Last week I had an opportunity to speak in Boise, Idaho, on school choice and the Arizona experience. In an interview on NPR, I addressed claims by choice opponents that Idaho “already has school choice.” I guess you could say I went full Depeche Mode in responding. I’ll explain why here, and I challenge you to try to keep that synthesizer music out of your head while you read on.
Families benefit from schools that are meaningfully diverse, proximate, and that have seats available in the grade levels appropriate for their children. The existence of choice schools is necessary but not sufficient: schools must be close enough to access and have seats available in the grade levels needed. The more schools you have, the more proximate schools you have, the less transportation challenges your families face.
The idea that Idaho, or for that matter anyone else, has “enough” K-12 choice seems highly questionable; in a demand-driven K-12 system families and educators continuously mold the clay of the education space. Educators develop new school models, such as microschools, and families sort through them.
The greater the meaningful diversity of schools proximate to families the better. Consider the Brookings Institution charter access map, showing the percentage of students with one or more charter schools operating in their ZIP code of residence:
In the 2014-15 school year, 47.3% of Idaho students had one or more charter schools operating in their ZIP code. This means 52.7% of Idaho students did not have a charter school operating in their ZIP code. Having a charter school in your ZIP code represents a minimalist measure of choice. Given the many types of charter schools and families’ needs for a good-fit school with seats available at their child’s grade level, having a nearby charter is not much more than a start. Moreover, charter schools themselves do not capture the full diversity of schooling.
Arizona began creating mechanisms for educators to create meaningfully diverse schools 31 years ago. The quasi-market revealed demand for a wide variety of schools. We learned that parents wanted classical education, rigorous math and science college preparatory schools, and schools focused on a great many things from the arts to the equine arts.
More recently, several charter and private schools focused on the education needs of students with unique needs have emerged. The private choice programs increase access to private schools. Far from having “enough” choice in Arizona, every school waitlist should be viewed as a policy failure.
Modern choice programs have expanded the possibility set for families. Under Arizona’s ESA law, high school students can use their accounts to attend community colleges and simultaneously obtain a high school diploma and an associate degree. Families sometimes team up to hire their own teachers. Families have only begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities.
And then there is this polling research to consider from EdChoice:
These polls indicate that certain types of schools are oversupplied, but it’s not the type that will become accessible if Idaho lawmakers pass a private choice program. Variety is the spice of life, and no state has yet come close to getting enough.
