matter what. They refuse to accept the failing school in their neighborhood, and they make great sacrifices to get their kids into a better school. Even if it means driving over an hour to get there, they do it.
But, not every family is able to do that. And unfortunately, there are many of them. We want to change the culture and its values in this neighborhood by teaching them how to aspire to be better. This is not a new lesson by any means. In fact, it was a huge part of our history, and we lost our connection to it. Blame it on the post-'60s liberalism, which moved us away from the culture of aspiration to the culture of dependency that defines the black underclass even to this day.
I'm a student of Thomas Sowell. And one of my favorite stories of his is the one that he tells about Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Today, it is one of the worst schools in America, but that was not always the case. From 1870 — that’s five years after the Civil War ended — to 1955, Dunbar was the best all-black public school in D.C. By 1899, the school had made so much progress despite slavery not being that long ago and despite segrega-tion being the law of the land. The school made so much progress that since 1899, Dunbar students were coming in first in citywide test-giving in both black and white schools.
Sowell wrote that many of these Dunbar graduates could only afford to attend low-cost colleges, such as Howard University at that time and Miner Teachers College. However, there were Dunbar graduates who attended Harvard, Amherst, Oberlin and many other great colleges. These students ran up impressive records of academic success and honors. The first black general, the discoverer of blood plasma, the first black senator since Reconstruction, and many more – all graduates of Dunbar.
Then, the school fell apart. In 1954, [the US Supreme Court ruled in] Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal. In the South, there was no question that blacks were provided an inadequate education, but that was not the case of Dunbar. What made the school so successful was that all of the aspirational blacks from all over D.C. could apply. It didn't matter where you lived in that city. They had their own form of school choice and could apply to Dunbar where they could be with other like-minded aspirational people. The unintended consequences of Brown v. Board of Education was that it turned Dunbar into a neighborhood school, very much like what we see all across America today. All of a sudden, the many blacks in D.C. no longer had the choice to apply to Dunbar. And you know what happened? It collapsed.
[W]e cannot save everybody, we just can't. That's not true for just blacks, but for all of America. But, what we can do today is awaken the spirit of aspiration, especially among the poor. You do that by giving them opportunities or at the least pathways to opportunities. And that is why I'm such a huge believer in school choice. It is, in my opinion, the civil rights issue of our time. And that is why I'm fighting so hard against the politicians in my city and state to remove the moratorium against charter schools so that we can have one right in Project H.O.O.D. Our community center needs it. The glory days of Dunbar may be long gone, but its lessons are not. They are timeless. Especially, the lesson of aspiring to be better.” “Pastor Brooks shares the lesson he learned from Thomas Sowell on school choice: 'Aspiration' is why South Side of Chicago needs school choice, Pastor Corey Brooks says”, Eli Steele, 1/25/22.
After Florida Did Away with Social Promotions Black Students’ Reading Scores Increased 25 Percentage Points
[Lindsey Burke writes] “In a study of Florida’s retention policy, researchers Marcus Winters and Jay P. Greene found that "students lacking in basic skills who are socially promoted appear to fall farther behind over time, whereas retained students appear to be able to catch up on the skills they are lacking.” Indeed, in the wake of Florida’s end to social promotion, along with its robust embrace of school choice, black students’ reading scores soared, increasing 25 percentage points on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). That was double the progress of black students nationally, whose reading scores improved 12 points during that time. Minority students in Florida began closing achievement gaps, tying or outscoring the statewide reading averages for all students in a number of states.
The end to social promotion in Florida played a role in these gains, but school choice was as—if not likely more—consequential in catalyzing improvements. The Sunshine State launched its tax credit scholarship program in 2001, and now enrolls more than 100,000 participating students. Those students, largely from lower-income families, are able to attend a private school of choice that fits their learning needs. And today, Florida is also home to one of seven innovative education savings account (ESA) programs in the country, enabling families to use their child’s share of public school funding to craft a completely customized education for their child.” https://www.heritage.org/education/report/closing-the-racial-achievement-gap-learning-floridas-reforms. “Closing the Racial Achievement Gap: Learning from Florida’s Reforms”, Lindsey Burke and Mathew Ladner, 9/17/2010. See also, https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/13/florida-again-earns-top-spot-on-heritage-foundations-education-freedom-report-card/. “Florida Again Earns Top Spot on Heritage Foundation’s Education Freedom Report Card”, Samantha Aschieris, 11/13/23.
