The whole idea behind school choice was that free market choices would naturally improve education. Parents would look at the quality of the schools and naturally pick those schools with the best education for their children.
But the best products don’t always win in the marketplace. Americans pretty much know what foods are good for them, but that doesn’t stop consumers from filling their shopping carts with Twinkies and Doritos.
Yes, the educational free market operates just like free markets everywhere. And no, the best products don’t always win.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that Journal Sentinel education reporter, Erin Richards discovered that some Milwaukee choice and charter schools were handing out gift cards and other economic incentives to get parents to sign up their children for these schools.
Escuela Verde, a city charter school on the Southside, is handing out $25 iTunes gift cards to any student who brings in an additional three students to the school. Other schools are spending thousands of dollars in ad campaigns and mailers to draw in students.
Last year the Wisconsin Association of School Boards took up a proposal to support legislation opposing the right of any public school to use taxpayer money for school registration recruitment. This was in response to virtual charter schools flooding the television airwaves to draw students away from traditional public schools.
But Milwaukee Public Schools opposed the proposal because MPS was already facing the onslaught of advertising from other charter and choice schools. MPS had no choice but to respond in kind with its own public relations campaign. The WASB proposal didn’t pass.
We have discovered that many parents let their high school age, and even younger, children pick their own schools. The best recruiting tool tends to be where their friends are going to school. A winning basketball team can make the difference, even school colors and mascot. The quality of education often ranks farther down the list.
Parents may pick a school because it offers door-to-door bus service, extended before and after school daycare. As long as the kids are happy at their school is how some parents respond. And the children bring home reports with all “A”s even though they did little to earn the letter grades.
We could and should pass laws which would outlaw the giving of anything of value for school registration for any school that receives state funding. But realistically there are ways around such efforts. Wal-Mart could give out the gift cards by having parents bring in a registration form from a participating school; thus no government money would be involved in the process.
If we are going to continue to have a free market educational system, then we must recognize that it has been necessary to place restrictions and controls on other products within the free market, and we must do the same for education.
Restaurants have health inspections. Pharmaceuticals must pass muster with the FDA. Automobiles and a host of other products must meet minimum safety standards. So why shouldn’t schools be required to meet minimum educational standards as well?
The concept that the free market operates with few controls and that consumers usually pick the best products is a notion rooted in ideology, not in reality. That is why more regulations must be placed on charter and choice schools.
