If there’s one way to hurt student performance, it’s to strike at teacher morale. As teachers around the state scramble to get classrooms ready, many are working, for a few days at least, for free. To minimize the impact of state budget shortfalls, a three-day furlough for teachers was suggested – at a time many are working extra hours anyway.
These cuts are not necessarily the last; teachers likely will see more next year. This approach demonstrates a dire need for education reform in Georgia, especially for state legislators to embrace more school choice. A state-sponsored analysis of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program found that the voucher program saves Wisconsin about $37.2 million, a $13 million increase over fiscal 2007, when the program was implemented. Further, Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that school districts outside Milwaukee received an additional $86 million from state funds. These numbers added together already surpass the estimated $99 million savings expected from teacher furloughs in Georgia.
Implementing a statewide voucher program would increase savings to taxpayers without forcing all teachers to lose income next year. A survey by the Friedman Foundation found that from 1990 to 2006, all school choice programs saved a net total of $22 million for state budgets and $422 million for local school districts. Why? Allowing competition among schools encourages administrators to spend money more efficiently and provide better education at a cheaper price. Eliminating ridiculous contracts, unnecessary positions and red tape will direct more funding to the classroom and keep more taxpayer funds where they belong: with the taxpayer.
Opponents argue that giving parents control of their children’s educational future only benefits upper and upper-middle class families and that many parents will not care how their child is educated. Research, however, indicates otherwise. In Milwaukee, less than 1 percent of parents didn’t opt into the school choice program because of a lack of information. In other words, parents will put time into making the best decision for their child if given the choice to do so.
Opponents also argue that instituting a statewide voucher program will re-create segregation in the public school system. In fact, using the Milwaukee voucher example, private schools were 13 percent less segregated than public schools. Likewise, in Cleveland, Ohio, private schools were 18 percent less segregated than public schools. In Georgia, charter schools compose more racial minorities than traditional public schools. These schools serve as similar models to a voucher system. About 43 percent of charter school students are African-American compared to a statewide average of 38 percent. Likewise, 4 percent are Asian compared to 3 percent statewide.
Yet another argument comes from teachers’ unions: that a voucher program will hurt teacher pay and reduce jobs. But a 1998 study from Ohio University found that competition actually increases teacher pay and that the demand for teachers will remain constant or increase.
Schools competing to retain their students probably will institute smaller class sizes, resulting in more teachers. Further, as money follows students, schools will compete to hire the best teachers and the best way for schools to attract talent will be to offer higher salaries. As schools become more like businesses and less like government bureaucracies, teachers will have increasingly more input into what happens in their classrooms.
There are many examples of the benefits of more choice in other states and even in Georgia, with the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship. In 2008, more than 1,500 students in Georgia used the Special Needs Scholarship to transfer to a private school that could better meet the needs of their Individualized Education Program. A study released last week by the Center for an Educated Georgia on the effects of the Special Needs Scholarship found that private schools averaged 9.2 on a scale of 0-10 in terms of parental satisfaction, while public schools averaged 4.4. Why would this same trend not occur on a statewide level for any student?
As the state continues to trim an education budget that is not significantly influencing performance, teachers and students will suffer the consequences. The evidence is clear: school choice produces better-performing students, saves state and local school districts money, and gives parents and children the choices they deserve.
-Daniel Groce is the first potential new author at SWGAPolitics.com to respond to our open call for new writers. Want to be the next one? Let us know via the form on this page.
