 Give to Charity CKNJ Online To CKNJ On-line: Yes, in both direct and indirect ways, according to an article in the November 2000 issue of School Reform News. Seven-hundred and fifty randomly selected Florida pubic school teachers were surveyed and two out of three acknowledged that the threat of vouchers helped cause a dramatic improvement in last year's test scores at some of Florida's worst schools. "The Florida results, according to public teachers, seem to show that the mere possibility of choice helps public schools," commented Gregory Fossedal, chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which sponsored the survey. Florida's A+ Plan for Education took affect at the end of the 1998-99 school year. It provides private vouchers to parents whose children are enrolled in districts where the public schools are classified as persistent failures. There were more than 100 schools where children were expected to qualify for vouchers at the start of the current school year. All the schools upgraded their performance and are no longer considered persistent failures. No additional children qualified for vouchers. The point is this: the possibility of "choice" had a strong effect on improving the performance of these schools. How did they do it? With a concerted effort. Almost 93 percent of the teachers said they were aware of special efforts at their schools or neighboring ones to upgrade scores. That doesn't mean the teachers support vouchers. It does seem to prove that, if your job is on the line, you may increase your effort to improve your performance. Without the pressure of competition, it's too easy to choose other priorities and the comfort of continuing to do things the way you have always done them. I am a strong advocate of educational choice. If vouchers will get the job done, I'll support them. Better still, in my opinion, is switching the entire educational process to a tuition system with loans to pay tuition when the individual (parent or student) is unable to do so. Tuition opens the entire system immediately to full and fair competition. It makes it possible for entrepreneurs to begin competing immediately for your educational business. Choice makes it possible for the market to decide who does and does not provide the quality needed. It immediately frees the children who are now trapped in inadequate schools. It also frees one to get part of your education in one place, part of it in another; whatever produces the best results. My guess is that the full cost of an excellent education will be considerably less than it is now. John Watkins Executive Director The Simple Society johnw@simsoc.org
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