Vol. 1 No. 11

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

Charter Schools Celebrate Big Success in Buffalo

Charter-school parents and children in Buffalo, N.Y. have good reason to celebrate. Charter schools are outperforming the city’s public schools and helping bury claims by critics that the jury is still out on whether school choice really works.

Last year, 49 percent of children in Buffalo charter schools were proficient in English, compared 39 percent of children in public schools. Charter schools also outperformed public schools by 9 percent in fourth-grade math.

Most children that attend charter schools in Buffalo are from low-income families. Supporters attribute the success to charter schools implementing longer school days and having a variety of programs flexible enough to meet kids’ needs.

Advocates of Buffalo’s charter schools hope the competition will help improve public schools, an idea supported even by some public-school officials. Superintendent James Williams told reporters, “I welcome the competition [from charter schools] because I want to improve the Buffalo Public Schools.”

Enrollment numbers strongly confirm that parents believe that charter schools are providing their children with an excellent education. More than 5,500 children attend 15 charter schools in the Buffalo area; enrollment in the city’s public schools plunged from 46,000 in 1999-2000 to 36,050 last year.

Kentucky's lawmakers should observe the success of Buffalo's charter schools. Too many politicians have a one-track plan for education reform: Simply throw more money at poorly performing schools and hope the problem somehow takes care of itself. This strategy has proven to be a failure.

Charter schools represent a new, better – and proven – approach. They are public schools allowed to operate with fewer regulations and less interference than traditional public schools in return for meeting higher standards of academic performance.

Forty other states have official charter-school policies. Clear-thinking parents and policymakers should join forces to chart a similar course for Kentucky’s children.

Sources:

“Buffalo, N.Y., charter schools outperform,” United Press International

“Charters outperform Buffalo city schools” by Peter Simon, Buffalo News

“Show me the … Education!” by Richard Innes, Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

Our Children: Priceless

Each month, the Kentucky Alliance Digest features a look at school choice from a parent’s perspective. This month’s testimony is from Jackson resident Tammy Watt.

Until a few years ago, I actually took school choice for granted. The two school districts in our county – Breathitt County and Jackson Independent – abided by a nonresident student-transfer agreement that afforded families a choice with state funding following the child.

Our two school systems had cooperated concerning transferring students, and, as parents, we felt very secure in our decision to send our son to Jackson City Schools. However, in recent years, there have been disputes – often about funding – between the two school districts concerning students who want to transfer.

Our child is our responsibility. As his parents, it should be our choice concerning where he receives his education. In our opinion, school choice is a personal decision and every parent must decide the best path for their children.

We are fortunate to have two school systems in our community that have wonderful, dedicated teachers and staff. Each school system has its own fine qualities. However, I feel a “price tag” has been attached to my son that has made him just another number. But to my husband and me, he’s priceless.

Neither the state nor the school boards should decide which school is best for our children, especially if the decision is based on monetary gain and not the individual child. My child is an individual, and I would appreciate him being treated as such.

We are held accountable for every aspect of his life; his education is no exception.

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

Vouchers Produce Miracles in D.C.

What’s happening in Washington, D.C. offers some clues for policymakers concerned about Kentucky’s poor education system.

A new study indicates that parents and students are elated at the success of a voucher program enacted last year in the nation’s capital. Parents tell Georgetown University researchers that their children are performing better academically and developing more confidence in their abilities.

Those interviewed for the study also report that the voucher program has resulted in a greater level of parental involvement, as well as improved safety, stricter discipline and smaller class sizes.

Not only have vouchers allowed children to escape the inhospitable environment of poor schools, it also has kindled the desire to succeed and live productive lives. Students interviewed for Georgetown’s study were previously just trying to survive the notorious violence of D.C.’s public schools. Now, they’re planning for college!

When Congress voted to approve D.C.’s voucher program, the deciding vote was cast by then-Congressman Ernie Fletcher. As governor, Fletcher has yet to introduce or offer strong support for any type of school-choice legislation in Frankfort.