Florida’s tax credit scholarship program can change the game.
“Florida launched its tax credit scholarship program in 2001, and now enrolls more than 100,000 participating students. Those students, largely from lower-income families, are able to attend a private school of choice that fits their learning needs.” Glenn Loury, Brown University Economist explains: “The end to social promotion in Florida played a role in these gains, but school choice was as—if not likely more—consequential in catalyzing improvements. And today, Florida is also home to one of seven innovative education savings account (ESA) programs in the country, enabling families to use their child’s share of public school funding to craft a completely customized education for their child.”
Emerging Trends in School Choice
What Can Parents Do?
“The obvious answer is to hold teachers and schools more accountable for results. But it’s nearly impossible to fire bad teachers in the regular public schools or even discipline them; many districts don’t even try. … Meanwhile, a new study shows that NYC students at SUNY-approved charter schools are vastly outperforming their counterparts in neighboring traditional public schools. [But paradoxically] the Legislature’s looking at reining in SUNY’s power to OK new charters and refusing to lift the state cap that prevents any new ones from opening in the city. Throw more money at schools that falter; stop new public schools that excel from opening.” “New York keeps spending more on schools and getting less results”, Post Editorial Board, 1/30/22.
Charter Schools, Catholic Schools, Grants to Parents, and Home Schooling, are Tools to Break the Public Schools’ and Teachers’ Unions Chokeholds
“Charter schools gained, public schools lost students during pandemic”, Carl Campanile and Selim Algar, 9/22/21.
“Charter schools scooped up hundreds of thousands of additional students across the U.S. during the coronavirus outbreak while enrollment plunged at traditional public schools amid building closures and inferior virtual learning, a new report reveals. Charter school enrollment increased by 7.1 percent nationally during 2020-’21 amid the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the “Voting With Their Feet” analysis conducted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Enrollment at charter schools jumped from 3,350,785 students in 2019-2020 to 3,588,094 in 2021 — or nearly 240,000. At the same time, traditional public school enrollment plunged by 3.3 percent — a drop of nearly 1.5 million kids — from 44,025,289 to 42,572,705, the report released Wednesday states.”
Quisha King calls for “Mass Exodus” from Public Schools
"Florida mom Quisha King called for a "mass exodus" from the public school system, arguing that school systems left parents with no other choice for fighting left-wing ideas. … "With this FBI [parents as domestic terrorists] thing, it just made me realize – what else are we supposed to do?" King asked. "Standing up to these people doesn't seem to matter. I mean, we have – all of us – we've been at these school board meetings, we've been voicing our opinions, we're writing articles, we're emailing teachers – we're doing all that stuff. And they don't care. I'm like the only thing left to do is to just peace out.” She added that "it has to be us doing it together" in order to "really send the message that you do not have the right to indoctrinate our children.” “Florida mom gets standing ovation in Virginia after calling for 'mass exodus' from public schools: The concerned mom's comments come amid uproar after the DOJ directed the FBI to investigate violence at school board meetings”, Sam Dorman, 10/7/21.
Fleeing New York City’s Public Schools
“Families in some of the city’s top school districts are leaving the New York City Department of Education at an alarming clip, according to state data. [T]hat ongoing flight — which is hammering school budgets — is hitting traditionally popular districts especially hard. Elementary school enrollment in Manhattan’s District 2, which encompasses affluent areas like Greenwich Village and Soho, is down 10 percent this year and 17 percent over the last two. According to state figures, the district went from roughly 16,040 kids in 2020 to over 13,333 this year — a loss of more than 2,500 students over that span.
A concerned district source noted that that would equate to the closure of up to seven district elementary schools. In Brooklyn’s District 15, which includes Park Slope, elementary school enrollment has skidded by 16 percent since the onset of the pandemic, and shed more than 1,800 kids over that stretch. The Maurice Sendak School, a reliably high-performing elementary school on 8th Street in Park Slope, has lost more than a third of its enrollment over the past two years, dropping from 340 to 219 this year. At PS 58 on Smith Street, enrollment has dropped by more than a quarter over the last two years, going from 1008 to just 740 this year. PS 41’s numbers have gone down by 26 percent from 2019. Both Sendak and PS 58 boast test scores well above the citywide average. District 2 has also seen hair-raising student losses at individual schools. In Chelsea, PS 11 has seen enrollment drop from 900 to 730 over the last two years — a plunge of 17 percent. And PS 41 in Greenwich Village is down to 492 this year from 666 in 2019, which is a dip of 26 percent.” “NYC families leaving some of city’s top school districts at alarming rate”, Selim Algar, 2/17/22.
