Presidential candidates should talk more about public school choice, according to Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow at the centrist Brookings Institution.
“None of the candidates has to date mentioned, much less taken a position on, what is likely to be one of the most powerful levers of K-12 education reform: open enrollment in regular public schools tied to portable funding,” Whitehurst writes in a new Brookings paper.
He argues that the easiest way to expand school choice is to focus on public school choice, since the vast majority of students are already there. “Private school vouchers are politically contentious everywhere and illegal in some states,” Whitehurst writes. “The seat capacity of private schools … is limited with respect to the need and demand for schools of choice.”
Whitehurst isn’t suggesting that the federal government force all school districts to let parents pick their schools. Rather, states would be allowed to opt into a system where state and local funds follow students, and the federal government also distributes its education funding that way. Liberal states could say no. Conservative states could say yes. Or any other combination.
This system presents the potential for bipartisan appeal: Some liberals, including Hillary Clinton, support charter schools, which are public schools families can choose to attend. Expanding public school choice might not raise opposition from teachers’ unions because regular public schools are still typically unionized.
Many of the Republican candidates are supportive of school choice, but few have released specific plans for what they would do as president. Bobby Jindal’s national education plan includes a portable funding scheme similar to what Whitehurst is calling for, but Jindal expands the choices in his plan to participating private schools.
More than half of the nation’s largest school districts already let parents choose a school within their district, including New York City and New Orleans, Whitehurst says. Twenty-three states let students pick a school outside their home district.
Historically, education issues have gotten little attention during election years. Education coverage in the media drops by 6.5 percent during election years, compared to the previous year. That figure was estimated by Andrew Campanella, a long time school choice advocate. More attention from presidential candidates on the campaign trail could reverse the trend.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
