SIMMONS: Stating their case for open enrollment

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Here’s a textbook lesson on public education.

Michigan lawmakers are taking a truly innovative public policy approach by following a simple four-word rule: by any means necessary.

While school-choice advocates continue to push for vouchers and charter schools, Republican legislators there are encouraging a new and far-different path, one that not only would encourage growth in the charter and online sectors, but also would give students the freedom to attend schools outside of their home district. High school students also would have more options to avail themselves of college classes.

Opponents of open enrollment spew the usual talking points, including creating a potential teeter-totter of federal and state funding.

But they need to move forward on behalf of their children — and be reminded that the federal government is overreaching on public schooling because the Constitution grants no authority over education to the federal government anyway.

States and localities have boxed themselves in by establishing school boundaries that essentially — and effectively, I might add — retard children’s academic growth and the economy by forcing them to attend certain public schools because of where the boundary is drawn.

Parents who have the money or are at a station in life that enables them to move get around that ZIP code-bound rule by simply relocating to a better school district.

But less-fortunate parents often take other roads.

Take the Akron, Ohio, mom who was jailed and charged with two felonies for submitting fraudulent documents so her daughters could attend better schools in a neighboring district.

The case of Kelley Bolar-Williams drew the attention of the national media and Gov. John R. Kasich, the former Republican congressman, who recently busted the felonies to down to misdemeanors.

“When I first heard about this situation, it seemed to me that the penalty was excessive for the offense,” the governor said recently. “In addition, the penalty could exclude her from certain economic opportunities for the rest of her life.”

Now our president, Barack Obama, just this Saturday, cited the tether that ties education to jobs, “It’s time for us to let states, schools and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future,” he said.

But it’s Republicans who are rewriting the book on education because they aren’t just talking. They are pushing the envelop labeled choice.

The series of education bills that wended their way through the Republican-controlled Legislature in Michigan are perfect examples of how to walk the walk as Congress ponders changing the No Child Left Behind Act and the federal government’s role in public education.

Congress has made some headway by reinvesting in the D.C. school voucher program.

But what’s urgently needed is a with-all-deliberate-speed attitude and by-any-needs-necessary approach that empowers parents.

I know, I know. It’s hard to teach old (Democratic) dogs new tricks.

But rewriting the book on the status quo — which is what liberals, unions and their anti-choice allies want — has led and is leading to the further disinvestment in Americas future.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican who himself is urging open enrollment, has dubbed the idea an “any time, any place, any way, any pace” education model.

Open enrollment is a public policy whose time has come.

Talk about a game-changer.

• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.