If Texans love freedom as much as we say we do, it’s time for school choice | Opinion

Texas is a beacon of freedom among red states. Many Texans embrace choice, responsibility and liberty. It’s time now for the Legislature to match these values and their passion and enact education freedom in the form of education savings plans, or a voucher-like program, as it’s commonly called.

When it comes to other parts of modern life, Texans have plenty of options. They can shop at H-E-B or Trader Joe’s; they can order from Walmart, Amazon Prime or FedEx. In America, choice, competition, and the consumer, completes the trifecta of capitalism. Competition forces sectors to improve because Americans generally tend to only put their time, money and energy into what best serves them.

Texans would balk if the state government issued an edict that forced them to shop at Central Market when a more inexpensive option is nearby. They’d probably riot if the government forced young people to go to the University of Texas instead of Texas Christian University.

“Why would you support choice in every arena but K-12 education?” Corey DeAngelis said at a panel discussion on the issue hosted Tuesday by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in conjunction with Texas A&M University Law School. DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, made a solid case for expanding the current roster of school choice in Texas to include public funding for parents who want to send children to private schools or to home-school.

Gov. Greg Abbott has the Legislature in a special session to address the issue. It’s time for lawmakers to come to a deal. Texas parents deserve to be able to use their tax dollars toward a form of education that works best for their kids, just like they use their own funds to shop at whatever grocery store fits their taste and budget.

Last week, the Senate approved a bill that would provide about $8,000 in taxpayer dollars to each eligible student to subsidize private school tuition or other education costs. This seems like a steal given that public schools in Texas spend nearly $16,000 per student and still, many are struggling academically and teachers have gotten a raise in years. Texas is ranked 19th nationally for K-12 education, according to one survey that measures multiple factors, not just achievement. Not bad, but not great, either.

DeAngelis’ opponent, Scott Milder, founder of Friends of Texas Public Schools, suggested repeatedly that taxpayer dollars should not go toward the “private good of some instead of the public good for all.” Milder brushed off suggestions that kids were struggling to learn the basics in Texas schools, remarking that standardized tests don’t measure learning as well as graduation rates and other factors.

While DeAngelis also agreed STAAR exams weren’t the best mechanism for testing a child’s knowledge, there were still several significant differences between the two viewpoints that school choice actually resolves.

If, in the opponents’ perspective, Texas schools are doing great and kids are learning at rigorous levels, implementing broader school choice for parents will change very little: Schools doing great will continue to do so as parents opt to send their children there.

If, as many Texas proponents of school choice suggest, some Texas schools don’t serve children well enough, either due to lack of academic rigor or some other metric, school choice won’t hurt those kids, either: In the most extreme cases, very poor Texas schools would shut down due to no attendance and good schools will thrive. Mediocre schools will strive to do better, too. This is the double-edged sword of capitalism.

Public schools rarely close due to school choice, especially not rural ones. Rural House Republicans, however, are typically the holdouts when it comes to passing school choice. This seems hypocritical at best: There are likely not enough private options in the communities anyway, yet they claim school choice will hurt the public schools already there? That’s not persuasive.

“If parents like their public schools,” as DeAngelis said Tuesday night, “they can keep their public schools.” If anything, rural schools will continue to thrive as parents will be unwilling or unable to send their kids to a private school located some distance away.

Milder repeatedly stated that school choice was antithetical to conservative values, calling it “irresponsible.” But choice coupled with competition is key to the free enterprise system that undergirds modern conservatism. Texas parents should, once and for all, have the liberty to choose where their kids go to school, according to their needs, not their ZIP codes.

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