Vol. 1 No. 12

The Kentucky Education Digest is a collection of ideas focused on five general themes:

1. Basic school choice information
2. Parent testimonials
3. Best practices from other states
4. Home schooling
5. Objections to school choice that form the misguided arguments against more educational alternatives.

We invite your input and feedback because we know that healthy debate is the mechanism that produces the ideas that ultimately work.

• School Choice Information
• Parent Testimonials
• Best Practices From Other States
• Home Schooling
• Objections to School Choice

The Fearless Governor

Despite stiff resistance from the education establishment and some politicians, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford continues to fight for school choice in his state.

Even though the South Carolina General Assembly defeated school-choice legislation last year, Sanford remains determined to implement educational policies that favor parents and children rather than teachers unions and bureaucrats.

In a recent commentary on the issue, Sanford offers examples of school-choice successes in Milwaukee and Cleveland as reasons why South Carolina should pursue introducing free-market principles into its education system. For example, after offering parents the opportunity to choose where their children attend school, Milwaukee saw its public-school enrollment, graduation rate, per-pupil funding and test results increase. The only thing that decreased was the dropout rate!

Recent South Carolina school test results place 284 schools in failing or below-average categories. That means one out of every five public-school children in the state attend failing schools. Nearly 40 percent of the state’s schools reported lower test scores than a year ago.

Sanford says “giving parents more choices in the marketplace is critical” to making his state more competitive. He’s right. The same holds true for Kentucky if our state is to become more competitive in the 21st century’s changing economy.

Unfortunately, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher hasn't taken a stand for school choice in the commonwealth. During a radio program last year, Fletcher said he believes that school choice would improve the education of the commonwealth’s children.

“Certainly our secretary of education and other people in the education department think that school choice is a good thing if it is done properly,” he said.

But the actions of Fletcher’s administration – at least to this point – don’t match the rhetoric. If our governor really wants to make Kentucky more competitive, he should model his approach after Gov. Mark Sanford’s fearless leadership in the face of a determined opposition.

Sources:

Interview with Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky Focus Radio Program, Dec. 24, 2004

“Providing school choice key to advancing state” by Gov. Mark Sanford, The Charlotte Observer, Nov. 20, 2005

For more information on the school choice movement in South Carolina visit the South Carolinians for a Responsible Government’s Web site

Mother: Watching Our Children Struggle ‘Truly Sad’

Each month, the Kentucky Alliance Digest features a look at school choice from a parent’s perspective. This month’s testimony is from Belfry resident Carolyn Lott.

As the single mother of three learning-disabled sons, I can attest to the need for school choice in Kentucky.

My oldest son Jacob, a recent high-school graduate, is a 19-year-old with a diploma who can’t read at a third-grade level or do mathematics at a second-grade level. It’s truly appalling that no better educational alternatives existed for him. It’s nearly impossible to get my plea for more choices and better alternatives – especially as a single mother in rural southeastern Kentucky – heard.

I would have taken advantage of quality alternatives to provide Jacob with a brighter future via a better education. It’s truly sad as we watch our children struggle. While the diagnoses for my sons are many, few opportunities exist for them to carve a brighter future for themselves.

The classrooms of most Kentucky public schools are not staffed with teachers who have adequate training to educate special-needs children. If our state allowed school choice, I could enroll my children in schools tailored to their unique learning requirements.

For years, I have written letters to politicians pleading for them to enact laws that strengthen the public-education system and allow for more choices, which would benefit those of us with special-needs children. Perhaps more than any other group, parents with learning-disabled children can testify to the ineffectiveness of the “one-size-fits-all” approach found at most public schools.

The problems created by a combination of a poor public-education system and a dearth of choices for parents will only continue and worsen. As parents, we understand it’s our responsibility to push for total accountability on the part of our local and state school boards.

We also recognize that no child should be left standing alone – especially in America, which has always guaranteed its children the promise of a free and appropriate education.

Parents interested in contributing their story can e-mail it to jwaters@bipps.org.

Kid Friendly, Business Friendly and Fiscally Friendly

A growing and prospering school-choice program in Florida is garnering national attention because of its success. The Florida Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) Scholarship Program has enrolled 15,000 students this year. Participation has increased 33 percent since 2003, making it the nation’s seventh-largest school-choice program.