“‘Wild’ Public School Exodus in Indiana: Educator”
“Thousands of students are leaving public schools for private schools or homeschooling in Indiana this year, according to Tony Kinnett, a curriculum developer, educator, and education policy journalist from Indianapolis, Indiana. “The numbers are unreal,” Kinnett [said]. “It’s wild. There’s not really any other word for it.” Kinnett said that normally there’s a common fluctuation of 5 to 10 in enrollment in many smaller Christian Schools, but this year, the numbers are up by hundreds per school in many cases. In his report, Kinnett detailed five primary factors that have eroded parents’ trust in Indiana’s public schools:
Poor rigor and educational mediocrity;
Mask and virtual mandates which vary wildly from district to district;
Critical Race Theory principles taught in classrooms;
Social-emotional learning and sexually explicit content; and lastly,
A lack of support for classroom discipline and management.
The reason for the exodus is a “multiplicity of factors,” Kinnett explained, saying he talked to lots of parents—about 50 parents last week. “Parents are really upset with that huge number of things going on in our public schools,” Kinnett told NTD. “They’re upset with the quarantine that caused a huge learning gap in schools in the last year and a half. They’re aggravated with Critical Race Theory [CRT], social-emotional learning; they’re aggravated with children being required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status—all of these small issues have piled up and really put so much pressure that it seems this dam is bursting.” “‘Wild’ Public School Exodus in Indiana: Educator”, Li Hai and Cindy Drukier, 8/9/21.
The School Choice Movement is evolving rapidly
“A stunning 52% of parents say they’re considering (or considered in the last year) finding a new or different school for one of their children. … We shop for a dentist, a realtor and a university. Why not shop for K-12 schools? … Competition means better education quality because it allows parents to hold failing schools accountable. Right now, there’s largely a monopoly on K-12 public schools, and monopolies hurt consumers — in this case, kids.” “We should demand more for minority students this National School Choice Week”, Carrie Sheffield, 1/27/22.
Pastor Corey Brooks and Dr. John Ratford: “If a child grows up without a solid education, the American dream will likely remain out of reach.”
Corey Brooks and Dr. John Ratford: “If a child grows up without a solid education, the American dream will likely remain out of reach. A proper education imbues the young child with not only knowledge but the skills (critical thinking) and values (resilience) that are needed to persevere on the often long and arduous road toward the American dream. These simple and universal facts are true whether the child was born poor on the South Side of Chicago or just outside of Buffalo. Dr. John Ratford, the CEO of WellNow Urgent Care, was that child that grew up in Lackawanna, just outside of Buffalo. … Pastor Corey Brooks hosted Ratford for a discussion.
Dr. John Ratford explains: ”You talk about school choice and some of those things, I just think ultimately that's the path out. And if you can get people out, then they can come back and bring other people out … that’s what's going to be able to make that long term change.”
The pastor asked Ratford, "How did you become a medical doctor?” "My dad was an unemployed steelman and my mom used to type, and they really valued education. They sent me to the local Catholic school and then the Franciscan high school," Ratford said. "I was the first person in my family to go to college … I went to University of Buffalo, went to residency there, did emergency medicine, ended up opening urgent care centers, and that's where I've gotten here today."
"How important do you think it is for kids growing up in neighborhoods like this to have a good quality education?” "I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have the opportunity," Ratford said. "There's a lot of kids in my neighborhood that grew up, and they didn't have the same opportunities. Some of them, frankly, they're in jail. They've had a lot of struggles in life, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to send my kids to a private school and have seen what the difference is, what those opportunities are.” “I just have a big belief in parents having that ability to be in control of their kids' educations, to hold the schools accountable," Ratford said. “Rooftop Revelations: The universal importance of education: Pastor Corey Brooks and CEO John Ratford discuss importance of education”, Eli Steele, 2/3/22.