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Missouri legislators are trying to give Missouri families what they want and deserve: school choice and not school assignment. Mind you, they’re suggesting baby steps—a program that limits the number of students who can transfer out of a district and allows districts to decide whether or not to receive students from outside of their own boundaries. It is not the strong, mandatory program that Kansas has. It certainly isn’t the universal choice of any public or private school that all Iowa families have. But it still could provide a lifeline for Missouri families stuck in our lowest-performing districts or children who are struggling. //
And yet, the teachers' union leadership says they can’t support such a program unless students in high-minority and high-poverty districts are severely restricted from participating because otherwise there would be “no protection against resegregation.” First, resegregation? Missouri school districts aren’t currently segregated? Second, and more importantly, do you know what causes segregation? District lines. In many cases, district lines look a lot like the property red lines of 100 years ago. //
Open enrollment began happening in other states over 30 years ago. In 1988, when Minnesota first allowed all students to choose any public school in the state, they also began researching who chose to transfer and why. Since then, 27 states have passed mandatory open enrollment programs, and the research on them has continued.
So, who uses open enrollment? According to a 2015 study of the Michigan Schools of Choice program, it has been historically disadvantaged students, in this case, low-income and African American students, who were the most likely to request a transfer. //
I don’t really believe that the leaders of Missouri’s largest teachers union think open enrollment will lead to further segregation. I think the race card is a convenient excuse to try to prevent the two things that concern them most.
The first is finding out what families really think of their assigned public schools. I believe that families facing the biggest challenges are fully aware that their children are also trapped in low-performing schools. Charter schools in St. Louis and Kansas City quickly fill up because families want anything other than their neighborhood school. //
The second concern, if we’re being honest, is that enrolled students come with public money. If students leave low-performing districts, they will take money with them, and the schools will be even worse off. So, strap those kids to the deck of the Titanic. //
Cafeblue32
11 hours ago edited
As my dad learned in WW2, desperate actions for desperate times can somtimes get you killed pretty fast, because they lead to hasty unthought out decisions. Desperate times are when soldiers are most trained to remain clear headed and logical.
We are where we are because our solutions are always in crisis mode as a defense against the left. We act fast to try to stop it. In truth, if we simply returned to Constitutionl principles and ran the place as a Republic made up of multiple states rather than the permanent two party winner take all democracy they have turned it into, the system would correct itself. Until we do, all we're going to get is one party or the other's idea of what "our sacred democracy" should look like.
Desperate times call for a return to first principles, which are based in reason and informed by values, not in anger and moral panic.