“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose . . .” — Kris Kristofferson from Me and Bobby McGee
In the name of freedom, soon there may be nothing left to lose. In the crazed cacophony of the Trump era, we are missing the opening phrases of treacherous efforts underway to dismantle historic and important aspects of our democratic republic. It has been duly noted that many of Trump’s Cabinet positions have gone to those who wish to undermine or abolish the very agencies they are empowered to lead. But less attention is being paid to the legislation already advanced that will achieve long-sought right-wing demolition of democratic institutions.
As an educator, I am particularly troubled by the quiet introduction of House Bill 610. This legislation is a first step in reducing the federal role in education to one of transfer agent of public funds to private, often religious, hands. The bill proposes to:
1. Eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as well as its successors, including the current law, the Every Student Succeeds Act.
2. Establish a taxpayer-funded voucher program, through which the government would provide (by way of block grants to states), vouchers to any and all parents who wish to send their children to unaccountable and unregulated private, online and religious schools. Voucher payments would also be made to parents who home-school their children.
3. Eliminate the Nutrition Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act).
Nos. 1 and 3 would eliminate various services to children with disabilities, would eliminate the guarantee of equal educational rights, and eliminate the commitment to provide poor children with nutritious food at school, often the only place they receive a balanced meal — or any meal at all. But No. 2 is the doozy. Over time it would lead to the destruction of public education.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was appointed because of her poorly informed, religiously motivated commitment to school choice, particularly voucher programs. In his address to Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump reiterated the school choice cause, claiming it to be the answer to the woes of poor families of color in underserved, neglected communities across America.
The American story is partly revealed in the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” attributed improperly to the showman P.T. Barnum, but an apt mantra of con men of any era. Trump and his henchwoman DeVos are glibly selling the country a bill of goods and the rest of us will foot the bill. Voucher and charter propaganda suggests that all children should be able to choose schools, just like the rich folks do. Well, the very rich Trump and DeVos neither went to nor sent their children to public schools. Trump’s son Barron goes to a school less than a mile from where I write. The tuition is nearly $50,000 per year. The children who live in poverty another mile up the road will not be receiving $50,000 vouchers to choose a seat next to Barron. That I can tell you. Sad.
DeVos and others who favor choice and vouchers claim that such policies improve outcomes. There is no evidence of such improvement. A recent report from the (conservative) Fordham Institute acknowledged the lack of evidence. In fact, their latest study showed a precipitous decline in performance among students supported by vouchers. Of course, test improvement is a lousy way to assess schools, but even by this flawed metric the programs are ineffective.
School choice, particularly in the form of vouchers, is intended to gradually shift education from a social commitment to a private commodity. Vouchers always provide less money than the actual cost of educating a child, thus driving most voucher recipients to cheaper schools that have either an evangelical mission or a profit motive. In regions where vouchers are now in place, 80 percent of vouchers are used to attend unaccountable religious schools, often teaching creationism and biblical inerrancy. I would suggest this is inarguably unconstitutional, despite efforts to distance the government by saying parents are making the religious choice. DeVos is on the record as saying that schools should “advance God’s kingdom.” I’m not thrilled with my tax dollars being used to advance her God’s kingdom. Cheap online and storefront schools open and close weekly, leaving families with no schools and profiteers with fat bank accounts. That’s the reality of school choice and voucher schemes.
School choice and voucher programs have perverse incentives. Large classes and low-wage staff produce economic efficiency, accompanied by educational malpractice. The practices in many charter schools are abominable and would not be tolerated for their own children by Trump, DeVos or the congressional sycophants who advance this kind of legislation. The ragged network of schools from which poor families choose are of no concern to them. Their children go to schools like Calhoun, where I work, or the school Barron Trump is driven to by Secret Service agents every day. Or they live in affluent communities where political capital and personal wealth create a shield from the malfeasance of the president, the secretary of education and Congress.
School choice is further dividing neighborhoods and communities already ravaged by poverty, racial segregation, unemployment and mass incarceration. The siren song of “freedom” is being used to lure citizens to shipwreck our historic and remarkable education system on the shoals of greed. Don’t fall for it.
Steve Nelson lives in Sharon and New York City, where he is the head of the Calhoun School, a private school. He can be reached at steve.nelson@calhoun.org.