Texas School Choice

School choice is making big gains around the country. At least twenty states now have programs up and running to provide some form of public funding for private school tuition in grades k-12. Texas may be next. It makes sense. The programs are reporting uniform improvements in student performance and the states save money.

Of course some form of school choice is available in every state. Parents who can afford it can send their children to private schools at their own expense. Home schooling is legal in every state. Most states have established charter schools and public schools are a big factor for many people in deciding where to live. But public funding for private schools is gaining favor.

The coming legislative session looks promising. The issue is quite partisan. Republicans tend to be for it, Democrats against. Texas took a couple of steps to the right in the fall elections and major advocates for private schools have already begun lobbying. The largest associations, the Texas Catholic Conference, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and Texas Association of Non-Public Schools have jointly written to Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus in support of tax credits for corporations who underwrite scholarships to private schools, their preferred option. All three officials appear ready to push the measure, as does Senator Dan Patrick, incoming Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Teachers unions and public school administrators are reflexively opposed but  most of their objections are transparently self serving. The financial case is pretty compelling. Texas spends about $11,000 per year per student in public schools. The cost at a typical private school is about half that, the proposed tax credits about a third. Add that to improved student outcomes and it's hard to see it as anything but a no brainer.

As school choice spreads the arguments against them are growing weaker. Many of the charter schools are quite good. Two Dallas magnets are widely regarded as among the best public high schools in the nation. I haven't seen anyone make the argument that they deprive traditional schools of needed funding. All of the private school subsidies I know about are substantially less than those for public schools. The lost funds are offset by fewer students to accommodate.

The church state separation issue was always a red herring. We settled that long ago when ex-GIs started going to parochial universities on the GI Bill. Some voters and some liberal foundations genuinely believe on ideological grounds that the nation's interests are best served by a public monopoly on education but that just isn't holding up to the evidence as it comes in.

There is a report circulating that private schools may be unwilling to accept new students under the proposed subsidies. The associations say that isn't true, they are committed to providing quality education for as many students as they can accommodate. The report is counter intuitive. If there is demand for private schools and the money to pay for them we will get more private schools. If the schools aren't very good parents won't send them there. That's an option many parents don't have today.

This is important. Too many of our children are leaving school without basic literacy and numeracy skills needed for productive careers. Well to do families have always taken advantage of private schools and the schools have generally served them well. We have an opportunity to extend that advantage to at least some of our needier children. There is every reason to think the schools will serve them well too.

Write your legislators. Better yet call. Better still visit. Let them know you support this initiative.