School Choice

This summer I am researching and analyzing the school choice issue. Many of my friends have asked what "school choice" means - either specifically or generally - what I'm working on and towards.

So I'm going to spend a few blogs explaining the basics of what school choice is - and then talk about the arguments for and against school choice.

Basically, the bottom line of school choice is giving parents options on where they send their children to school.

How would this look? Well, that's where the confusion of what "school choice" is typically comes in. To break it down simply there is: public school choice and private school choice.

Public school choice would mean parents get to choose which public school their children attend. Some districts allow parents to do that - it is fairly rare for parents to be able to choose without such type of restraining condition, like "space permitting."

Within public school choice is also the option of "charter schools." Charter schools are funded publicly (not to the same amount as public schools typically) but are operated by a private entrepreneur. The idea is the operator can make all the decisions -- to spend more money paying teacher salaries, buying Smart Boards, or funding the soccer team. Also ideally, they would make all curriculum decisions as well. State-to-state laws vary on the amount of regulation charter schools must abide by.

Private school choice would mean (essentially) the money follows the student - whether the student went to a public school or a private school. The US spends $10,770 per pupil (on average - in 2007), so full private school choice would mean that each parent could use that full amount (average being $10,770) and choose any school they wanted - private or public.

That could mean a charter school, a religious school, or a traditional public - there are many options.

So that's the introduction on school choice for now. If you're reading - please post comments and/or questions. I would love to hear from you and will do the best to answer any questions and down the line... field some debate.