This week, an appeals court overturned what had been a legal victory for nine public school children suing to change teacher tenure laws and dismissal procedures in California.
Why does this matter to people who care about school choice? For one thing, it’s a setback, though far from a fatal one, to efforts to advance students’ legal right to an equitable, high-quality education.
Prof. Jack Coons had more on this point after the trial court first ruled in parents’ favor:
Though I consider California’s tenure system an abomination, it is an integral part of the global structure of a basically moribund system.
Its dissolution would be laudable but in fact would introduce similar new hurdles for equity. By empowering the administrator, we substitute one form of tyranny over the child for another. With the continuance of the frozen management structure, choice and retention of teachers may be no less random than today. The judgment of incompetence is both difficult and distasteful. The temptation is strong to avoid decision and assign the teacher to some harmless cloister. Still, I would be glad to see tenure go.
But the scene is tragi-comic, especially given the rational alternative available. I refer to the state’s empowerment of parents to make their own choice among schools, choices which, in a roughly consistent way, identify the good school and its good teachers. That judgment is one the parent makes strictly by the standard of this particular child’s best interest, not for the sake of a school district’s professional correctness.
Judge Treu’s decision may be a step in that direction. Though only obliquely, it raises the core question: who, in the end, is the proper locus of authority over the child. Vergara “empowers” the administrator-stranger, who may be simply another wrong place to locate this prerogative.
Meanwhile…
Charter schools: Segregation problem or segregation solution? Or is that beside the point?
There are good things happening in American public education. Perhaps we shouldn’t care whether they can scale.
Anti-charter legislation dies in Louisiana. Pro-charter legislation is signed in Mississippi.
Gov. Rick Scott expands public-school open enrollment in Florida. The impact could be muted in choice-heavy South Florida.
The trouble with treating education like a civil rights issue.
The benefits of black-led charter schools.
A charter school tries its hand at restorative justice. Arkansas explores district-charter collaboration. Nevada gets serious about recruiting charters to low-income neighborhoods.
More on that charter school earnings/attainment study.
Quote of the Week
I have to do this to make his dreams happen. If he’s passionate about it, then I’m going to do whatever it takes in rain, sleet, snow, bus and bike. I’m going to make it happen.
— Detroit mom Monique Johnson, describing her son’s extraordinary commute to find a better school.
Transportation deserves more attention from the school choice movement. Students also need more quality options close to home.
Tweet of the Week
Maybe opponents of school choice should consider this point..
This Week in School Choice is redefinED’s weekly roundup of national news related to educational options. It appears Monday mornings on the blog, but you can sign up here to get it Sunday. Please note, however, that we’ll be taking the next two weeks off while our editor gets some much-needed R&R.
Did we miss something? Please send tips, links, suggestions and feedback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org.
