Editor,
State Sen. John Braun’s July 3 editorial makes a case for parental choice of which schools their children attend. I don’t necessarily disagree, but the topic is nuanced and not nearly as black and white, or Democrat versus Republican as he makes it out to be.
Let’s dissect just a few of his arguments.
Sen. Braun is correct that there was learning loss as a result of keeping children home during COVID-19, but his assertion that this was the result of Democrat versus Republican ideology is little more than Monday morning quarterbacking.
I was an administrator in a small rural district in Arizona during COVID-19 with the responsibility of collecting available data and presenting that, and options, to our board. As with most school districts across the United States, it was school board members spanning the political spectrum who made the decision as to when to bring students back on campus, not a perceived leftwing plot.
The calculus of when to return students to the classroom in the fall of 2020 was complicated. The data on the effects of COVID-19 on children in the summer of that year was suggestive, but not conclusive. School boards had to weigh the benefit of bringing students back on campus against risks. In particular, they had to weigh the possibility of the loss of life of even a single child infected at school, which was not recoverable, against the known likelihood of learning loss, which was predicted but recoverable.
With regard to school choice and state funding of charter schools, I agree with Sen. Braun that parents should have school choice. But we need to put this in context. When comparing student learning of those who attend charter schools against those who attend public schools, the analysis needs to be considered on an even basis. Can charter schools cherry pick only the highest-performing students? Public schools have to accept all students who apply. Do charter schools have to provide transportation, or is enrollment subject to the ability of more well-off parents to transport? Do charter schools have to provide services to special needs students? Public schools must. Are charter schools subject to the same annual reporting criteria as public schools? If not, how are they compared?
The primary benefit of charter schools is their ability to experiment with alternate learning models, which can be substantially beneficial for student learning. But we must be careful about singing their praises if they don’t have to play on the same field, with the same students, by the same rules. If charter schools don’t have to play by the same rules, they effectively become a means of state-funded segregation.
Thomas O’Connor
Battle Ground
