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CER Letter to the Editor
Opposed to Better Schools?
By Jeanne Allen
The Washington Post, July 4, 2001
Editor -- The June 28 letter from the nation's largest school employee unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), stated that "vouchers have largely been discredited as a means of reform," basing that claim on "solid education research." But the proposals favored by the unions funnel more taxpayer dollars into a broken system that continues to fail its most disadvantaged students.
Harvard University economist Caroline Hoxby's recent report evaluating choice programs, including Milwaukee's highly regarded voucher system, shows that not only does school choice benefit the children in the program but students remaining in the city's public schools gained from competition.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Georgetown University and Harvard found that black students from low-income families in privately funded choice programs in Dayton, Ohio, New York City and the District performed significantly better on tests after two years in a private school than did similar students in public schools.
A February report from Florida State University shows that choice spurred Florida's lowest performing schools to improve. Florida began offering students the chance to escape repeatedly failing schools in 1999. That year, 78 schools were given an F; this year, none was.
School choice is making a difference in the lives of thousands of children trapped in failing schools. Why do the NEA and AFT oppose such a promising reform?
Sincerely,
Jeanne Allen
President
The Center for Education Reform
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The Center for Education Reform [CER] is a national, independent, non-profit advocacy organization providing support and guidance to individuals, community and civic groups, policymakers and others who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For additional information on education reform please call CER at (202) 822-9000.