For all kids, school choice is smart choice
The Boston Herald
September 6, 2006by Michael Goldstein
Founder, Research and Dissemination Director of the MATCH School
Instead of black families fighting for access to good schools, how about good schools fighting to enroll black families?
Thirty years ago, Boston had about 30,000 black kids and 60,000 white kids in public schools. Just 9,000 white students remain, while the number of black students remains constant. Half will drop out. Among grads, few will enter or stay in college long enough to get degrees.
Some argue that citing these realities is "piling on." Let's add context. Boston is viewed as one of the nation's five best-managed urban districts. But that also says something about where we are as a nation. If a "top" district has those numbers, then we have a universal crisis for America's black kids.
Harriet Tubman tried to do two things: Help individual slaves escape and try to free every slave by promoting abolition. We should do the same in K-12.
The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunities (METCO) sends 3,000 black Bostonians to suburban schools. Charter public schools educate 2,800 more. Another 2,500 or so "escape" to pilot schools - small like charters, but still unionized. The exam schools - Latin, Latin Academy, O'Bryant - serve 1,300 black students.
That leaves about 21,000 African-American kids in traditional Boston schools.
More pilot schools could be created if the teachers union would only step aside. But only seven will open in the next few years, and even those have been diluted. (The union recently reduced pilot school flexibility.)
Current law caps charter students from any one district at 9 percent. That's silly. The unintended consequence is more charters open in suburbs instead of Boston, where they're most needed. Abolish the cap and we'll get 10 new great charters in five years.
African-American enrollment is down in exam schools. Nonprofits like Steppingstone prepare kids for the entrance exams. Charities should step in here to expand these programs, and perhaps add a fourth school.
By expanding charters, pilots, METCO and exam school access, we can "free" another 8,000 black children.
Would this hurt the district? Just the opposite.
Teacher quality is key. Yet since half of newbies depart Boston Public Schools within five years (despite the highest average pay in Massachusetts), it's hard to be selective.
The answer? Imitate large companies facing a talent shortage: shrink.
If BPS allows more pre-dominantly African-American students to end up in pilots, METCO and charters, it's win-win-win.
Teachers get more choices of the school types that most appeal to them (including some which are not designed for the lifers).
Minority parents and kids get off waiting lists and into the programs they want.
The district would only need hire a few hundred new teachers per year during this transition period. A choosier BPS gets better teachers, kids learn more, morale improves, teacher attrition declines - which leads to an even more selective hiring process.
Sound pie in the sky? Philadelphia and New York - cities where superintendents and mayors most encourage charters and other choice - have seen the biggets gains of all large U.S. cities among students who remain behind in the traditional schools.
Public school choice benefits children of all races. But it most helps the families who've been worst off. Instead of black families fighting for access to good schools, how about good schools fighting to enroll black families?
That's a civil rights vision worth fighting for.
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