A good first step is education freedom, empowering parents to find the best education options for their children. Education freedom is very popular around the country and with the people of North Dakota, but so far, our state legislators have not embraced efforts to empower parents. I learned early on in my time as a legislator - change is hard. Even so, the time for change is now.
The pandemic has exposed the weakness and fragility of our public education system. When our schools closed families faced significant stress and challenges. Some coped better than others, some relied on grandparents if they were so fortunate. Even with the best efforts of teachers and administrators, some children suffered greatly. Many still suffer.
This is not a criticism of our teachers and schools. They, like all of us, were put in a terrible situation. But our shared experience did open the eyes of parents. One of the most important things for parents is securing the best education possible for their young children. There are options available for parents, private school, home school, tutoring. But these options all come with costs, and for families with modest means the costs are often too high. These families are all paying taxes to support public education, but if there is a better fit for their child they must dig into their own pockets and pay even more.
The education freedom proposals being considered in the North Dakota Legislature (HB 1369 and SB 2288) seek to give parents some financial assistance in choosing the best education for their child. Opponents argue that these bills will rob funding from public schools. That is untrue. These bills seek general fund dollars, not money earmarked for public schools.
Follow these bills at https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/67-2021/regular.
Public schools would lose per pupil funding from the state for any students moving out of the system. That money does not go to the parents. It is merely a savings for the state budget. And that is what the fight is all about. As they say, follow the money.
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In her testimony against HB 1369, one person said any movement to empower parents would cause public school enrollment to drop drastically. Think about that. What does that say when a supporter of public education system worries about a drop in enrollment? It’s not a ringing endorsement for public education if you think students are only there because they have no other choice.
Statistics from across the country support the idea that education freedom will not cause a huge drop in public school enrollment. Today 28 states have at least one form of education freedom and at least 14 states, like North Dakota, are considering legislation this year. EdChoice has studied the impacts on enrollment in the states with education freedom programs and found only about 2% of students opt out of public schools. Significant, but not an exodus.
The education union, administrators and the consultants that work the system are united in opposing education freedom. Of course, parents are already free to choose from numerous education options for their pre-K children. And, when it comes to higher education the choices are almost limitless. But when it comes to K-12 education, any effort to empower parents, to give some choice or options, is fought tooth and nail. Believe me, I know.
Full disclosure, Roughrider Policy Center supports education freedom in North Dakota. If you want to make a difference contact your legislators in support of these bills. The usual opponents have already flooded legislators with emails and letters, but I can tell you that a short, heart-felt, letter or email from you as a constituent carries a lot of weight. Contact information for your legislators can be found here: https://www.legis.nd.gov/contact-my-legislators.
Time to stand, time to act.
Grande represented the 41st District in the N.D. Legislature from 1996 to 2014. She is CEO of the Roughrider Policy Center, an "innovation over regulation" think tank. She is a wife, mom, grandma, lover of life and Jesus. Opinions are solely her own.
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