The 2022 midterm elections seemed promising for school choice supporters. Social media enthusiasm was high, electoral momentum was strong from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s stunning victory in Virginia last year, and many anti-school choice candidates made critical unforced errors. In what universe does Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, have to campaign in states such as Michigan and New York in the days leading up to an election?
The results, however, were disappointing. School choice opponents, such as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, handily won reelection, while prominent school choice advocates, such as Arizona’s Kari Lake, struggled to survive in races they were widely expected to win. The red wave, and the school choice tide with it, turned out to be a ripple at best.
ARIZONA’S SCHOOL CHOICE REVOLUTION
While it is natural to be discouraged, school choice advocates should take this time to consider what went wrong and what they can improve upon. After all, the next substantial opportunity to promote parental empowerment at the ballot box is only two years away.
The answer is clear: Republican candidates spent too much time and focus talking about fiscal responsibility and not enough time on issues that are near and dear to voters’ hearts. Voters, especially those interested in education, are putting a greater focus on the education culture war.
By culture war, I don’t mean making ridiculous demonstrations to “own the libs;” discriminating against students of a cultural, racial, or sexual minority; or making vague allusions to plans for which details never materialize. As fun as snarky tweets making fun of teachers unions can be (I’m guilty of many of them myself), they are no substitute for real action. Parental empowerment has to be more than a slogan; it must be a series of substantive changes that enable parents to educate their children in accordance with their values.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got the memo. Throughout his first term, he took dramatic steps to improve his state’s school choice landscape, including signing the most expansive private school choice bill in American history, improving transparency in public schools, and rejecting critical race theory, all while generating a high return on the state’s educational investments. DeSantis campaigned hard on these successes and was rewarded with a nearly 20% margin of victory.
Texas got the memo too. While Texans of all stripes have traditionally opposed school choice, the state continued its trend toward educational freedom. Texan voters overwhelmingly selected pro-school choice candidates during the primaries. Gov. Greg Abbott introduced a Parental Bill of Rights and campaigned on the cultural case for private school choice. As with DeSantis, his courage was rewarded with a solid electoral victory.
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Instead of relying on old assumptions of how the economy affects voter turnout, Texas and Florida bucked the otherwise disappointing 2022 midterm elections because they listened to voters and their concerns. Candidates such as Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano and Kansas’s Derek Schmidt, who did little more than make vague allusions to school choice, failed.
School choice advocates must know what they believe and what they need to do to act on those beliefs. Anything less than their best may fail, as it did in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Garion Frankel is a Young Voices contributor and a graduate student at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service with a concentration in education policy and management.
