Leaders, listen to parents, and expand education choice and hold policies accountable

Like all parents, Jeni and Neal Schoenbach want the best for their children, and each year they assess how their children are doing and what type of school would serve them best. Their kids attend both private school and homeschool, and much of the cost of their education has to be paid out of pocket. But Arizona’s expanded Empowerment Scholarship Program would allow the Schoenbach children to receive a publicly funded education regardless of whether they’re enrolled at the local public school, private school or home school. Education savings accounts are a modern form of public education funding — but better. They are customizable, flexible and can pay for costs ranging from school tuition to tutoring, online courses and therapy.

Making these choices doesn’t categorically mean there’s anything wrong with their traditional school — just as it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with a private or charter school when parents choose the traditional option. It’s all about what the Schoenbach family fully understands: finding the best fit for each child.

That’s why it’s irresponsible and misleading to have the director of an Arizona organization opposed to school choice describe the state’s newly improved scholarship as a “nail in the coffin” for public schools. Separately, an Arizona Democrat opposed to the program said it was “designed to kill public education.”

Nonsense.

It’s a false dichotomy to believe that using public funds for a child to attend a school other than a traditional public school is antipublic education. The very point of public education funding is to fund every child’s education. It’s not to fund only one type of school and mandate that all children must enroll in that school, regardless of whether it serves their needs.

Here’s where the reasonable argument for public funding of school choice gets ugly for those who oppose it. During the pandemic, it became increasingly clear that the onesize-fits-all school model failed. Traditional systems simply did not have what it takes to serve all families. And the horrendous impact on student learning is becoming more and more evident.

A recent Harvard University study found what most parents already knew: Learning loss for students was greater for those who were kept out of school and forced into unexpected remote settings. Harvard’s jarring report, which focused exclusively on learning mathematics, found that one month of forced remote learning was equivalent to losing as much as 10 weeks of in-person learning.

Sadly, there’s potential for even more bad news this fall when scores from the Nation’s Report Card are released — the first such student assessments since the pandemic.

A clear connection exists between learning loss and demand for more school choice. Policymakers must listen to parents and, at minimum, modernize education funding to make it more flexible and portable. Families want and need options to better serve the unique learning needs of each child. I applaud Arizona and Gov. Doug Ducey for working to provide that.

The pushback Arizona’s receiving isn’t new, of course. Florida faced similar criticisms when we enacted our state’s first

K-12 scholarship program more than two decades ago. Public education didn’t die. Coupled with better accountability policies and early-literacy policies, student achievement in our schools steadily increased. We also didn’t relent on working to give parents options, and today more than a million Florida children have benefited from school choice.

To be clear, those adjunct policies definitely mattered. Because reading is so fundamental to learning, states must continue to invest every year in early-literacy improvements. Delaware vividly demonstrated the importance of this policy, with elected officials from both sides of the aisle coming together this year to enact a comprehensive literacy policy for the state.

And accountability makes a big difference. Policymakers should make sure student progress and school grades are transparent and honest — even when the news isn’t great.

Let’s build education policies based on common sense — and with each student’s success as the goal. It’s what parents want, and they’re becoming more vocal in demanding it. A poll from Real Clear Opinion Research found broad support for school choice across party lines, with more than 82% of Republicans, 68% of Democrats and 67% of independent voters in favor of it. A separate Harris Poll found that 82% of parents would support a candidate from another political party if that candidate is aligned with their views on education.

I hope every elected official and school leader is paying attention. Funding flexibility and school options, coupled with transparency and a strong focus on early literacy, are the most powerful tools policymakers can use to better serve students and families. They are essential to help America’s K-12 education system — and its 54 million students — recover from the pandemic’s troubling setbacks.

Jeb Bush was the 43rd governor of Florida. He is founder and chairman of ExcelinEd and ExcelinEd in Action.