When Fletcher cast his vote in Washington, he said he wanted to help free low-income children “trapped in failing schools.” Hopefully, the governor will see the need to help families in his own state who desperately need the kind of miracles being produced by the voucher program in the nation’s capital.

A good place for the governor to begin would be with the parents of children enrolled in the 80 low-performing schools that produced miserable scores on Kentucky’s latest statewide assessment. Frankfort’s education bureaucracy promised to “get tough” on these schools. Fletcher needs to get tough with his support for school choice.

Governors can make the difference in getting school-choice policies enacted in their states – just like congressmen did for D.C.’s children.

Sources:

“D.C. School voucher bill passes by one vote” by Spencer Hsu and Justin Bloom, The Washington Post

“Parent and Student voices on the first year of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program” by Thomas Stewart, Patrick Wolf and Stephen Cornman, Alliance for School Choice

“Ten Great Reasons why Children Deserve School Choice,” Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

“State gets tough on failing schools” by Nancy Rodriguez, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Parents, Not Governments, Provide Best Education

Home-schooling offers a modern version of the old one-room school days, when parents were the ones who decided what was – and wasn’t – taught. Today, federal and state governments make too many of the important decisions concerning our children’s education.

Government wants to make all things “equal.” That sounds good at first; however, people are not all the same and don’t all learn by the same methods equally.

A home-schooling parent provides a uniquely personalized education by choosing the learning method, curriculum and schedule that best fits their children. They also can give their children more real-world experiences that make learning meaningful.

Even the best teachers working in the finest public systems can’t match the ability of parents to cater to an individual child’s needs. The parent sees the child every day, knows what works and can adapt their schooling as needed. This can’t be done when government makes the decisions regarding methods and curriculum.

Schedules can’t change for individual students in classroom with 25 children. Johnny can’t spend more time on a topic than the rest of the class. He may not grasp the concept yet, or he may just have a desire to learn more about the topic. Either way, he’s not free to further explore the subject matter.

Parents have been helping their children learn since birth. Turning a particular age shouldn’t change who decides what – and how – a child is taught. A home-schooling parent naturally continues to do what they’ve always done – seeing the child needs to know something and finding a way to make it happen.

Parents have more of a vested interest in their children's future than anyone else. As a result, they – not governments – are most qualified to meet their children's educational needs.

(Florence resident Stephanie Graham, a home-schooling parent, is the author of this article.)

A Rising Tide that Lifts All Boats

Fears that school choice negatively affect public schools “ … aren’t merely overblown,” says Harvard economics professor Caroline Hoxby. “They’re simply wrong.”

A favorite mantra of those opposed to educational liberty is that school choice “skims” badly needed funds and the best students and thus reduces the chance for public schools to succeed. Not true. In fact, the research says it’s just the opposite.

In Florida, students in schools with two failing grades in a four-year period become eligible for vouchers for use at a private school or a different public school.

The results show that failing schools improve when facing competition. Schools with students eligible for vouchers made 5.9 percentile points larger year-to-year-gains on the Stanford-9 math test than Florida public schools that did not face voucher competition.

Charter schools also provide beneficial competition. Manhattan Institute researchers Jay Greene and Greg Forster discovered that Milwaukee high schools located closest to charter schools also boasted larger improvements in test scores.

If a new charter school opened one kilometer from a regular public high school, students test scores will likely improve by 9 percentile points during a four-year period. With a charter schools at least five kilometers away, the expected gain is 3.5 percentile points.

Choice reveals similar results in Arizona, Michigan, Maine and Vermont and would also have a profound effect on Kentucky’s public-education system.

Hoxby concludes that: “If every school in the nation were to face a high level of competition from both other districts and from private schools, the productivity of America’s schools, in terms of students’ level of learning at a given level of spending, would be 28 percent higher than it is now.”

Critics say school choice hurts kids and their schools. The evidence says otherwise.

Sources:

“Education Myths” by Jay P. Greene, Rowman and Littlefield, 2005

“Rising Tide” by Caroline Minter Hoxby, Hoover Institution