Pro choice

Who wouldn’t be?

THE PAPERS came through with the news again last week, but it’s becoming difficult to call it “news” any more. Little Rock’s school district lost kids again between last school year and this one. Should we tell the copy desk just to keep the headline in type?

Little Rock still has the state’s largest school district—for now—at more than 22,000 kids. But this year’s enrollment is 420-some-odd fewer than last year’s. And that was 405 fewer than the year before that. Since the 2014-15 school year, the district is down more than a thousand kids.

No doubt the next time the school district’s leaders give a public address, they’ll complain about the losses in solemn and somber tones, and largely blame charter schools. They’ll also—once again—complain that those charter schools draw more affluent, high-achieving kids from the best ZIP codes, leaving the school district holding the bag—not to mention holding onto all those poor kids who are more challenging to educate.

Except . . . .

Except, if you dig into the weeds a little, you might come to a different conclusion. Take these two paragraphs from our news story over the weekend:

“The Little Rock district’s black enrollment went from 17,715 in 2007, to 14,603 in 2016, and to 14,040 this year. That is a loss of 563 black students since last year and 3,675 since 2007.

“The district’s white enrollment was 5,773 in 2007, 4,054 last year, and 3,971 this year. That’s a decrease of 83 since last year and 1,802 since 2007.”

The school district is improving the ratio of black and white students, but not because it’s attracting more kids— it’s just losing black students at a faster rate than white students. (The differences between some of the above numbers can be attributed to kids of other races, such as Hispanic children, coming into the district.)

Certainly charter schools are attracting more and more students and their families. The question becomes: Is this a good thing?

Answer: It depends.

If you’re an official in Little Rock’s school district, the news isn’t good at all. Because the district is losing state money for each kid that finds a better choice for an education. Which is why so many “education leaders” complain about charter schools.

But if you’re a student, and the family of a student, the option to attend a charter school may be a godsend.

Many families, including black families and families from the poorest neighborhoods, have—for the first time in a generation—an educational choice. And they are availing themselves of that choice. For proof, just see the waiting lists for these charter schools.

For years, families from the “right” ZIP codes have had plenty of education options. They could choose private schooling. Or they could just up and move. To Sherwood. To Cabot. To Bryant. To Benton. And pick the best school districts when looking for a new house.

In the main, poorer black families in deepest Little Rock didn’t have such choices.

Then along came charters. And for many the clouds parted.

It becomes clearer, day after day, news article after news article, that charter schools are not skimming the best students. They’re giving more minority students a better and equal educational opportunity. And wasn’t that what Brown v. Board of Education was about? Wasn’t that what 1957 was about?

All the busing, magnet schools, and the billions of dollars that have been spent on improving the schools over the generations have not been able to provide the same kind of opportunities for black families that charter schools provide today.

The numbers don’t lie. Neither do waiting lists.