School Choice Wars

John Stossel gives us some anecdotes from the battles on school choice. Here is one of my favorites:

When the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing individual liberty, criticized the Washington state teachers union's use of dues to politick against school choice, the union attacked the organization with full-page newspaper ads and prime-time 30-second radio spots. The ads called EFF a "right wing extremist 'think tank'" that uses "bundles of cash" to promote its agenda. Union spokespeople also called them "trolls," "lying dirt bags," and "evil ... zealots." According to one union supporter, "Those scum are lower than sewer water, and smell less pleasant."

These people are the champions of "public education," nice to know they have such manners.

EFF uses "bundles of cash"? That's some myth. Its budget is nothing compared to the state's teachers union, which spends eight times more money on politics than the state's Republican and Democratic parties combined. EFF gets its money from people who volunteer, rather than lifting it from paychecks of teachers who have no choice in the matter. EFF contributors include people like housekeeper Gussie Hoff. Gussie gave Evergreen $30 a month for 11 years, and even though she's now unable to work, she still sends money -- with an apology for not being able to do more.

If traditional public schools are so good, why are so many people fighting to get out of them?

Update (5/2/07, 3:00pm): Now that I have had some time to think on Stossel's writing, I would like to point out a couple things.

First, Stossel does tend to focus on anecdotes a great deal. That is to be expected since anecdotes are easier to convey than data. But remember, the plural of anecdote is data.

Second, what troubles me most about the School Choice Wars is that those who are opposed to school choice have gone out of their way to characterize choice advocates as anti-public education. However, the most successful choice models around are charter schools, which are, by definition, public education. When charter schools open up and generate some sucesses, the lottery for those schools tends to contain 10 or more students for each open seat. The tears and hearbreak of parents whose children are selected in the lottery are real and palpable.

Third, despite the rhetoric of the anti-choice crowd, the movement is toward choice, everywhere. They should spend less time fighting it and more time working with choice models.

Thanks to all RCP readers for stopping by.