All families could benefit from school choice

Last week, Will Wood explored the “myth of school choice” characterizing its flaw by saying there are a fixed number of schools, a smaller number of “best” schools and all children will want to go to the “best” schools which means many children will have to go to 2nd best or even “worst” schools.

My wife and I have three children and were blessed with the resources to exercise school choice. There was no “best” school. We, as a family, determined the appropriate school (private or public) based on the individual needs of each of our children. I don’t know that we ever made the “best” choice and we sometimes made choices which were not a good school / child fit. But, we were then able to change schools to find a better fit.

School choice initiatives give more families the ability to determine the educational fit for their children that’s not just based on where they happen to live. School choice does take power away from government bureaucrats and school boards, but I think that’s a positive.

School choice is not a nirvana. But, neither is the current educational system. Many children, particularly in inner cities, are in terrible schools. Over the past several years, government has poured more and more money into the school system, yet as measured by standardized test scores, the quality of education has stayed stagnant.

I would not argue though that we should measure schools by standardized test results. Families will choose schools for many reasons — school size, college preparation, technical trade skills, artistic focus, sports programs, special needs etc. I argue that it’s a net positive to empower families to make this decision.

Finally, in a free market, options are not fixed. Companies that meet the needs of their customers expand and increase their offerings. Companies that do not, change or fail. I believe introducing free market concepts to tie the success of schools to their true customers (families) would over time increase the quality of education for all children.

There is no “best” school. But, there is the opportunity to empower families to select a school that fits the needs of their children. School choice.