2008 Woodie Awards
Lula: Give 'Choice' a Chance
Karolina Lula, op-ed columnist
Issue date: 1/30/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The most important public policy issue of today is the inequality of education. The quality of education is a foremost issue because it affects every member of our society. In most of the United States, the availability of an effective education is confined to those who can afford its costs. Most low-income families do not have the options that middle-class or affluent families have. The problem of education can be solved with school choice. This month in Bush v. Holmes, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) to be unconstitutional.
Low-income minorities are subject to discrimination in urban areas because where they live determines which public school they attend. Public schools in urban districts tend to be inadequate in comparison to the private schools available to children of parents who can afford them. About 750 children were provided vouchers for private schools under the Florida scholarship program recently ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court in Bush v. Holmes. A majority of the students who benefited in this program were blacks and Latinos who previously attended low-performing public schools.
Ironically, the word "vouchers" itself is so controversial it invokes feelings of injustice in many people of color. In the 2002 Newark mayoral elections, Cory Booker, a black Democrat who supported school choice was viciously depicted by incumbent Sharpe James as an elitist "white" Republican who hoped for the demise of Newark's minority population. Booker, who studied in Stanford, Oxford and Yale, lost much credibility with black voters because of this.
The solution of dumping money into public schools is not effective, because most of the money rarely reaches the classroom. Jersey City, for example, in 2003 outspent the United States average by $5,000 and the New Jersey average by $2,000. The students, however, did not benefit. The science scores of eighth-grade students in Jersey City were so close to the bottom one can compare them to those of students in Third World countries. Clearly, more money isn't the solution to the problem.
Low-income minorities are subject to discrimination in urban areas because where they live determines which public school they attend. Public schools in urban districts tend to be inadequate in comparison to the private schools available to children of parents who can afford them. About 750 children were provided vouchers for private schools under the Florida scholarship program recently ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court in Bush v. Holmes. A majority of the students who benefited in this program were blacks and Latinos who previously attended low-performing public schools.
Ironically, the word "vouchers" itself is so controversial it invokes feelings of injustice in many people of color. In the 2002 Newark mayoral elections, Cory Booker, a black Democrat who supported school choice was viciously depicted by incumbent Sharpe James as an elitist "white" Republican who hoped for the demise of Newark's minority population. Booker, who studied in Stanford, Oxford and Yale, lost much credibility with black voters because of this.
The solution of dumping money into public schools is not effective, because most of the money rarely reaches the classroom. Jersey City, for example, in 2003 outspent the United States average by $5,000 and the New Jersey average by $2,000. The students, however, did not benefit. The science scores of eighth-grade students in Jersey City were so close to the bottom one can compare them to those of students in Third World countries. Clearly, more money isn't the solution to the problem.