Is School Choice Good for Democracy?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the freedom to choose where your children will go to school – school choice. According to Jason Bedrick at The Heritage Foundation, state after state is embracing “policies to empower parents with more options in K-12 education.” As in most leftist arguments, opponents of school choice are using the usual slogan of saying that it is a “threat to democracy.” 

In reality, it is leaving our children under the control of public education that is threatening the future of the American democratic republic that our Founders created. Bedrick noted, that “school choice is better for democracy than government-run schooling.”

Bedrick also reminded his readers that liberals claim that school choice is “an existential threat to public education.” He continued with the following statement:

This talking point has long been a staple of the teachers’ unions, even though states that have adopted robust school-choice policies have seen their district schools improve and still have democratic institutions. Earlier this year, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, alleged that school choice would “destroy public education as we know it,” and is therefore “bad for … democracy.”

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA), similarly claimed: “Public education is the foundation of our democracy,” adding “we must defend [public education] from those who would underfund, politicize, or dismantle it.” Although Pringle says she doesn’t want public education politicized, the NEA spent nearly $42 million in one year on political activism causes while spending less -- $38 million – to fulfill its tasked role of protecting union members.

Yet, Pringle, Weingarten, and their political allies abhor parental empowerment through school choice. Instead, they want children held as a captive audience in the government school system, despite its track record of failing to effectively educate children. More children in government schools equals more teachers paying dues to her to funnel into political activism.

Bedrick continued his article by reminding his readers that “Freedom and self-government rely upon an educated citizenry.” Samuel Adams understood this principle in 1779 by declaring that an educated citizenry would “never be enslav’d” but would have “Security.” However, the government-run schools are not producing an educated citizenry, a fact shown by the statistic that “Nearly nine out of 10 adults attended a government-run K-12 school, yet fewer than half of Americans can name the three branches of government – and a quarter can’t name any branch at all.”

These statistics show that “Teaching students a historically accurate understanding of our nation’s founding and the role of government is not a priority” in our government-run schools. Instead they are learning about “social justice, ethnic studies, and Marxist-inspired Critical Race Theory.” Bedrick shared other statistics from the most recent National Assessment for Education Progress as follows:

“40% of eighth grade students are performing below basic proficiency in history, meaning they likely cannot identify simple historical concepts in primary or secondary sources.” Only 13% scored at or above proficient in history.

On the civics exam, students also fared poorly, with only 22% of American eighth grade students scoring at or above the proficient level.

Bedrick emphasizes that the government-run schools are not teaching civic knowledge and values to the rising generations – even as union leaders claim that public schooling is necessary to protect those same values. He wrote that government schools are teaching extremist ideologies, such as Critical Race Theory. He stated that parents are in a much better position to put a check on extremism. “The greatest check on extremism in the classroom is academic transparency and parental choice in education.” Bedrick concluded his article with the following paragraph.

School choice – not the government-run K-12 school monopoly – allows for the will of the people, which is true democracy. Parents have a much better record than government bureaucrats of choosing schools that instill their children with the civic knowledge and values necessary to preserve freedom democracy, and the American way of life.