Choice and Accountability: Better Together Yet Again

Not surprisingly, Cato's Adam Schaeffer and I drew quite different lessons from Jay Mathews' article today about schools that push parents away. Adam says school choice is needed to even the power relationship and force schools to take parents seriously. That's true. But Jay's article also suggested to me the importance of a government role in ensuring school transparency and protecting parent rights. For example, the No Child Left Behind Act requires public schools inform parents about the qualifications of their children's teachers, and the testing it requires provides parents with information about how well the school is educating their child. These regulations help empower parents. Private schools, on the other hand, often aren't subject to public disclosure or accountability and can quash parent dissent by expelling kids whose parents demand information challenge school decisions. Choice and public accountability must go hand in hand to empower parents, rather than being at odds.