Gov. Bill Lee is empowering families by expanding school choice in Tennessee

We have options in most parts of life – from the grocery stores where we shop, to the car we drive, to the cell phone provider we chose.

However, when it comes to education, most Tennessee families have little to no choice because they don't have the financial means.

Take me, I’m the product of public schools through eighth grade and that of a private high school. My parents made a significant financial sacrifice because they believed it was what was best for my education.

All Tennessee families could have the same opportunity if education dollars for their children were allowed to follow the student.

Many other states, including Arizona, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Indiana, Nebraska and Montana, have enacted school choice – including some that opted for universal school choice.

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I’ve volunteered in a local public charter school and seen first-hand how school choice can provide hope and opportunity to students who had been stuck in generationally failing zoned government-run schools and now receive a high-quality education.

So, while I’ve worked on a variety of public issues throughout my career including school choice, I’m writing this piece as a private citizen who is passionate about the issue.

What’s most galling is that many opponents of universal school choice have exercised school choice for themselves and their families, but not for Tennessee children in failing public schools and for families without the resources to access better options.

I’ve been around the block long enough to know that those who shill for the unions will always oppose school choice in any form. The only reform they ever support is more funding — and this is after the state has poured a record breaking $9 billion into schools including an additional $1 billion for historic pay increases for our deserving teachers and a revamped funding formula.

But take one step away from blind fealty to the education bureaucracy, and they come after you. I’ve experienced it. I’ve been threatened, bullied and intimidated for supporting school choice and even been called a racist by a college administrator for volunteering in a reading comprehension breakout at a local charter school.

With even limited levels of school choice showing increasingly impressive results in districts like Nashville, all opponents have left is to try scare tactics and to bully people into submission.

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Families who want to keep their children in public schools can choose to do so

A report from the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) shows that charter schools in Tennessee serve a higher percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students than their district counterparts and a national study from Stanford shows that charter school students make more progress in math and English than traditional public school counterparts.

In fact, families who are happy with their public school can remain there and the school continues to receive funding for that student. Why should anyone object to empowering unhappy public school parents with the funds to find a better school for their children?

Opponents of school choice claim that offering families an option will destroy public education. Of course, high performing public schools have nothing to be afraid of, and other schools will be incentivized to increase their performance as competition enters the system.

This creates a virtuous funding cycle – money follows the child to support the school of their choice – to you know, educate the child. And I, for one, trust parents over bureaucrats to make the best choices for their own children.

Another view: Expand Tennessee's Education Savings Account program statewide and spread the innovation

Don't trap low-income children in ineffective schools

The biggest victims of efforts to prevent students from escaping the government-run monopoly are our poorest students, predominantly children of color. It’s morally indefensible to trap low-income children in ineffective schools, especially when many legislators’ own children have access to high performing schools. This truly is the civil rights issue of our time.

Locking kids into ineffective government schools dooms the future of countless thousands of Tennessee young people. I believe rank-and-file Tennesseans know this and are too smart to fall for the oppositions’ false talking points when for them it’s really all about maintaining money, control and power – both the unions’ and their political supporters’.

The greatest local control is that of the family. Tennessee should put kids first and empower families with universal school choice.

Chris Burger lives in Nashville and is the founder & CEO of Rotunda Public Affairs. He served as a senior campaign official in Bill Lee's 2018 gubernatorial campaign and previously worked in Governor Lee’s administration.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee education: School choice expansion will empower families