Liberals for School Choice

On the early local news, a young white east side Madison mother goes on camera to assert that she should have a choice about where to send her kids to school. It seems when declining enrollments threaten to close a local school in a traditionally white democratic neighborhood, the idea of school choice suddenly becomes very attractive.

School Information System: Taxpayers, parents and students, particularly those who will enter our schools over the next few decades will benefit from more local choices if the Madison Studio School can lift off, soon. The Madison School District Administration's recent history has been marked by a reduction in choice for parents and students and generally a monolithic approach to curriculum.

The flocks of democratic sheep in Madison are actually talking about having choices for their children instead of a “monolithic approach to curriculum”. There are voices coming from the old working class housing stock saying there should be more than “one size fits all education”.

Wisconsin State Journal: Charter schools are free from certain state rules and strive to innovate. The Emerson parents are proposing a "Studio School" that would emphasize the arts and technology. The charter school would start with two combined kindergarten-first grades next fall. It would feature more hands-on group projects driven by student interests. Yet core subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic would still be incorporated throughout school activities.

Madison's stubborn teachers union has long been suspicious of charter schools. The union has taken a defensive position that presumes the very suggestion of a charter school implies that traditional schools are somehow inadequate.

It is kind of cute watching liberals discovering they want something other than standardized government provisions. The “stubborn” teachers union is, of course, against the idea of school choice in any conceivable variation. They seem offended if parents want something else for their children. It’s like their union work is “somehow inadequate” and that is judgmental.

In the School Info comments, defenders of the status quo hammer on the point that a charter school risks not having enough diversity. In return the white liberals deny the increasing diversity in the Madison public schools has anything to do with their feelings. Their parental actions are entirely about wanting what is best for the children.