Recent events in the Alabama Legislature force me to address the lack of authentic reform in Alabama’s education system. As a part of a series, I intend to deconstruct certain myths surrounding school reform, beginning with vouchers and charter schools.
It was politics as usual when the state legislature met last Thursday to pass the School Accountability Act, and I must say the initial bill held much promise. It appeared to allow public schools and their faculty the option to embrace innovative methods for improving their schools without the often-cumbersome state regulations. This measure provided hope that at last research-based best practice, not political dogma, could guide school policy and procedure.
Additionally, it allowed schools to adapt to the needs of their specific communities, avoiding centralized rule from Montgomery – but this was all a lie. The flexibility option was designed to create charter schools, not innovative public institutions, and the bill was rewritten entirely to allow state funds to go toward vouchers. The new bill, carefully rewritten hours before its passage, delivers a slap in the face to public schools and unequivocally sends the message that public education is a failure and charter schools and vouchers will alleviate the problem. The age-old privatization argument revived through law now cripples real public education reform.
Why are charter schools not a viable option? Simply put, these organizations do not address the lack of privilege and resources, nor are they bound to serve the needs of all students as public schools must. They can, with public and private funding, selectively cull out the best minds in any district and then claim to resolve the issues with lack of achievement in impoverished areas.
They operate under the explicit understanding that in lieu of state regulation, they must produce high performance. However, their measures do not include serving the needs of all students. It is simple to relish in success when you take out the best students and leave those with disabilities and severe deficiencies behind. More importantly, charter schools are notorious for asking students who do not achieve their test scores to leave, effectively saving their numbers and their funding.
If the arguments for charter schools hold merit, and it is regulation and government which hinder productive public education, then why not allow for more flexibility in the public education system? Public education institutions are mandated to serve all students and communities; charter schools are not. How do they solve educational inequity when they do not and cannot serve all students?
Creating endless options and treating public education like a private market buffet does not address inequities in achievement and funding. We cannot run public education like a business. Businesses must maximize profit, and a business model assumes that all inefficient and wasted resources will be trimmed away to allow optimal growth.
This sounds fine until you realize that the inefficient waste being trimmed will be impoverished students and poor schools. These are people, not numbers on a sheet. Their education cannot be reduced to a calculation which tosses aside their chances at success. Students are not dollars and their schools are not inefficient factories which we must close. Public education is a central part of our public infrastructure, vital to Alabama’s success. It cannot be likened to the Mercedes plant.
Along similar lines, offering vouchers for students to move from public to private or parochial schools does not constitute a real investment in public education. These “tax credits” will not cover all the costs at expensive private schools which include tuition, books and activities that average out at about $10,000 per year. (This is more expensive than in-state tuition at UA.) These vouchers will help some of the middle class attain a private education and will not help the poor at all.
We must realize that, as a state, our society benefits from public education directly by how much we invest in its success. A strong democracy requires an educated populace, but our state legislature prefers ignorance, as evidenced by the horrific lack of transparency in this bill’s passage. I insist on reform centered on research, not political expedience.
We only have to look at the difference between Oak Mountain and Macon County to see the real problem with public education. Both these regions have public schools. One is the best in the state, and the other struggles to graduate 40 percent of its students. Your education in Alabama is determined largely by where you live, not how many vouchers and charter schools your community offers. If you hate me, know that next week we can look forward to discussions on districting and funding.
John Speer is a graduate student in secondary education. His column runs weekly on Wednesdays.
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