Missouri parents want more choice in education

By Mary C. Tillotson | Watchdog.org

Only about a third of Missouri parents say their district schools are their first choice for their children, but 90 percent of Missouri parents send their children there, according to a study released by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

“There’s this mismatch because it’s really hard to compete with free,” said James Shuls, director of education policy at the Show-Me Institute. “When you have a free public school, you’re much more likely to choose that then you are to pay to go to a private school. In many places in Missouri, we don’t have charter schools, so people just don’t have options. It shows this real disconnect between what people want and the reality on the ground in Missouri.”

The study also showed a majority of Missouri voters support a policy allowing students to transfer from their district schools if those schools lose state accreditation.

Jason Warner, legislative and policy director for School Choice Ohio, discussed education reform issues with Choice Media, including students not having test anxiety, a lesson in propaganda and Holocaust denial, teacher evaluations in Texas, test score “scrubbing” in Ohio, and teacher problems in public schools.

Contact Mary C. Tillotson at mtillotson@watchdog.org.