Proponents of “school choice” and “parental rights” rail against public education at such a fever pitch that it’s tempting to believe they genuinely want something better for all students.
Opinion
Don’t fall for it. They want to break public schools beyond repair.
Case in point: Wyoming education savings accounts. Last year,
far-right lawmakers screamed loud and long when House Speaker Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) tossed their “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act” in his drawer and killed it after the bill passed the Senate.
The measure, which would have given public funds to parents so they could send their kids to private and parochial schools or homeschool them on the taxpayers’ dime, was fatally flawed.
In clear and unambiguous terms, it violates the Wyoming Constitution’s prohibition of public school funds being used for any school “controlled by any church or sectarian organization or religious denomination whatsoever.”
Sommers’ logic to kill the bill was sound, but what he did next was unthinkable.
In August, the speaker resurrected the education savings account concept in a bill he drafted for the Joint Education Committee, but with a notable tweak. The original bill was limited to K-12 education, but Sommers’ version extends to early childhood education.
Wyoming and three of its neighbors — Idaho, Montana and South Dakota — are the only states in the nation that do not spend any funds on state-run preschools. Only about one-third of Wyoming children benefit from early education now — those whose families can afford to send them to private preschools, or who qualify for Head Start facilities that use federal funds for disabled or underprivileged kids ages 3 or 4.
Families with young children are in a pinch, so I understand why Sommers wants to expand access to early childhood education, but I don’t get why he resurrected this particular bill, since he’s always been against using public money for private schools. The only explanation I can think of is he was worried the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act would surely pass this year, so he tried to improve it.
But that doesn’t wash. The 2023 bill only passed the Senate by three votes, and in this year’s budget session, it would need a two-thirds vote just to be introduced. Achieving that mark was hardly a sure thing.
In November, the Joint Education Committee passed a significantly amended version of Sommers’ draft bill, settling on putting $5,000 in each savings account. The panel voted 8-6 to sponsor it, though no one seemed happy with the final product.
I’m all in favor of political compromise that salvages worthy bills that need a few changes. But the best thing that could happen to this proposal is if everyone who is dissatisfied sticks to their guns and won’t agree on how to make it work.
An impasse is not always a bad outcome. In this case, it could save the state from being trapped in lengthy, expensive litigation that could stall any work on state-funded preschools, the one provision that has merit.
The Legislature has repeatedly rejected the idea, despite mountains of evidence that it helps students not only prepare for kindergarten, but enables them to outperform their non-preschool peers throughout their K-12 education. Early childhood education should be pulled from the bill and given the attention by lawmakers that it deserves.
Long-term studies dating back to the launch of the federal Head Start program in the 1960s show preschool graduates earn higher salaries and rely less on government assistance programs as adults.
In a Washington Post analysis in May, early education experts Robert Hahn of Emory University and W. Steven Barnett of Rutgers University reviewed studies of the educational and health benefits of preschool.
The two educators noted Head Start has been found to reduce depression and the use of alcohol and tobacco by middle school students. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found preschool attendance was linked to a 6% increase in high school graduation and an 18% increase in attending college.
“Providing quality preschool education for all children will benefit not only children and their families, but also the economy, saving taxpayers money in the long run,” Hahn and Barnett concluded.
Not all Western state lawmakers have ignored such research and recommendations. Colorado has greatly improved its early childhood education efforts and could serve as a model for Wyoming. Four years ago, the state didn’t even offer full-day kindergarten. But in 2022, Gov. Jared Polis persuaded Colorado legislators to approve free universal preschool for all 4-year-olds, largely paid for by a nicotine tax passed four years ago.
New Mexico, which like Wyoming is an oil-producing state, used its windfall of tax revenue from high gas prices to make a historic $100 million investment in its public preschool program, expanding access by 40%.
But in Wyoming, lawmakers are using the far right’s fixation on school choice as a cover to privatize schools.
The compromise Sommers offered would use $40 million from the state’s general fund to support the program, split equally between K-12 and preschool. The Joint Education Committee reduced the preschool portion to only 30%.
While advocates tried to assure lawmakers that education savings accounts will stand when lawsuits are inevitably filed, an administrator with the Legislative Service Office said there’s no guarantee that will be the case.
“I don’t know that anyone can sit at this table and tell you definitively this is constitutional, or it’s not constitutional,” Tania Hytrek told the committee. She said there hasn’t been a case like this before the Wyoming Supreme Court, nor has the U.S. Supreme Court taken into consideration Wyoming’s constitutional provisions and school finance litigation.
The Wyoming Education Association is already suing the state, alleging its funding of public education is inadequate and does not meet the state constitution’s mandate to provide a quality, equitable education for all students.
If the ESA bill is approved and signed into law, it will fundamentally diminish the quality of the state’s public school system.
This is no accident, and it’s happening throughout the nation. The far right has long tried to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and stoked anger at school boards that adopted mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Education savings accounts and school voucher programs are promoted by extremists who claim public schools have failed America’s students. Classrooms are the battleground for right-wing culture wars over book bans, transgender athletes and our nation’s racial history.
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said it best when he blasted a raft of unnecessary education reform bills sponsored in his state as a strategy to “choke the life out of public education.”
Parents have a right to send their children to private or religious schools, or educate them at home. Just don’t expect the rest of us to pay the bill. Wyoming’s founders made that crystal clear in the state constitution.
I think the point that Mr. Drake is trying to make is being missed. Let’s keep the two concepts separate. Pre-school funding should be kept separate from other Bills.
I am all in favor of public funded pre-school but, it should be a bill by itself.
