BCT Editorial – 7/16/10

This page was last updated on July 16, 2010.

Ignoring reality; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 16, 2010.

All we have here is yet another Times editorial opposing any K-12 education alternatives to the traditional one-size-fits-all, brick-and-mortar public school system. Editorials since at least 2002 spoke out against charter schools and vouchers. To my knowledge, the only exception was “Death watch” (6/10/04) in which the Times said, “Have Aliquippa declared a school choice community and find pro-voucher backers to provide the needed funding. This is no reflection on the job being done by the school district. Its teachers, administration and school board are working as hard as they can to improve the district. However, the sad reality is that many people won’t buy homes in the city because of its schools. Decoupling the two would eliminate that concern.”

The Times justifies its position by asserting “but for children to have a chance to do well in school and in life, they must be nurtured physically, emotionally, nutritionally, spiritually and educationally by their parents - starting at birth.” No one disputes this, but does that mean we should ignore all other factors until these issues are resolved for all kids, something that’s impossible? Understandable given its ideology, the Times ignores the fact even good one-size-fits-all, brick-and-mortar public schools aren’t a good fit for everyone, even for kids “nurtured physically, emotionally, nutritionally, spiritually and educationally by their parents - starting at birth.” Face it, kids learn differently, have different interests (beyond core courses), and parents have different education goals for their kids. Why should families be denied educational choice simply because they can’t afford to pay tuition twice, once in school taxes and again to the school their children would like attend?

You likely don’t know the editorial didn’t supply the full title of the Diane Ravitch book. The full title is “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education [my emphasis to highlight].” Given the Times historical positions on “Testing and Choice,” it’s no wonder the Times would like this book. By omitting the book’s full title, however, the Times appears to recognize you and I look favorably upon “Testing and Choice.” The editorial also failed to note Ms. Ravitch is employed as a Senior Fellow by the leftist Brookings Institution. Have you noticed how easily the left opposes choice when it comes to diet, education, healthcare, tobacco use (I don’t use tobacco.), et cetera, but embraces choice when it comes to killing unborn babies as a substitute for contraception?

Neither Mr. Corbett nor the Times addressed the legality of “making public money available to pay for tuition at parochial and other private schools” with respect to PA law. Article III, Section 15 of the PA Constitution says, “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.” Article III, Section 30 says, “No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth, other than normal schools established by law for the professional training of teachers for the public schools of the State, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House.” As I wrote in my critique of “No quick fix” in 2007, “Regarding vouchers being used to send students to church-run schools, that’s a problem. I’m no lawyer, but I believe Article III, Section 15 [of the PA Constitution] would have to be repealed or amended. That’s quite a hurdle. It’s also a shame since a survey I did of local Catholic schools a couple of years found their tuition was considerably less than public schools were spending per student. A possible workaround could be tax credits.” Even vouchers for non-sectarian schools could be a problem under Article III, Section 30.

Finally, the editorial sets up the straw man that Mr. Corbett doesn’t believe “education is ‘an arduous process.’” Setting up and arguing against a straw man is what people do when they know they can’t win the debate on the real issue.