The issues of vouchers and school choice are hot topics on Tuesday’s ballot, and MSU’s newly founded Education Policy Center has attempted to detail the debate.
A report released Oct. 12, “The School Choice Debate: Framing the Issues,” analyzes arguments for and against school choice. The work is the result of a March international conference at MSU about the issue.
“The point is to find some common ground and how we might harness the power of choice,” said David Plank, director of the Education Policy Center.
The 53-page report focuses on five areas: governance of schools, equity and access, innovation, student outcomes and accountability. School choice has reached the forefront of public debate recently because of Proposal 1, a statewide ballot initiative in this year’s general election.
The proposal would amend the state Constitution to provide vouchers for some students to attend private K-12 schools and require teacher testing. Plank said school choice is here to stay - with or without Proposal 1 - and citizens should be aware of the issues.
“A lot of the debate of the question of school choice is the question of achievement,” he said. “School choice by itself is not going to have large effects on student achievement. That’s one of the big lessons.”
Another debate is just who would benefit from the proposed vouchers.
Greg McNeilly, spokesman for Kids First! Yes!, the organization that sponsors Proposal 1, said the program will empower poor families.
He compared the system to the American automobile industry, in which competition from the East forced companies to make a better product.
“Vouchers provide a certain incentive for improvement and increase in quality,” McNeilly said. “Because of the plethora of choices, the consumer gets a better product.”
Richard Hula, a professor of political science and one of the authors of the report, said there are problems with both the traditional public school structure and the proposed voucher system. School choice, for instance, doesn’t involve enough of the community, he said.
“The way you get good schools, you get a market for education,” Hula said. “That breaks down because education is not simply a commodity between parents and schools.”
While the report is objective and doesn’t propose any specific reforms, Hula said the key is to incorporate education into the democratic system. He used Chicago and Cleveland as examples, making the mayors accountable for education.
Laura Wotruba, spokeswoman for anti-voucher group ALL Kids First!, said the major problem with Proposal 1 is that it asks too much of taxpayers by giving public funds to nonpublic schools.
