School choice is not an ‘either/or’ proposition
Too often, critics of educational freedom will say that school choice programs are a detriment to public schools. But the case for school choice is overwhelming, and as I have written here and here, school choice programs improve both the academic outcomes for participating students and the students who remain in public schools.
Out of 21 studies that examined school choice and its impact on academic outcomes in public schools, 20 found that school choice improved public school academic outcomes, and one found school choice had no significant effect on academic outcomes.
This is why supporting school choice is not an “either/or” relationship — either support school choice or support public schools — but a “both/and.” School choice offers benefits for students that other options have not been able to produce, and the competition has positive effects on public schools, which will likely continue to educate the majority of American students.
Watch the five-minute PragerU video below to hear Mandy Drogin with the Texas Public Policy Foundation debunk the either/or myth and explain why public schools should want school choice. Here are the video highlights:
- In states where parents have choice, public schools improve. (Examples: Florida’s school choice program enacted in 2002 boosted the state from #33 in the nation for educating low-income students to #1 in 2019; Indiana went from #22 to #3 in the same period of time, for the same students served, after implementing school choice.)
- The success of school choice noted above, and elsewhere around the country, has happened without destroying local schools.
- The argument that school choice will drain money away from public schools has been proven false.
- The school choice movement is all about freedom — freedom for parents to choose the best educational option for their children.
Want to learn more about school choice and expanding education freedom? Join us on May 10 to hear from national school choice expert Corey DeAngelis and Minnesota education leaders.
Like PragerU resources? Join us on May 12 for our 2023 Annual Dinner featuring Dennis Prager and PragerU’s Amala Ekpunobi.