There is growing evidence that more families would opt for different schools if they could. This is clear from survey data and focus groups, alternative school and charter school waiting lists, among many examples. What happens to them from sailing to a new educational island is, above all, the political blockade that still seals the ports to all but a few lucky or intrepid travelers. Even though the new islands of education and ships may be for avid policy explorers, most people still reside on the two old continents and don’t travel much. The reasons are familiar, starting with old-fashioned complacency about the school itself. Surveys have long shown a relatively high level of satisfaction, or resignation, among Americans with children in school. The familiar and close is usually more comfortable than the distant and strange.
Many interests are deeply rooted in the status quo: teachers’ unions, textbook publishers, school board associations, colleges of education, and administrators groups, to name just a few elements of what is broadly called the “establishment” of institutions. public schools. Although it slowly gave in to some contemporary reforms (for example, state academic standards), that establishment attacks all changes that could undermine its near monopoly on the means of production. The ferocity of their tactics is commensurate with how threatening a proposed change seems. Therefore, it has a greater tolerance for (and ability to co-opt) magnet schools and other forms of “open enrollment” among the institutions it still controls than for truly independent charter schools or vouchers. This is why, for example, virtually all state statute laws include a strict “cap” on the number of such schools, and why any proposal to loosen the cap is met with strong opposition in the House of Representatives.
Less noted, but also significant, is the change-averse, self-interested establishment of private schools, which enjoys a welcoming niche, is anything but entrepreneurial, happily enrolls about ten percent of the student population, and has reason to be. concerned about new ways of learning. competition such as homeschooling and charter schools. Several private school leaders are also wary of publicly funded vouchers, fearing government regulation and the loss of independence that such a funding mechanism can bring. And a handful of vocal libertarians and “school-state” separatists would have all levels of government withdraw entirely from primary / secondary education, leaving parents to pay for it out of pocket if they want it for their daughters and sons.
Although that notion has not spread much, it is clear that the establishment of public schools is no longer the only source of resistance to novel political strategies to expand school choice at the expense of taxpayers. Still, it remains the largest and most powerful source of opposition and the main reason why not everyone who wishes to explore the new islands of education can access them.
Despite the uncertainties and opposition, the move is palpable. More islands emerge and more people find ways to get to them. The blockade has more loopholes. Educational companies that five years ago were the subject of academic disputes are happening today. The question about vouchers is simply where will they appear next. Politically, tempting changes are also visible. Teachers union bosses now claim to be in favor of charter schools and shutting down or “rebuilding” unsuccessful public schools. Union-sensitive politicians now claim to be in favor of virtually all forms of school choice except public funding of wholly private schools.
In fact, the educational map is changing and it seems certain that it will change more in the coming years. Like almost every other major industry, K-12 education will become more diversified and specialized. Monopolies will seem more anomalous and unacceptable. Just as our television options have expanded from three networks to hundreds of cable and satellite channels, so has the range of schools.
It is especially interesting to observe how the new islands and migration patterns affect the two old educational continents. Although the evidence to date is anecdotal, clues can be found that the market works in K-12 education as well. When the monopoly collapses and people change schools, abandoned institutions alter their ways in an attempt to win back clients over whom they no longer have bureaucratic hegemony.
Small town school systems respond to competition from charter schools by mimicking their curricula. It is not a flood, but it is more than a trickle, and it may become the most important effect of new schools and mechanisms of choice. The end point of the islands may not be that they are inundated with millions of migrants. The point, rather, may simply be that once it is clear that people can no longer be confined against their will to the two old continents, those who want them to stay at home must make the home more attractive. However, for such a long-term reform strategy to be successful, the alternatives must be truly viable and accessible in the short term for many children and families. Which, of course, is precisely what the advocates of the old arrangements are doing their best to avoid.