Miguel Cardona’s confirmation this month as President Biden’s secretary of education has left the nation’s school choice advocates wary but hopeful. Certainly, they appreciate the fact that Biden decided against elevating a number of teachers union executives to the position. In fact, after Cardona put in a good word for Connecticut’s charter schools and was an advocate for reopening Connecticut’s schools post COVID-19 closures, one is almost skeptical as to how his nomination avoided being canceled by liberal unions, let alone received their endorsements. In a letter from Cardona put out by the department after his confirmation, he said, “The research is conclusive: when they can do so safely, students are better off learning in school, in person, rather than remotely.”
School choice advocates may owe former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a debt of gratitude for pushing so hard on her policies that progressives were willing to accept anyone remotely resembling a normal-sounding Democrat. Whether Cardona’s support from the Republican senators who voted in his favor turns out to be a Faustian bargain in disguise, however, remains unknown.
The challenges facing the nation’s public schools are dire. Before even focusing on our nation’s inner-city schools, it is worth noting, for example, that in Wisconsin, according to research by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, there are over 40,000 school-age children in 134 rural zip codes who do not have a high-performing school within 10 miles of where they live. These rural schools actually lag behind Wisconsin’s urban schools, which is saying something because in Milwaukee Public Schools alone, more than 40% of the schools fail to meet expectations, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The suburban schools, where parental wealth creates educational options for their children, have been outperforming rural and urban schools for years, creating the largest achievement gap between black and white students in the nation.
If Wisconsin is any example of the state of public schools across the nation, then even before the lockdown, things were a mess. Throw in a pandemic where children are mandated to stay home and learn remotely, even though healthy children under 18 are affected the least, and now you have a disaster. For instance, according to the 74 Million, chronic absenteeism in California schools is estimated to have seen a 95.7% increase statewide. The monumental increase in failing grades is also extremely concerning. We cannot continue on this path.
If Cardona truly believes in education as a path to success and in raising the academic performance of all children suffering before, during, and after the pandemic, he should recognize school choice as a beacon of light. Our education problems can only be solved by giving parents back their voices in how their children are educated. At a rudimentary level, the performance of an economy is determined by the producer meeting the demands of the consumer. Likewise, parents as the consumers, along with their children, are in a better position to determine the best way to educate their children than producers, such as the teachers unions or even the state. Cardona has already acknowledged the great value that charter schools have brought to Connecticut. Certainly, advancing school choice as another vehicle for improving education in our nation is not a huge leap from where he stands. This includes expanding vouchers, education savings accounts, tax scholarship programs, and charter schools.
School choice can also assist Cardona in his monumental task of improving education. By giving parents a stake in their children’s education through school choice, Cardona no longer has to do the job alone. In fact, according to the American Federation for Children, the majority of people on both sides of the political fence now support school choice. The question is whether Cardona and the other powers that be are willing to cede the power necessary to achieve their stated goals.
School choice programs have demonstrably raised the education bar for all schools. And while school choice has a very favorable data-driven track record, its detractors are formidable and power-hungry. The teachers unions have been funding the Democratic Party for decades. They are hostile to school choice and will not be ignored. So, it boils down to this: Who will Cardona empower to make better choices regarding children’s educational welfare — the teachers unions or parents? At this point, there is very little evidence that the interests of those two groups can coexist. If Cardona is sincere in his stated goals, the choice is clear.
Shannon Whitworth is a Bradley Freedom Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and is the director of the Free Enterprise Academy at Milwaukee Lutheran High School.
