Having school board elections on Election Day? Brilliant!

"The special interests that run Oklahoma's government school monopoly for their own profit are opposed to having elections on Election Day," Greg Forster writes.

How to run the government-school monopoly better

Oklahoma policymakers should take a hard look at school board elections, building-level autonomy, principal training, transparency measures, and other public-school governance reforms, Greg Forster writes in Perspective.

School choice documentaries available online

Three recent documentaries critical of K-12 education in America are now available for online viewing, two of them free of charge. Each film dramatizes the failures of public education, the efforts by lower-income parents to secure a better education for their children, and the ways that bureaucracy and entrenched interest groups work to thwart those efforts. If you missed the opportunity to see these films in theaters, now you can watch them at your convenience and easily encourage your friends, neighbors, and elected officials to do the same. (Hat tip to Ace of Spades HQ.)

The Cartel (92 minutes) is available for free streaming on Hulu and is also available for instant streaming to Netflix subscribers.

Teachers punished for speaking out. Principals fired for trying to do the right thing. Union leaders defending the indefensible. Bureaucrats blocking new charter schools. These are just some of the people we meet in The Cartel. The film also introduces us to teens who can't read, parents desperate for change, and teachers struggling to launch stable alternative schools for inner city kids who want to learn. We witness the tears of a little girl denied a coveted charter school spot, and we share the triumph of a Camden homeschool's first graduating class.

Together, these people and their stories offer an unforgettable look at how a widespread national crisis manifests itself in the educational failures and frustrations of individual communities. They also underscore what happens when our schools don't do their job. "These are real children whose lives are being destroyed," director Bob Bowdon explains.

The Lottery (80 minutes) is also available for free streaming on Hulu and for instant streaming to Netflix subscribers.

In a country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, The Lottery uncovers the failures of the traditional public school system and reveals that hundreds of thousands of parents attempt to flee the system every year. The Lottery follows four of these families from Harlem and the Bronx who have entered their children in a charter school lottery. Out of thousands of hopefuls, only a small minority will win the chance of a better future.

Directed by Madeleine Sackler and shot by award-winning cinematographer Wolfgang Held, The Lottery uncovers a ferocious debate surrounding the education reform movement. Interviews with politicians and educators explain not only the crisis in public education, but also why it is fixable. A call to action to avert a catastrophe in the education of American children, The Lottery makes the case that any child can succeed.

Waiting for "Superman" is not available on Hulu, but is available for instant streaming to Netflix subscribers. It's notable as a critique of the public school system from the left side of the political spectrum.

It was a morning like any other -- as Academy Award winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim was taking his young children to school -- that he was moved to act. Like many parents in America who are lucky enough to have the means, Guggenheim's children were headed that morning to an expensive private school, where he was assured they would find themselves in an invigorating environment with talented teachers devoted to bringing out the best in them.

But as he drove past the teeming, troubled, poorly performing public schools his family was able to bypass, Guggenheim was struck with questions he could not shake: What about the kids who had no other choice? What kind of education were they getting? Where were the assurances that they would have the chance to live out their dreams, to fulfill their vast potential? How heartsick and worried did their parents feel as they dropped their kids off this morning? And how could this be right in 21st Century America?

One would hope that anyone seeking a position on a school board in next spring's elections will have seen these films and be prepared to talk about the implications for the school system he or she seeks to serve. Would that Oklahoma's school boards were working to increase educational options for all Oklahoma children, rather than using lawsuits and foot-dragging to obstruct and attack the expansion of school choice.

It's time to move school-board elections to November

In a speech this year at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels explained why Indiana decided to move its local school board elections from the spring to the fall. In the spring, he said,

nobody votes. It’s a lot easier to dominate, for a small or for an interest group to dominate the outcome and elect a friendly school board in the sparsely attended primary elections. And so now they will have more of the public at least eligible or at least on hand to take part in those elections.

Oklahoma should follow Indiana’s lead. Because as Hoover Institution fellow Bill Evers points out, Progressives have been able to transform our local school districts through such things as “nonpartisan elections, district boundaries that did not match other jurisdictions, [and] holding school elections at times other than that of the General Election.”

So instead of electing school-board members who represent the views of Oklahoma’s center-right majority, we find ourselves with school-board members who represent the views of the education establishment whose voter-turnout apparatus put them into office. And this results in bad public policies. I’ll cite five examples.