I grew up in the Wyoming public school system. It was fine. My take on the current problem is that parents don’t take part in the children’s education. In addition our legislature does not fund education appropriately. They stuff money away in savings accounts waiting for a rainy day. Dear legislators,
It’s raining
60 years ago both of my parents worked full time but at night that made sure our homework was done and that we studied for every test. A’s in classes were what was expected but, B’s were accepted. Getting a C in was unacceptable. My parents would take it upon themselves to help us bring the C up.
In my opinion Parents today are not getting involved in the teaching experience. They are blaming everyone but themselves. They are too busy trying to get books banned as opposed to using books as an educational experience.
Many parents don’t want any school work send home. They are not preparing there kids for college or the real world.
Because of my birthdate I started school
at 5 years and 8 days old. It was my parents that helped me get over this hurdle.
Parents need to shut off the TV’s, confiscate the Cell phones and shut off the video games. They need to pay attention to their children’s needs
PARENTS NEED TO HELP THERE CHILDREN SUCCEED.
As a member of the Wyoming State Board of Education (2014-2021) I spent a lot of time advocating for “universal, but voluntary Pre-K education.” At every “corner” I was resisted in my advocacy not only by individuals in the legislature but also the leadership in the WDE and even some of my colleagues on the state board. The data is clear that an investment in universal Pre-K education saves money and promotes equity. Furthermore Pre-K education is a major ingredient in student success. What is being proposed with this bill is galling, cynical and disingenuous; the primary objective of this bill is to use of public funds for private, sectarian charter schools. I don’t see the side of the bill for the funding of Pre-K education as serious; in fact there is little doubt in my mind that this is an effort to get the “camel’s nose” of publicly funded religious schools under the tent of public education. The statements this past week by the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Chief-of-Staff were very clear that WDE leadership has a low regard for public education in the state, and that message effectively signaled to the legislature that WDE won’t stand in the way of legislation to fund private and sectarian charters. If we are serious about guaranteeing uniform, equal and equitable student success we should let our legislators know that the wat is not in creating publicly funded, sectarian-leaning charters, but instead funding a stand-alone bill funding Pre-K education across the state in which our school districts partner with private “Pre-K Schools”.
From an international perspective, the test scores of our country’s students have fallen behind the test scores of students in other industrialized country’s, particularly in reading, math, and science. They’ve even fallen behind the test score of students in the United States pre-1970’s. This decline began after the U.S. Department of Education was created in 1976 and proceeded to take over leadership of our states’ education systems. It’s no wonder there has been a movement by parents nationwide to try to have their children educated in private schools or home study. Please note that our leaders in Washington send their children to private schools.
I don’t think that there is one private school, homeschool, or school choice seeking family that is out to destroy the public school system. I think all of us that grew up in the public school system, to some degree, wish it was like it used to be, and that we felt good about sending our kids there. There are good reasons why people are looking elsewhere. For most, it is the adoption and promotion of societal views in the school system that do not square with traditional family norms. Secondly, public school advocates tend to demand that the SYSTEM be funded, which does not accomplish the education of the CHILD. If you think it unfair for you to pay for private or homeschool of someone else’s child, imagine how it feels to pay your taxes for what goes on in public schools now that many of us couldn’t even let our kids visit with a clear conscience. You are devastatingly alarmed that public preschools are “underfunded” and yet there are superb private preschools everywhere struggling to operate that just need community support (send your kids there) to succeed. Let’s say what this really is: you want socialism, where the state pays your way and raises the kids for you. Every child deserves to be educated according to the child’s needs, even if that is a faith based institution, and the parents’ taxes should go there, if the institution meets the instructional standards of the state.
I believe in my heart that private schools of any kind are intended not so much to help your kid as they’re intended to keep others out.
‘This from “Why Other Countries Keep Outperforming Us in Education (and How to Catch Up) by Marc Tucker, “EducationWeek,” May 13, 2021:
” Thirty countries now outperform the United States in mathematics at the high school level. Many are ahead in science, too. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the millennials in our workforce tied for last on tests of mathematics and problem solving among the millennials in the workforces of all the industrial countries tested. ” And, “The idea of significantly boosting the achievement of the average American high school graduate and making American workers once again the best educated in the world, coming from the bottom of the pack, seems like a pipe dream. After all, there has been no improvement in high school math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress after more than 40 years of trying every “proven practice” we can think of.”
So, what happened “more than 40 years” ago? President Carter created the U.S. Department of Education in 1976! Good luck with that!!! It reminds me of the old hack, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help!”
What happened 40 years ago? America lost its restricted educational workforce when women finally had the opportunity to pick another career other than secretarial, nurse or public school teacher. The ending of the Vietnam War also played a role in losing males to the educational workforce as they no longer had to choose between teaching or dying in a war.
We lost a lot of high quality teachers to other professions because the American public would not pay what was actually required to get the best teachers. There were plenty of studies done 40 years ago pointing out the facts I present; however, most Americans believed the lies told by those trying to destroy public education that “competition” or charter schools were the answer.
The more one looks at K-12 education, the more important it becomes to achieve success in life. I am convinced that where and when you went through K-12 is the true marker of whether one will excel in life and not college or advanced training. Any attempt to corrupt this model will reduce the quality of the education for our children. In the past any attempt to mess with this tried and true formulae was met with opposition and rightfully so.
School choice is designed to corrupt a model that has worked successfully across America and has had the added benefit of encouraging those of different backgrounds coming together to ensure a quality education for everyone in the local community. When part of society segregates itself off of public education, it tears at the fabric that stitches our Republic together.
I feel sorry for the Cheyenne children that will be attending the charter school fronted by Nathan Winters as the curriculum is based on the unproven ideas of a Michigan based christian college – Hillsdale. Hillsdale College was ground zero in Michigan for attempting to overthrow Joe Biden as the duly elected President of the United States.
Losing our Republic starts with charter schools and you only need a high quality K-12 education to see that fact.