School choice debated

By JASON ALT
and JON FEINBERG
Collegian Staff Writers

Tom Ridge is pro-choice -- in education.

In the campaign last November, the governor promised to initiate policies that would provide vouchers for education in both public and private schools. The vouchers, which would supply money for either parents or schools, would allow parents more leeway in where their children attend school for primary and secondary education.

John Taylor, Ridge's deputy press secretary, said there will be no definite plans made for school vouchers until the governor's budget comes out in March.

While ideas for public school choice have been widely accepted, Ridge's campaign proposals regarding private education have created controversy.

Jan Bissett, executive director of the Democratic Education Committee in the state House of Representatives, said there has been consistent opposition to private school vouchers.

In 1991, Bissett said the state legislature decided that any law allowing public funds to go to private schools would be unconstitutional. And although Ridge has yet to propose any plan involving school choice, she said Democrats will not support any bill allowing private school vouchers.

If the state should decide to fund private education, Bissett said there will be several negative results.

Combined with an increase in local taxes and less funding for public schools, Bissett said private school vouchers raise questions about fairness. Private schools, she said, are allowed to discriminate on the basis of disability, religion and sex.

"(Private schools) are not handicapped as the public schools are in picking and choosing who they take," she said.

Bill Johnson, director of communications for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said his organization also does not agree with Ridge's campaign promises.

"We have been longtime opponents of public funding of private and parochial schools," Johnson said. Because the present system of funding schools is questionable, the state government might do better to look toward public school choice, he said.

"We are certainly willing to work with the legislature on public school choice," Johnson said. "We would not have the same opposition to that."

Many people in the field of public education wholeheartedly support plans for public school vouchers.

Bill Opdenhoff, superintendent of the State College Area School District, said local schools already allow for parents to choose schools for their children.

"Currently within our own school district, we have a policy that has to do with optional assignment," Opdenhoff said.

By allowing parents to choose a school near their places of employment or after-school day care, he said the school district is establishing an important partnership with the parents.

With public school vouchers, Opdenhoff said the state would gain increased control over the effectiveness of schools.

And despite the vast opposition to private school vouchers, Opdenhoff said he believes the state should also have control over nonpublic school choice.

In addition to the fact that private school vouchers would increase competition between schools, Opdenhoff said he does not believe such a measure would harm other educational facilities.

"I don't believe that private schools will put public schools out of business," he said.

Those sentiments have been echoed by the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg think tank that has examined school choice issues.

"There's not going to be any sort of traumatic upheaval," said Charles Greenawalt, senior policy associate. "I think what's going to result is improvements in education across the board."

The current school district system creates hundreds of "monopolies" across the state, none of which need to be too concerned about their customers' satisfaction because alternatives are slim, Greenawalt said.

But William Boyd, distinguished professor of education, warned that a successful school choice program is contingent upon other factors besides private schools.

"How any school choice plan works depends very much on the details of the plan," he said. "The way this kind of competition works out in practice is much more complex than the advocates of choice would claim. The idea that choice would be some kind of magic bullet is oversimplified."

Boyd cited several factors, such as fair and equal admissions procedures and adequate transportation-cost assistance, that are necessary for a successful choice program within the public school system. If crucial elements are not met, disadvantaged students may have a tougher time meeting college standards.

"I think Penn State, as a university of the people, intended to serve not just the elite, but the whole people, has an interest," Boyd said.

However, his opinions about the potential success of a school choice program do not extend to private schools.

"I certainly support the right of parents to send their children to private school, but I'm not sure if the government should get involved in that," Boyd said.