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Part 4 - The Search for Alternatives to Privatization
Those who accept the original arguments in favor of public schools are unlikely to support California's voucher initiative or any of the other similar proposals that are now surfacing across the country. Despite their weaknesses, public schools continue to offer one of the only sources of mobility to poor and working class people in a society that remains stratified by race, class and gender. In all likelihood the implementation of a voucher system would only add to the disparities that presently exist in education. Though advocates of "choice" and vouchers claim that competition would elevate quality and drive poor schools out of business, there is no guarantee that "good" schools will be accessible to all who desire admission. Poor parents seeking to use vouchers to take advantage of elite private schools are unlikely to obtain access given the probability that such schools will not expand enrollment in order to accommodate increased demand.(14) Rather than becoming less restrictive, elite schools will in all likelihood become even more selective given the increased demand for admission that is likely to accompany enactment of a voucher policy.(15)
Moreover, what will happen to low quality schools as those students with greater ability and means depart for schools that are perceived as better? Particularly given that public school funding is based largely on student enrollment, it seems unlikely that schools that lose students due to perceptions of quality will have the resources needed to improve their status. Rather, it is more likely that there will be a high demand placed on schools that are seen as "good", while those that are seen as "bad" will only get worse. Undoubtedly, such schools are likely to cater largely to poor and non-white parents who are unable to take advantage of school choice because their kids are less likely to be chosen in the application process by "good" schools. As is true now the poor quality schools will be concentrated in the poor communities, and rather than being improved through competition, they will more likely become poorer, both with respect to the quality of education provided and the amount of funding available to the school. The implementation of choice and vouchers will therefore have a triage effect on the public schools, with the "good" schools attracting high ability students and thereby generating more resources, while the bad schools are left to flounder until they are shut down completely.
What about the possibility that new private schools will form to compete with the public schools for their share of the educational vouchers? There is a great chance that this will occur much like the new airlines that were established shortly after the deregulation of the airline industry during the 1980s. At this point it is difficult to determine how good the quality of such schools will be, and for those who are fed up with the poor quality of public education in certain areas it may be argued that they couldn't possibly be much worse.(16) However, unlike the public schools which are required to meet legally established educational standards, both with respect to credentialing requirements for teachers and accessibility for students, the private schools will not be held to similar guidelines. Moreover, unless the vouchers exceed the $2,500 presently proposed under the California plan, it is not clear that the revenue obtained from vouchers will be sufficient to operate private schools that are actually better than the public schools they seek to displace.(17)
The public's readiness for choice and vouchers may not be as high as its advocates hope or have claimed. Recent evidence from a poll conducted by the Carnegie Foundation indicates relatively little support for the school choice or voucher proposals among the parents of public school children. According to this study 70% of the respondents stated that there was no other public or private school to which they currently wanted to send their children. 62% of the respondents expressed opposition to the use of vouchers for funding education.(Education Week, October 28, 1992) Other studies such as one conducted by Gallup in September of 1992 contradict these findings and provide evidence of strong support for vouchers.(18) It may still be too early to determine whether or not voters will approve choice and voucher proposals in the states and school districts where they have been proposed. However, six states and several individual school districts have already implemented some version of choice. The city of Milwaukee remains the only publicly funded voucher experiment in the country.(19) However, to the extent that vouchers continue to be promoted by politicians and others as a solution to the problems experienced by public schools, the idea stands a chance of being implemented and can not be dismissed as a mere pipe dream.(20)
Given the dire circumstances in so many schools and the political nature of the battle over vouchers, advocates for public schools must do more than merely extoll the virtues and promise of public education. In many cases the criticisms levelled at public schools by the conservative critics are accurate. Many public schools are failing to adequately meet the needs of students, and too often those who manage them are not sufficiently responsive to the concerns of parents. Rather than reacting defensively or devising compelling excuses for their failure, supporters of public education must be in the forefront of efforts to promote reform. In this respect the best defense will be a strong offense.
School restructuring, the move toward a more integrated curriculum, performance based assessment of students, and the development of the neighborhood school as a center or "hub" of community services, are just some of the more prominent reform initiatives being discussed and initiated in school districts across the country.(21) In California, Charter Schools have been proposed as another alternative within public education that may allow opportunities for innovation that are more difficult within conventional schools.(22) Cynical observers may dismiss these efforts as nothing more than recycled versions of the reform efforts that have been tried in the past. However, what sets these efforts apart from their predecessors, and what makes them unique is a common recognition of the need to rely upon a democratic process of reform that involves all of the significant players in the educational process in the effort to create change. In practice this means that rather than relying on experts or the application of models that have been produced elsewhere(23) , these new reform efforts aim at involving parents, teachers, administrators, students and the community in partnerships geared toward fundamentally changing the ways in which schools have operated. Such efforts seek to build upon the uniquely democratic character of public schools rather than seeking to undermine that legacy
Clearly, it will take some time to determine whether or not these new reform efforts will yield the results that have been promised and hoped for. In the mean time, those who continue to understand and appreciate the need for public education must carefully monitor the movement toward privatization in public education. At this point, time may be a luxury that can no longer be afforded. Advocates for choice and vouchers appear to have the momentum and the political advantage, and where public schools are failing to meet the needs of students, they may find willing converts to their cause. If nothing else the claims of the privatization advocates must be challenged and exposed as nothing more than untested promises.
Yet, because in many cases the advocates of privatization have focused upon real problems which beset large numbers of public schools, a defense of public education based upon their potential to improve will undoubtedly not be sufficient to thwart the efforts of those who seek to destroy them. Public education is in desperate need of reform, and those who value and appreciate their role in this society should be in the forefront of efforts to hasten the pace of change.
Rather than empowering parents through the use of vouchers as consumers of education, parents should be empowered as decision makers through efforts aimed at democratizing school governance even further. Though widely criticized by some, the movement for community control of public schools launched in the Ocean-Hill Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y. during the mid 1960s provides a model worth considering again. That brief experiment in the application of grassroots democracy in the governance of public schools, showed that poor African American and Puerto Rican parents can and will become actively involved in supporting the education of their children when conditions allow for this to occur. When this happens public schools are more likely to become accountable and responsive to those they serve, and as a result , they will have to find ways to improve the quality of service that they provide.
Despite all their weaknesses, the nation's public schools constitute an important national resource. During times of crisis and national disasters we turn to our public schools for safety and refuge. When confronted by diseases that pose a threat to the public health or social problems that undermine the well being of our communities we turn to our public schools to provide preventative education to the youth about the dangers and risks which confront them. Rather than abandoning this vast infrastructure of public schools or transferring responsibility into private hands, we should find ways to improve quality through increasing the control of the communities that are served.
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Dr. Pedro Noguera is a professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also past president of the Berkeley School Board.
This article was originally published in 1993. It is published here by In Motion Magazine because the arguments it makes are as pertinent today (1998) as they were then.. The portrait of Dr. Noguera is by freelance photographer Kathy Sloane (kataphoto@aol.com).
