Every week should be school choice week...

As National School Choice Week comes to a close the evidence keeps mounting that there is more and more support for reforming our public schools and, more importantly, ending the dominance of the teachers unions and placing the power of school choice back in the hands of parents.

While I remain unconvinced that the parent trigger laws gaining popularity around the country, after California passed one a year ago, are an efficient way to reform failing schools, it may trigger parents into believing it's time to stand up and fight. The California law allows parents, if 51% or more of them are willing to sign a petition, to demand reform for a failing school by replacing it with a charter school, by making administration changes or by shutting it down altogether.

The law is being tested in Compton, CA by 62% of the parents whose children attend McKinley Elementary School. They are asking for the school to be replaced by next September with a charter school they've already chosen.





It's not hard to imagine how vicious the push-back is from the-powers-that-be. Spreading lies and fear, the status quo education establishment is working hard now to rewrite the law. Let's not forget what the new head of the Washington, DC teachers union said when he took the job...it's all about protecting the teachers. Hopefully the parents in the video will get that and stay strong.

Remember my post discussing the dismantling of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the US Senate? Well, there is hope that the program will be revived, an effort spearheaded by Speaker of the House John Boehner. OSP offered vouchers, definitely the third rail of the school reform movement, to 2000 children from low income families stuck in maybe the worse school district in the US. Put Kids First is a DC parents group who worked hard to keep the program alive.

President Obama understands that the DC schools are in a wretched state.





But President Obama stood by while his Education Secretary pulled 213 students, all new to the Opportunity Scholarship Program, out of the program last year in order to stop the growth of OSP. If the bill to reinstate funding for OSP passes in the Republican-controlled Congress, and in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and actually reaches the President's desk, I hope he'll watch this before he makes the decision to sign the bill or push it off of his desk.





In fact, I hope he watches it several times...with his daughters. I have a feeling they'd know which decision is the right decision.

Further signs the education powers-that-be need to be more open-minded: vouchers are gaining more attention. They are usually associated with falling school systems in inner cities. Interestingly, a wealthy county outside of Denver, CO is considering adding vouchers to the wide variety of choices the school system already offers, including nine charter schools, two magnet schools and even a school online. A school board member likens it to the choices we enjoy in other areas of our lives. The Superintendent, Elizabeth Celania-Fagen, has a more expansive view of how vouchers (and other proposals the Board is considering) fit into a model for education:

...in a recent letter to parents of the district's 56,000 students, she said her leadership team "did not find the ideas alarming" and pledged the district would "set the stage for new thinking in education."

Support for shaking up the education status quo does seem to be increasing. I do wonder, though, why Waiting For Superman, after so much positive attention, excellent reviews and it's effect on increasing support for school reform from every corner ~ Oprah, Prince, Mark Zukerberg, to name a few ~ was not nominated for an Academy Award. Guess it doesn't matter. The film has opened a lot of minds to the failures of our schools and will, in the future, change the lives of thousands of children.

You know how, um, the Left is really, uh, compassionate and the right, ah, doesn't care about anyone?

To, I'm sure, the discomfort of anyone who lacks the courage to face the truth about our public school system, Waiting For Superman, the new documentary about the failure of our schools, is attracting a lot of attention. A lot. Oprah had the filmmaker and cast on for an hour, followed by another hour with Cory Booker (Mayor of Newark), Chris Christie (Governor of NJ), both intent on educational reform, and the founder of facebook, Mark Zukerberg, who has donated $100 million to the Newark public schools. Her website provides seemingly endless information about failing schools, cutting-edge reformers and videos of the two shows. Oprah's embrace of what many believe is THE civil rights issue of our time will reach people who, in the past, either ignored the problems or pretended they didn't exist at all.

Thank you, Oprah.

But she did vote for Barrack Obama who, after watching Waiting For Superman recently said,

"Oh, it's hearbreaking...And when you see these parents in the film you are reminded that … their stake in their kids, their wanting desperately to make sure their kids are able to succeed, is so powerful…. It’s obviously difficult to watch to see these kids who know that this school’s going to give them a better chance-and that should depend on the bounce of a ball." 

Then why, Mr. President, did you, your administration and your party decide to end the D.C. Opportunity Schlarship Program (OSP) in 2009, a program that has saved 3,300 children from one of the worst school systems in the country. Did you not watch this?



Or, more importantly, this?



For a more complete overview of the program, read this.

On March 16, 2010, the US Senate rejected the bill that would have kept the funding for OSP in place, a year after Education Secretary Arne Duncan revoked scholarships from 216 children who were already enrolled for the 2010-2011 school year.

Please read that again, out loud.

Why? Money, power, unions, money, power, unions...what else? It's more important to keep the unions happy - who, in turn, vote for the politicians, putting their own interests before the children's - and it all pays off because there is always a union contract to be renegotiated, and another election to be won. Nearly all of the votes against reauthorization were from the Democratic side while the majority of the votes supporting the program came from the *Republicans.

Almost forgot, what about Waiting For Superman?



Waiting For Superman website

* The Republicans, especially career politicians, share plenty of the blame for failed schools ~ unwilling, as they are, to rock the boat. That said, they overwhemingly voted for reauthorization of funding OSP.