If it isn’t already clear, let the Fordham Institute be the first one to state it outright: National School Choice Week 2016 has been a smashing success. The foundational principle of our movement—that every family deserves access to varied and excellent education options—has been expounded by an array of stirring speakers. Students and teachers have stood together in passionate defense of the charter schools they love. Policymakers at the state and local levels have taken vital steps toward dismantling the traditional district school monopoly. And figures of national prominence have gotten involved as well, offering fully developed plans for the expansion of school choice in 2016 and beyond. It has truly been a week to remember.
“But wait,” I hear you protesting, “National School Choice Week doesn’t start until next Monday!”
Ah. Well, that’s true enough. The annual cluster of events doesn’t kick off until January 24, at which time we can expect to be inundated with jaunty yellow scarves, packed street marches, and sensational dance moves. But it’s also fair to say that we could celebrate the accomplishments of this week as much as the next, and with no little legitimacy. All the wonderful things I just wrote about—the widespread public backing, the visible and appealing public advocates for choice, the dedicated leaders at the ground level—have been a wonder to behold over the last few days.
Start with the Martin Luther King Day holiday. That was the day that former Florida Governor (and school reform champ) Jeb Bush chucked a boulder into the policy birdbath that is the 2016 Republican primary by unveiling his education agenda. Amid numerous invocations of Dr. King and the familiar pronouncements of education as the “great civil rights challenge of our time,” Jeb threw in a couple of concrete proposals to quicken the reformer’s pulse: doubling federal resources for charter schools, expanding the District of Columbia’s voucher system, and allowing families to use their 529 college savings plans as ESAs.
That same day, a school choice march choked the streets of Tallahassee with ten thousand charter and private school students, parents, and educators. Its main speaker was none other than Martin Luther King III, son and namesake of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organizer, who declared that “what choice does is essentially create options, particularly for poor and working families, that they would not necessarily normally have.” And Floridians didn’t hold a monopoly on direct action: They were joined later in the week by hundreds of charter proponents in Albany calling for equity in state education funding.
Maybe this kind of manpower should be expected. After all, public polling finds consistent majorities in favor of charter schools (and healthy pluralities supporting voucher programs). But the wheels of state control turn slowly, gummed up with procedural exigencies. Surely there’s little progress to boast of in this realm, right?
Wrong. In Washington State, legislation sailed through both chambers of the state house to preserve a new crop of charter schools, which had been endangered in a ludicrous imbroglio with the state supreme court. And Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s persistent fight to lift his state’s charter cap scored a PR coup when twenty-five thousand signatures were filed in favor of the effort.
The simple truth is that in 2016, every week is choice week. These auspicious developments aren’t guarantors of victory, of course; nor should we take them for granted. But they are reflective of a public sentiment and a policy environment that increasingly urges families to pursue the type of education they like best, wherever it may be found. Charter caps, once lifted, are rarely tightened back down. Districts that have adopted open enrollment policies seldom raise their drawbridges again. If resistance isn’t futile, exactly, it’s increasingly out of step with an America that has had its first taste of choice.
We should still look forward to the big doings to come. The annual speeches and demonstrations surrounding the actual National School Choice Week are exciting, necessary invitations to action—and reminders of how far we have to go. But in the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with getting the party started a little early. Remember to hit the streets with your scarf billowing freely. And get your dance moves ready.
