Why is school choice not a Democratic issue?

[meadowlark5]

62. Be careful what you wish for

I live in a school district that was overtaken by conservative "education reformers" 8yrs ago. School choice was how they came to power. They have totally abandoned our public schools, grant land to charters left and right and then those charters siphon money from the public schools. The charters are also, at least in our state, not mandated to follow the district's policies. Most of the charters will cherry pick the best students and take very few special needs children. They do not have to have licensed teachers, if you have experience that could cross over to teaching, you can teach. And charters are managed by for profit corporations. They get to be called a public school but really are not.

The only school choice I like is allowing open enrolling in other public schools. Which we can do that too. We can also open enroll out of the school district.

The problem is that many BOEs work insidiously. Most people assume they work in the best interest of children, but, unless many parents are involved, going to meetings, watching what that BOE is doing, even requesting their financials be made public, they can be wasting funds on pet projects and bloated admin salaries that the community isn't even aware of.

People and parents need to be involved when it comes to their school districts and BOE. Otherwise, they will do what they want because no one knows and sees.

Having said that, there are some very good charters. But studies show, they really don't provide a better education that public schools. Our states just need to properly fund public schools.