Public School Support for Choice

The Voice for School Choice brings some good and interesting news from the public education sector. According to a new study by the Hoover Institute, 46% of public school teachers surveyed are in favor of tax credits for education, and only 41% opposed the idea.
This is incredibly important when we consider that the teachers’ unions (who are supposed to represent teachers’ interests) have acted out vehemently against any type of parental choice.
When even public school teachers are supporting educational options and other methods like merit pay and increased accountability and transparency, we have to wonder what is standing in the way of moving forward on reforming education from the outside in.
There is ample evidence to support the notion that public schools actually thrive on competition—they don’t implode! Teachers are noticing this more and more, and see the benefit choice holds for the diverse body of students they teach every day. The only explanation for the union’s opposition must be that they are protecting bad teachers and the status quo of poorly-run administrations.

My experience in a great public school supports this notion. We had a private school in town, but I much preferred my experience at public school. I learned upon entering college that my classes prepared me much better than some of my private-school counterparts. I had more opportunities to get involved in a rich extracurricular world, and so I know that good public schools can stand up against private ones. But if I had been less fortunate, and my public school was less challenging and advanced, the status quo of public education ignores my potential for the sake of structure.

The Voice for School Choice sums it up well:
“if quality instruction and equality of opportunity are the ultimate objective, we need to value education in itself, not just esteem the government apparatus that claims sole license to provide it.”