Donald Trump, Mike Pence get school choice mostly right

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

A lot of Americans disagree with Donald Trump for lots of reasons. Yet, when it comes to school reform and school choice, he gets a lot of things right.

So pay attention to this crucial domestic issue.

Why?

Because if we’re not cautious, the usual suspects will try to block the schoolhouse doors of the Class of 2020.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report Monday on the socio-economic characteristics of students who benefit from public money at private institutions. One of the findings speaks volumes about school choice. Another found “that student eligibility is often based on their disability status or family income,” which is not surprising. After all, public schools and other school systems use students’ disability status and families’ income when budgeting.

The goal of school choice is to help ensure that money follows the student not just into the schoolhouse but into the classroom, and that the student’s parents — not bureaucrats in Washington — decide which schoolhouse best fits their child’s needs.

To wit, the GAO’s own positive words:

“Participation in voucher and education savings account (ESA) programs, which fund private school tuition and other educational expenses, has more than doubled in the past 5 years, and available information about the characteristics of participating students varies. From school years 2010-11 through 2014-15, the number of students participating in these private school choice programs — which are regarded as an alternative to public schools — grew from approximately 70,000 to 147,000. During that period, funds provided for students also increased substantially, from approximately $400 million to $859 million, according to GAO’s survey of all voucher programs and ESA programs operating in 2015 and related follow-up. This growth reflects both creation of new programs and expansion of existing ones.

“GAO’s survey also found that student eligibility is often based on their disability status or family income. However, the information programs have about student characteristics varies and cannot be compared across all programs because of differing data collection methods or definitions for characteristics like race and ethnicity, disability status, and income.”

That last sentence about data collection is a political ploy during presidential election season — when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is on record saying she wants “parents to be able to exercise choice within the public school system — not outside of it — but within it.”

In other words, parents get no real choices, but the educrats have a field day.

Now here’s what Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had to say about Mr. Trump’s “bold” education reform policies:

1) Mr. Trump’s first budget will add $20 billion toward school choice by reprioritizing existing federal dollars. Specifically, Mr. Trump’s plan will use $20 billion of federal money to establish a block grant for the 11 million school-age kids living in poverty. Individual states will be allowed to decide how these funds will be used.

2) Mr. Trump also wants to provide school choice to every American child living in poverty, whether that means attending a public, private, charter or magnet school.

3) Mr. Trump will use the pulpit of the presidency to push for choice in all 50 states and will call upon American voters to elect officials at the city, state and federal level who support school choice. (The only boo-boo here is that the District of Columbia should have been included.)

4) Mr. Trump will support merit pay for teachers, so that great teachers are rewarded — instead of the failed tenure system that currently exists, which rewards bad teachers and punishes good ones. (God love Mr. Pence, who knows teachers unions and their like-minded supporters think there is nary a “bad” teacher among them.)

Now, I have some reservations about that No. 1 item, and my major concern is that the ranks of educrats will grow alongside the rolls of those participating in school-choice programs. And, as I mentioned earlier, that the nation’s capital, which has both a burgeoning charter program and critical voucher program, isn’t slighted.

Mr. Pence’s Indiana is one of more than a dozen states with a voucher program, and as a member of Congress, he supported the D.C. voucher program, thank you very much.

School choice supporters should welcome Mr. Trump onto the school choice bandwagon and not allow the anti-school choicers and the elitists to block the schoolhouse doors.

Bigotry doesn’t solely apply to race and ethnicity.

• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.