Won't school choice hurt public schools by depriving them of needed funds?
No, says Friedman. "Public schools pay attention when school choice is on
the table." He cites Florida as an example, noting that after a school
choice program began, "schools identified as failing are already publicizing
their efforts to improve by hiring more teachers, increasing funds for
after-school tutoring and lowering class sizes. One superintendent, Earl
Lennard, even vowed to take a 5 percent pay cut if his county's schools
received a failing grade." In other words, competition works in free markets
and in school choice.
In Florida, Cleveland and Milwaukee, public schools have received more aid
from the state and federal government for their public schools since voucher
programs were implemented.
School choice works for the benefit of students, who ought to be the focus
of education. Research shows that prior to receiving a voucher, the majority
of participating students score well below the national average on
standardized tests. Statisticians and educational researchers from Harvard
and the University of Houston conducted a re-analysis of the raw data
compiled in an earlier study of the Milwaukee school choice program. They
found that choice students benefit academically from the program, showing
significant gains in both reading and mathematics by their fourth year of
participation. And, according to John F. Witte, Troy D. Sterr and
Christopher A. Thorn, who conducted the initial Milwaukee study, "the
parents of Œchoice' kids are virtually unanimous in their opinion of the
program: they love it. Parents are not only far more satisfied with their
freely chosen private schools than they were with their former public
schools, they participate more actively in their children's education now
that they've made the move."
If school choice becomes the norm in America, it will be Milton Friedman's
real legacy and every poor child who is liberated from a failed government
school will owe him a lasting debt of gratitude.