Trading accountability for flexibility
Our state legislators will soon be considering expanding postsecondary and college educational savings accounts (ESAs) to K-12 students under the mantra of “school choice.” Advocates for ESAs are pushing for their expansion as a means to provide parents with the ultimate flexibility for their child’s education. However, flexibility has a tradeoff — ESAs divert public school funds to private schools that often have problems of their own and no accountability for them.
Schools receiving ESA funds have no oversight and are not required to participate in state assessment programs, nor do they comply with requirements for curriculum or professional licensure. In fact, K-12 students enrolled in private schools would forfeit their constitutional right to a free appropriate public education. Special needs children may not receive the services they need since once a voucher is accepted they forfeit their rights under federal law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
According to the National Education Association, private schools can reject applicants based on their academic record, English language proficiency, disability status, homelessness, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation of both students and parents, and other criteria.
In 2017, the bill containing the ESA school voucher program in Pennsylvania was Senate Bill 2. Under SB 2, families whose children attend or have attended a low-performing school, defined as the bottom 15 percent of PSSA and/or Keystone exam performance, would receive an ESA containing taxpayer money enabling their children to attend a private school.
Sending students from low-performing schools to schools without accountability isn’t much of a solution. Let’s find the money to target and fix needy public schools instead of sloughing our children’s education off to the for-profit sector.
Expect to see Senate Bill 2 listed on the legislative calendar in the coming months. Please join us in contacting your state senator to voice your opinion on ESAs. Find your legislators at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/
The above op-ed was submitted on behalf of the AAUW State College Branch, Education Policy Committee.
This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Trading accountability for flexibility."