OPINION:
School choice is winning from coast to coast. Last year, six states created programs offering every student a shot at the high-quality education once exclusive to the privileged. Even more are moving in this direction in 2024.
There are alternatives to the traditional public school system in most of the country, and this is driving renewed interest. The nonprofit National School Choice Awareness Foundation released a survey last month suggesting that nearly 2 in 3 parents are exploring options other than their assigned district public school. Some 43% of those surveyed have already gone in a nontraditional direction, such as a charter school, private school, magnet school or homeschooling for at least one child.
Sensing the popularity of school choice, the Missouri House of Representatives last month approved open enrollment legislation granting parents the option of sending their children to any public school in the state, regardless of where they live, liberating those who might be trapped in a failing or dangerous environment. The state Senate has also advanced a bill to expand the current school choice scholarship program.
In other states, lawmakers are taking defensive positions to resist the assault of teachers unions desperate to retain their iron grip over the K-12 classroom. Nebraska enacted the Opportunity Scholarship Act last year to provide millions in public funds to help low-income families afford private schools. Lawmakers there began working this week on a proposal to sidestep a union-backed scheme to pull the plug on the program before it has a chance to help anyone.
Defenders of the status quo casually toss around terms like “racist” to describe any who dare challenge their schoolhouse monopoly. The facts say otherwise. The Current Project, a nonprofit dedicated to creating upward mobility for Black single mothers, released a survey Monday suggesting these moms are tired of the “one size fits all” system. Some 86% responding to the nationwide poll said they’re more likely to vote for political candidates who embrace school choice.
The new way of thinking about education isn’t limited to K-12 schools. High school students who intend to go to college are no longer stuck with the standardized ACT or SAT admissions test, which have become increasingly politicized to fit in with the latest progressive fads.
Florida’s state university system last year began accepting the Classic Learning Test as an alternative, and the number of students ditching the testing duopoly for CLT has grown tenfold. Instead of reflecting the fleeting ideologies of the present, the exam draws from the timeless texts of civilization’s greatest minds to challenge students.
A similar appreciation for the timeless can be found at the University of Austin, a new private college offering a classically minded curriculum in a forum that, unlike most educational institutions, rejects today’s cancel culture in favor of critical thinking.
It’s a sign of the times that turning to the best minds of past generations for guidance has become a revolutionary idea. But the school choice revolution is exactly what’s needed to escape the groupthink that has imprisoned so many young minds. And freeing those minds is the key to the long-term health of our republic.
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