By Steve Levy
Do poor children have a constitutional right to have the freedom to choose a school that will maximize their ability to learn and escape poverty?
It’s a huge question that could have a profound impact on the future of this country.
There’s no question that many of our schools are failing. It’s in large part due to a lack of competition, a diminution of standards and the disproportionate power of teacher unions who often advocate more for their own power than the welfare of these children.
In 1954, the Supreme Court changed the course of America in Brown v Board of Education in ruling that “separate but equal” accommodations for black and white students is unconstitutional.
It’s time for the high court to hear another landmark case that would hold that a child must not be trapped going to a bad school, simply because of the randomness of where they live.
Is there not an equal protection argument that says it’s blatantly unfair for a rich person to be able to send their child to a better school yet a poor parent cannot?
Charter schools are outperforming public schools in spades. The line to get into these charter schools is beyond comprehension.
The only thing blocking them are the powerful public unions, and the elected officials in state capitals beholden to them by voting against the creation of more charters. Even some Republican officials are swayed by union power, as witnessed in Texas last year when a proposal for school choice was stymied by GOP state House Representatives.
A number of states are now moving toward a system that allows a parent to have state education money to follow their choices. This is an earth shattering concept that will dramatically improve our educational system. Florida’s freedoms have allowed it to move from amongst the worst-performing schools to among the best.
Many states, including New York, either ban or limit the number of charter schools within their jurisdiction. A major lawsuit in New York upheld constitutional protections against unequal assistance for the poor districts. The Court of Appeals, indeed ruled for the plaintiffs, but made a fatal flaw in simply requiring more money to go to the same failing schools.
As we can see from the statistics, the state doubled aid to education since that time and scores have stayed flat, or actually declined. There is simply no correlation between increasing funding for schools and better outcomes.
We don’t need another lawsuit seeking more money to go to schools. We need a lawsuit that will allow parents the freedom to change schools if their present public school is failing.
Is there a class action lawyer out there who will take up this cause? He or she may be the next Thurgood Marshall.
Steve Levy is Executive Director of the Center for Cost Effective Government, a fiscally conservative think tank. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.”