A new study by the Department of Education found that public school students performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than private school students. The only exception was eighth grade reading, where private school students fared better.
The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores in 2003 from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools, found that fourth graders attending public school did significantly better in math than comparable fourth graders in private schools. Additionally, it found that students in conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind their counterparts in public schools on eighth-grade math.
Perhaps most significant about the study is this: "Its release, on a summer Friday, was made with without a news conference or comment from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings." Gee, I wonder why?
This study is another blow to advocates of school voucher (or "school choice" in Right-Wing speak) systems, who posit that if students are equally able to attend any school they want using government tuition vouchers, schools will be forced to compete with one another to improve, as businesses do in the free market. Opponents of this reform argue that doing so will cause public education to become drastically underfunded. From Wikipedia:
Many argue that given the limited budget for schools, a voucher system weakens public schools while at the same time not necessarily providing enough money for people to attend private schools. (The opponents assert a tendency of the costs of tuition to rise along with its demand, which would compound the problem.) Opponents also claim that the vouchers are tantamount to providing taxpayer-subsidized white flight from urban public schools, whose student bodies are predominantly non-white in most large cities.
That this study was released quietly and without fanfare is in my opinion a sign that the Right understands how damaging it is to their argument in favor of school vouchers. Though this debate isn't as "hot button" as others, I think it is important that we keep this information handy, in case it becomes part of the rotating roster of wedge issues the GOP decides to force during this election year rather than fix real problems in America.
via The New York Times