Yet, for too many kids, their schools are not havens of learning, but “cages” from which to escape. This reality consistently brings calls for increased school funding. But funding is not the issue. Failure is.
Thirty-seven percent more spending, 20% more employees, 12% fewer students, and what did it get? A consistent decline in educational outcomes. The district’s overall math proficiency ratingfrom 21% to 15%, and five schools had math proficiency ratings ranging from 2% to zero. “Kids want different, they want better.” Why would anyone deny them? Why on Earth would you close off opportunities for children to pursue learning elsewhere? Why would you insist they be held hostage in a system that, by any measure, is failing to help them and, in many ways, is doing them lifelong harm?A single mother with three children in cities like ours is essentially a millionaire, as almost $1 million will be spent on her children’s K-12 education over 13 years.
Giving parents the freedom to choose requires having elected officials who work hard toward that ideal. The teachers’ unions provide publicly derived money and foot soldiers to candidates who promise to protect the status quo and scuttle choice efforts, while parents and choice advocates have far fewer resources. Part