Like
many people, I think that inner city schools are a dismal failure. But who do the voters in districts with bad
schools vote for? Do they vote based on government policies that affect
them, or do they vote their identities? Based on how neighborhoods in
Chicago vote, the inner city hell holes with horrible schools vote at least 90%
Democrat every time. They believe the liberal narrative of racist
Republicans and vote their identities, not their interests. Republicans
generally favor school choice. Democrats generally favor teachers'
unions, with absolutely no regard for the students. This problem can't be
solved in the courts. It can only be solved in ballot boxes when the
voters with awful schools get past the false liberal narrative and vote their
interests instead of their identities.
I
completely agree that sacrificing these kids for the benefit of teachers'
unions affects everyone. But the courts were never a good vehicle for
solving this problem. That's why we're in the mess we're in. Courts
have always been a blunt instrument. Legislation and executive branch management
at the state and local level is what ultimately makes or breaks schools.
After Katrina, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal rebuilt with all charter
schools in New Orleans. Democrats in Congress shut down the Washington,
DC, voucher program after they took control in 2009. The contrast is
fairly clear. The fact is that Republicans get no votes for doing the
right thing with inner city schools, so it's less of a priority than it should
be for them. But when Republicans do the right thing, the Pravda Press
doesn't report it so nobody knows.
Any
change in public schools, whether major dismantling or minor tinkering,
requires local political change to make it happen. We need experimentation at
the local level to find out what works. The shortcut of a Supreme
Court decision is tempting because it seems to grant your wishes instantly.
But the reality is that Supreme Court decisions tend to freeze arguments
rather than resolve them. The success of Brown versus Board of Education seems magical
only in retrospect. It was a painful and lengthy process. Given the
conditions of schools today, I think the Brown decision really didn't change
that much in the long run. Schools are a local government matter. Prior to World
War II, there was almost no federal involvement in education. The
experiment I'm watching is Wisconsin, where government union dues are optional
and not deducted from workers' paychecks. They also have a large charter
school movement in Milwaukee schools. The combination may improve schools
quite a lot.