The New York Times had an interesting article today on school choice within the public schools. “Under Mr. Klein, choice has increased exponentially,” the Times said. “Giving people choices is always empowering and almost always will lead to better outcomes for kids,” the Chancellor is quoted as saying. “Choices could indicate when an undesirable school should close.” Yet far from feeling empowered, parents are feeling frantic according to the newspaper. And less affluent, low income parents and their children will be left behind. Why? One sentence captures the problem. “While some parents say they are thrilled to have such a rich menu of options, others complain that it is the schools — not families — who do the choosing.” That’s the reality. The limited, though hopefully growing (some who post here say no) number of schools were a decent education is on offer are deciding which children they will deign to educate. Or it is being decided by chance, or other procedures. The other schools aren’t going to close. They are going to get the kids who aren’t accepted or who lose the lottery.
Let’s compare this with a different variation of choice, one I have suggested. Each child would have an absolute right to attend one of three neighborhood schools, one run by an appointee of the Mayor, one run by an appointee of the Council, and one run by an appointee of the Borough Presidents. The schools would have no choice as to who they would take or how many would come, but the parents would have a choice of three, all close by within their community. Or perhaps four or five, because I also suggested having the government cover not only the cost of books and school buses, but also the cost of buses, for moderately prices non-public schools — if those schools would also accept open admissions within a given criteria. What if everyone in a given district were to choose just one of the three schools? They would have a right to go there. Cass sizes would soar and trailers would be moved in at that school, and the other schools would lay off and shrink, until some of the parents could be persuaded to change their mind. Eventually, some kind of equilibrium would be reached. But it would be the parents' decision in any event.
The frantic ones are the ones without the choices.