First, we see some surprising provisions in teacher contracts. Gov. Daniels points to provisions ranging

from things as trivial as what the humidity in the school shall be or what color the teachers’ lounge shall be painted—I am not making this up—to more troublesome things like the principal can only hold staff meetings once a month or can only hold them on Mondays, to still more troublesome things like no teacher will be required to spend more than x hours with students [and] … no teacher can be observed in the classroom by the principal without a pre-conference and two days’, three days’, five days’ notice.

These problems exist in Oklahoma too. Earlier this year, the Education Action Group analyzed collective-bargaining agreements from six Oklahoma school districts and concluded that teacher-union contracts are “bleeding Oklahoma schools dry.” Regrettably, I can’t say I was surprised this month when scholars at AEI and The Heritage Foundation concluded that American public-school teacher salaries are $120 billion over market value.

Second, we’re treated to the spectacle of school boards disobeying state law. This anarchy was too much even for the liberal Tulsa World.

Third, we’re treated to an even more disturbing spectacle: school boards using tax dollars to file a lawsuit against the parents of special-needs children.

Fourth, we have a school board teaming up with other tax consumers in a chamber of commerce to oppose reductions in Oklahoma’s income tax rate.

Fifth, we have a school board passing a resolution declaring its opposition to scholarships for special-needs children.

These things happen because not enough of these voters are voting in school-board elections. It’s time “to restore avenues for popular participation,” Evers says. It’s time to move school-board elections to November.

[Cross-posted at Inter Alia]

Colorado's third-largest school district enacts voucher plan

Public school board members for school choice

As children continue to be trapped in failing schools, despite massive increases in taxpayer funding, public school board members in Pennsylvania -- past and present -- are forming "Public School Board Members for School Choice" to support efforts to throw educational lifelines to more children through expanded school choice. According to a news release from the Commonwealth Foundation,

Former School District of Philadelphia Board member Sam Katz said, "Public education reformers have sought more funding, governance changes, standardized testing, centralized curriculum and a host of other changes. Though well intended these have often missed the mark and left another generation stranded in a vastly more complex and technologically sophisticated economy. For the middle class, moving the family, non-public school or even private schools have afforded families options. The less fortunate are left with few choices. It's time to change that now."

Bob Howard, former school board president of the North Allegheny School District in Allegheny County, supports school choice because, "High achieving school districts like the North Allegheny School District have nothing to fear from school choice. Like many parents in my district, I was able to exercise school choice when I moved into one of the highest performing districts in the state. It would now be unconscionable for me to deny the poorest amongst us school choice while protecting failing schools."

Larry Wittig, current school board president of the Tamaqua Area School District in Schuylkill County since 1995, intimately understands the challenges as well as the limitations of public education.

"Competition in public education is never bad. We already win on price-we're free to parents and students-so all we have to do is be as good as our competition, and we will win," said Witting. "Unfortunately, students-through no fault of their own-find themselves in a situation that is academically paralyzing. It's common sense to give those with the greatest need the opportunity to find a better school."

Throughout the coming weeks and months as the legislature considers expanding Pennsylvania's school choice options, "Public School Board Members for School Choice" will provide a voice for those current and past elected officials who support putting the interests of children first and foremost in this school choice debate.

School board members will be signing the following statement:

Public School Board Members for School Choice

WHEREAS, public school board members are elected to provide leadership and stewardship in the operation of public education and the delivery of educational services and to hold the interests of students as their top priority; and

WHEREAS, public school board members have a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers to ensure the highest possible return on the public's investment in the education of students; and

WHEREAS, classroom teachers play the most critical role in the pursuit of educational performance by their students but are often faced with restrictions and limitations that can hamper their effectiveness ; and

WHEREAS, the Ridge Administration first proposed school vouchers in 1996 for children in under-performing schools as part of a much broader plan for educational reform while opponents of school choice argued that public schools were inadequately funded and that vouchers would further erode funding for public schools; and

WHEREAS, 15 years later, taxpayer spending in the Commonwealth on public education doubled to $26 billion per year to an average of more than $13,000 per student-$2,000 more than the national average and more than 39 other states; and

WHEREAS, public schools continue to perform poorly for the children of low-income families despite funding increases leaving students from low income families trapped and with no options for better educational opportunities; and

WHEREAS, the absence of choice for these parents means our public schools lack the critical incentives that drive continuous quality improvements.

NOW, THEREFORE, a different course of action is necessary to improve our public school system, particularly for low-income children.

THEREFORE, we the undersigned current and past public school board members from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania support legislative efforts to give parents greater school choices in the education of their children.

Local school district mulls starting voucher program

The state's third-largest school district is considering starting a voucher program which would give students public money to attend private schools.

In Colorado, alas. But it's something to think about here in Oklahoma.