Valley Christian Academy’s elementary students dressed in gold and held posters that read, “Parents know best,” at a rally on Jan. 22, where they showed support for the right to choose an education.
The local private school was just one of thousands across the U.S. that celebrated National School Choice Week from Jan. 21 to 27, an occasion dedicated to raising awareness among parents about all available options for a K-12 education.
The school choice movement, which aims to expand alternatives to traditional public education, gained national attention only recently, after President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos invited 10 teachers and parents from public, charter, private, magnet, and home schools to the White House in February 2017. There, Trump said he wanted all families to have a choice in which schools their children attend.
Although California currently offers no programs to assist families with the cost of private schooling, some states do, and the federal government now allows parents to save for K-12 private school tuition using tax-preferred 529 savings accounts, according to the National School Choice week communications department.
Opponents of the school choice movement say that using public funding to support private and other choice schools could negatively affect the already underfunded traditional public school system.
“I don’t think that’s been born out of fact at all,” said Chuck Mason, principal of Valley Christian Academy.
Mason said that although public school districts are funded based on enrollment numbers, allowing more parents to choose where their children go to school could lead to fewer students entering the traditional public school system, thus allowing public schools to put more individualized focus on the specific needs of the students they do have. And as for government funding and subsidies, Mason said Valley Christian Academy, like many other private schools, wouldn’t want it.
“We really value our independence,” Mason said. “We wouldn’t want to take government dollars because along with that would come government control. Eventually we’d be operating the same as public schools.”
But Mason said if the state offered tax credits to families using private schools—parents who send their kids to private schools pay both private tuition and public school taxes—it could help less wealthy families afford private school tuition. At Valley Christian Academy, Mason said tuition for a family’s first child can add up to nearly $6,000 a year.
Lynne Plunkett, principal of Pacific Christian School and a former public school educator, said she feels “cautiously optimistic” about the school choice movement’s future. While she agrees with many public educators’ concerns, Plunkett said parents of all socio and economic backgrounds should have choices for their children’s education beyond public schools. But in the current education system, that option is really only available to wealthy families. Plunkett said it’s unclear whether the school choice movement would truly level the playing field.
“I’m retired from public education so I value public education. I also value private education,” Plunkett said. “I think it’s important that parents have choice. But I also don’t want to penalize the public system. So it’s kind of a catch-22.”
The Orcutt Union School District oversees a variety of schools, including both traditional public and charter schools, which are funded by taxpayers and free to attend but are given more freedom in teaching techniques.
Families can choose to enroll their children in a variety of programs through the Orcutt Union School District, including independent studies and combination classes, according to Superintendent Deborah Blow. So far, that system has worked well for the district and has served families.
“It’s something the families choose, and I see that as a positive,” Blow said. “Having parents be able to go to a school they want to attend is a positive for both parents and their children.”
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash writes School Scene each week. Information can be sent to the Sun via mail, fax, or email at mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 1-8, 2018.