How can an idea be so publicly popular, offer such demonstrable benefits, have the endorsement of the Supreme Court, and yet still be categorically rejected by so many in the education and media establishment?
That’s the question I’ve pondered these last several days in reviewing the results of a recently conducted opinion poll. The scientific poll asked Texans a very straightforward question: “Do you favor or oppose a proposal that would create a school choice program whereby education scholarships would be given by the state to pay for a child’s education at any public, private or parochial school?”
Who supports school choice? At first glance, you find about 60 percent of us. But when we look more closely, the numbers show support for school choice crosses every social, economic, and political boundary.
Texans without a college diploma are the strongest advocates of school choice. Eighty-one percent of registered voters without college degrees (the bulk of Texans, mind you), between the ages of 18 and 44, support it. For college grads in the same age group, support is right at 60 percent.
Texans who struggle to make ends meet solidly advocate school choice. Sixty-six percent of people earning less than $30,000 a year want school choice. In the $30-$50,000 range, it’s 57 percent.
School choice is not restricted to conservative enclaves. Just shy of 60 percent of women who make less than $50,000 demand school choice for their kids. And women who vote Democratic? About 61 percent. But going to the other end of the gender and political spectrum, 57 percent of GOP-voting men also favor school choice.
Choice is not a just a dream for the inner-city poor. Rural voters support school choice 62 percent of the time, while urban-dwellers give it 56 percent support.
Every kind of Texan wants parents to be free to select the school best suited for their children, and have no problem in using tax dollars to pay for it.
Why such opposition from individuals who often portray themselves as champions of the disadvantaged? According to the poll, the state’s poor, Hispanics (73 percent) and African-Americans (63 percent) overwhelmingly support educational freedom.
Do school choice opponents not trust poor and minority parents to make good decisions? Surely choice opponents do not believe only government is smart enough to recognize effective educational programs?
Opponents of choice can no longer hide behind the law. Last year the US Supreme Court declared vouchers constitutional. So the leading argument against school choice has become money. Vouchers, opponents claim, will siphon money from cash-strapped public schools. One could make the case that’s not a problem.
Our poll asked Texans: “Do you think public schools spend money in a wasteful fashion?”
Yes, said 56 percent of Texans. This response should send shivers down the spines of many in the bloated administrations of our education bureaucracy. Cheerleaders for the existing public school monopoly like to say there are no problems more money cannot fix.
But that is simply not true. Numbers compiled by Rep. David Swinford demonstrates that higher performing schools actually under-spend poorly performing schools.
Giving parents freedom to choose the public, private or parochial school of their choice will put those bloated bureaucracies on a strict diet.
Day in and day out, every school would have to prove its academic value to the parent of every child. Just as stiff competition forces athletes to focus and finely tune their efforts, so would choice drive school systems to greater academic achievement and economic efficiency.
When the legislature convenes for a special session on school finance, most likely next spring, school choice should top their to-do list.
Texas parents want what’s best for their children, and they need real choices to get the best. The bureaucracies want only to protect the bloat. It’s now up to legislators to do the right thing and represent the will of the majority of Texans.
Mrs. Patterson is director of research for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based think tank that focuses on state-level issues. The Foundation’s research is available at www.TexasPolicy.com.