School Choice

Listen to Customers: To Improve Failing Schools, Utilize Free-Market Principles

CHRIS SAXMAN
TIMES-DISPATCH GUEST COLUMNIST
Sunday, December 10, 2006

Staunton--One of the things that I have learned in my time in business is that if you think there is a problem with your products or services, do one very important thing: Ask your customers what the problem is. They will let you know everything you need to change.

Recently, the Virginia Department of Education dispatched another administrator to Petersburg to try to solve the problems of the Petersburg school system. Personally, I think the entire department ought to be relocated to Petersburg and have all its employees send their children to the public schools there. Then they might just get a handle on what the problem is and what they should to do solve it. Until then, one more bureaucrat from Richmond will serve only as a symbolic gesture that something needs to be done.

Too often in government, managers and leaders assume they know what the problem is and, therefore, know what the answer is. Since most core government services are virtual or actual monopolies, there really is no incentive to make the kinds of changes that are necessary because, after all, most customers of those services have no choice as to who is providing the services. Do you really think that cell phones and BlackBerry-type devices would be as prolific today were it not for the deregulation of AT&T (Ma Bell)? The answer is obviously no.

As a former teacher who has visited school systems not just in Virginia but also in suburban Chicago and inner-city Milwaukee, I can honestly tell you that there is no one way to educate every child. No matter how many individualized educational programs (IEPs) one has, sometimes even the best and brightest kids need a different environment in order to learn.

Citizens Want a Choice

But instead of presuming that I know best for Petersburg, I decided to ask the people of Petersburg. After all, they are the ones closest to the situation. They are, in effect, the customers. From a telephone survey, I learned that 85 percent of 1,600-plus respondents to the survey support parents being able to choose which school best educates their children. Sixty-three percent support a tuition tax-credit program to help parents afford the school of their choice. Seventy-six percent want to see at least 65 percent of money in K-12 reach the classroom.

If the Commonwealth really wanted to show that it truly cared about the children and the parents of Petersburg (the customers), it would offer them the freedom to choose which school best educates each child. Go to your local convenience or grocery store and count the number of different sodas that are available. Ask people to give up all the television channels, airline options, and automobile choices, or tell them that they have only one bank -- and imagine the response. But first imagine the quality of the product and service of each with just one choice.

Accountability Is With Parents

How can one support a quality product by inhibiting a competitive free market? Ninety-two percent of K-12 school-age children attend Virginia's public schools. Many do so because their parents are satisfied that their child is getting a quality education. Virginia has invested billions of dollars and implemented accountability in K-12 education, but ask yourself, Where does ultimate accountability truly rest? It rests with the customer.

Back in our segregationist past, some politicians fought against allowing African-American students to attend public schools. Today, some politicians will not help parents afford a school of their own choice. That's not freedom, and that's not right. Only when parents have the ability to choose which school they prefer will our educational system dramatically improve in order to compete with our foreign counterparts.

The 8 percent of the K-12-eligible students who do not attend public schools save Virginia taxpayers more than $1 billion per year, or twice what the Virginia Lottery produces -- not including construction costs. Virginia can increase pay for our hardworking public schoolteachers with vibrant free-market alternatives that save taxpayers money by accessing underutilized private-sector assets.

We cannot and should not give up on our public schools -- but there is a better way.

From the Opinion Page of the Bristol Herald Courier (view the article on the Bristol Herald Courier site) Virginia Lawmaker isn't ready to give up on school choice fight by Andrea Hopkins, Opinion Editor Chris Saxman is a man on a seemingly paradoxical mission: to improve Virginia's schools by giving parents more choices. The conventional wisdom is that school choice programs - particularly those that provide vouchers or tax credits for use in private schools - will destroy the system rather than making it stronger. Saxman doesn't buy that argument. "Competition makes schools better. Look at higher education in Virginia. It's diverse, accessible and affordable," Saxman said. "Everyone supports choice in higher education, but not in K-12." SAXMAN ISN'T new to the school choice fight. The 41-year-old Republican delegate from Staunton has introduced school choice legislation for the past four years. The result is predictable. Defeat.