School Choice: Making the Case for Justice
Who gets to choose? At what price?
Conflict and change
Never have so many questions and concerns been raised about America's schools. Parents are worried about poor test scores, lack of discipline, and threats to safety in many public schools. Employers must invest in remedial training for young recruits. Conflicts over sex education and the teaching of science continue to rage in many school districts. Families who want an education compatible with their moral and religious convictions are not guaranteed equal educational treatment. A growing number of families is turning to home-schooling.
Not since the Civil Rights movement has the desire for reform been so intense. Governors and presidents seek national standards for students and tests for teachers. To achieve greater equity between rich and poor districts, state courts are ordering the redesign of school funding mechanisms. In an attempt to bypass stifling bureaucracies, many states are experimenting with charter schools. And school-choice schemes that include religious schools are under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Reform toward what end?
While many supporters of the present system call for increased public funding to raise teacher salaries and provide more help for the poorest districts, other reformers see government as part of the problem. Some advocate charter schools and other alternatives in order to create competition within the system. Others call for partial vouchers to assist families--particularly poor families--to opt out of bad public schools. A few radicals call for the complete separation of schooling from government.
What principles should guide the reshaping of education?
The case for justice!
Education reform should begin with the aim of doing justice to all families with school-age children. After all, the primary responsibility for raising children belongs to parents, a principle upheld by the Supreme Court. Upholding justice for families is government's job, which is indispensable.
Justice to families also demands acknowledgemt that the actual educational process can never be morally or religiously neutral. A single curriculum cannot meed the needs of every child. Justice therefore requires fair and equal treatment of the diverse viewpoints and educational philosophies dear to America's families. Since publicly approved means of education include many independent, parochial, and home schools, students in any licensed school or home-school setting should receive the same public support.
The basis for this argument is the Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom, free speech, and freedom of association. When choosing schools for their children, families should be free from religious discrimination, just as they should be free from racial discrimination. Therefore, justice requires the reform of laws that discriminate against families who choose non-government schools for reasons of conscience.
As the Center for Public Justice argued in a brief before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, government neither establishes nor interferes with religion when it funds students who are free to choose from among religious and non-religious schools.
What can I do?
1. Understand the principles and arguments at stake in the battles over education reform today. Publications from the Center can help.
2. Learn what is happening in your state, county, and locality. Write to public officials and look up the groups who are competing to reform schooling.
3. Urge your local, state, and national elected officials to do justice by:
- Supporting the principle of parental primacy in the education of children;
- Ending the discrimination against those who, for reasons of conscience, choose religious and other independent schools;
- Supporting equal funding of students in any licensed school.
4. Write letters and op-ed articles for your local newspaper, making the argument for justice in education. 5. Join with other citizens in political efforts to reform the governance and funding of education to achieve justice for all families and students.
Advocating for justice
For more than 30 years, the Center for Public Justice has been making the case for justice in the reform of educational governance and funding. Leaders of the Center testify before Congress and state legislatures, offer workshops and seminars for educators and public officials, contribute to briefs on cases before state and federal courts, and draft principles for those working for reform at state and federal levels. The Center for Public Justice advocates for equal funding of all students in any licensed school, whether publicly governed or independent, whether secular or religious.