The program allows corporations to provide scholarships – and receive tax credits – for lower-income students who attended public school the previous year or are entering kindergarten or first grade.

The original CTC cap of $50 million rose to $88 million following a study released in 2004 that showed the program had saved the state more than $108 million. In addition to saving Florida even more money, raising the cap will result in more students who currently are on a waiting list to receive scholarships.

Despite the fact that scholarship organizations do very little advertising, around 15,000 students are now served by CTC scholarships with many more waiting for an opportunity. Parents mostly find out about the program by word of mouth but sign their children up in droves.

Florida's CTC program allows parents to choose the best school for their children, businesses to donate money to a worthy cause and the Sunshine State to save money. Kentucky’s policymakers should look at Florida’s program as a successful way to create a kid friendly, business friendly and fiscally friendly school-choice policy.

Sources:

“Fla. Tax Credit Program Grows” by Jenny Rothenberg, Heartland Institute

For more information on another successful CTC program, read: “Arizona expands education tax credit to increase opportunities for low-income families” by Don Soifer, Lexington Institute

Home-Schooling Promotes Lifelong Learning

I knew I wanted to home school since my first child was very young.

Home schooling allows me to provide an education free from peer pressure that’s geared to my children’s learning style and wastes less time in busywork. But perhaps my own negative experience in school – socially and academically – contributed the most to my decision. I want my children to have a different kind of educational experience.

In John Holt’s book “How Children Fail,” I learned that my experience is not unusual. Holt points out that most children spend their days in apprehension. They fear not understanding or knowing the answer, letting teachers and parents down and of appearing too smart or too dull in front of their peers. Such apprehension hinders learning opportunities.

Many school settings tend to make kids “answer-seekers” and not learners. Children naturally have a desire to learn. It’s when we dictate what they should learn for a specific period of time and by what method that children lose interest.

In too many classrooms, kids are taught to find the right answer. However, just because students list the right answer does not necessarily mean they grasp – or retain – the material.

For me, the answer is keeping a child at home and letting their interests lead the way in their education. It’s amazing what a child will learn when adults keep out of the way. When we show them how to do something, we take away their confidence that comes with figuring it out themselves. (“Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves” by Alison McKee offers an excellent example of one family’s journey into home schooling. Order the book online at www.amazon.com.)

Home schooling allows me to offer my children more exposure to life – a key ingredient to becoming a lifelong learner.

Florence resident Stephanie Graham, a home-schooling parent, wrote this article.

Voucher Opponents Use ‘Misinformation’

In a recent Maryland Policy Report responding to myths about school vouchers, Kirk Johnson says: “Many of the objections against school choice programs, especially school vouchers, are based on misinformation or scare tactics that serve only to confuse parents and stymie reform.”

To fuel the confusion, opponents of school vouchers often resort to using myths that can be refuted with the accurate information provided by solid data.

In his report, Johnson dispels some myths about school vouchers and offers proponents of educational liberty ammunition for the school-choice battle that lies ahead for Kentucky:

• Myth: Vouchers siphon money away from public schools.

Most voucher programs actually save schools money. For example, the D.C. Voucher scholarship program costs $7,500 per student annually, much less than the more than $13,000 spent on each student in the D.C. public schools.

• Myth: Schools that accept vouchers are not accountable.

Johnson responds to this myth by pointing out that:

“Public schools, nominally, are accountable to elected school boards and the taxpaying public at large. Voucher-accepting private schools, in contrast, are accountable to the parents who send their children to those schools.”

If parents are unhappy with the voucher school their child attends, they can send the child to a different school.

• Myth: Vouchers “cream” the best students from public schools.

Opponents claims that only gifted children will leave their local public school when given a voucher. Little evidence exists to support this claim.

Besides, some “creaming” already occurs when education policies exist that allow only wealthy parents to send their children to a better school. Vouchers offer poor and disadvantaged kids the opportunity to attend a private school in places where public schools don’t offer a quality education.

Sources:

“Top five myths of school vouchers and why they should not impede education report in Maryland” by Kirk A. Johnson, Maryland Public Policy Institute

For more myths of school choice read: “MythConceptions about School Choice,” School Choices