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Two Takes on School Choice
Solve Systemic Racism with School Choice
The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), a publicly-funded pro education establishment group, made an unusual change to its mission statement that raises an interesting question.Over the weekend, TASB added a new charge to its statement of beliefs, according to Austin ISD trustee Lynn Boswell, that targets the latest cause de jour: systemic racism. The group’s amended platform now includes the following:
- “We believe in and are committed to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion; promoting dignity and mutual respect; striving to eradicate systemic racism; and providing opportunity for all.” [emphasis mine]
And so, if the system is riddled through with racism, then logic dictates that it must undergo radical change. Which raises the question: What might that look like?
One idea long promoted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation is to provide parents and students with school choice, which would see funding follow the student instead of the system. Such a reform would drastically improve the education environment as institutions began competing for students, and people began voting with their feet. It’s a change that will benefit every child, but it holds particular promise for low-income minority students who are right now trapped in failing government schools.
Redlining for the Woke: School Choice
as an Antidote to Racism
When many on the left talk about “systemic racism,” they often cite redlining—the practice of segregating neighborhoods through mortgage restrictions and other tools—as one of most effective measures for keeping the races separate. Redlining, they contend, has resulted in worse economic and physical health for Black communities.But the left is fully on board with a persistent form of redlining—locking public school students into failing schools, segregated by ZIP code, neighborhood and increasingly by race. That’s why it’s so disturbing to see the Texas Association of School Boards fully embrace wokeness while laboring ever harder against school choice and any challenge to the racism inherit in its own system.
Last week, TASB (which includes “all 1,024 Texas school boards as Active Members of the Association”) added to its mission statement: “We believe in and are committed to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion; promoting dignity and mutual respect; striving to eradicate systemic racism; and providing opportunity for all.”
But TASB is the system—and its most strident defender. It opposes all challengers to the public school system, labeling them all as “vouchers” (there’s polling on the terminology).
Original source can be found here.