Wednesday, April 28, 1999 in Chicago Sun-Times
On April 21, the lives of 40,000 American children changed overnight. Through the Children’s Scholarship Fund, these low-income kindergarten through eighth-graders were given four-year scholarships to the school of their choice. The prospects for these children is now much brighter — prospects for graduating from high school, attending college, overcoming poverty and avoiding jail.
Now it is time to turn our attention to a more sobering number: 1.25 million. That is the number of children whose parents applied for scholarships under our program, but did not receive them. Applicants came from 22,000 communities — from 90 percent of the counties in the United States. In Chicago, 26 percent of the eligible population applied.
There is clearly deep dissatisfaction among low-income families with the educational opportunities being offered. We all agree on an ideal of public education — that all children deserve high-quality schooling, regardless of their income. But 1.25 million parents have spoken, and let us know that they don’t think we are meeting the bargain. Our education system features no alternatives, especially for low-income families. Too many children are either not graduating, or are graduating without knowing how to read or write.
While the scholarship fund could round up funding for another 40,000 students, our experience has shown that we would touch only a fraction of the demand.
The fact is, our public education system is, with respect to those who cannot afford an alternative, a monopoly. Like most people involved in the scholarship fund, I am not against public education. What I am against is a system that allows for no alternatives and no competition. We have 1.25 million parents telling us that they demand choices. We should be heeding their call.
We act as if education is somehow immune to market forces, that it is nothing like other commodities. I don’t agree. I believe that offering choices to these parents will lead to competition, and that competition will, as it does in business, lead to higher quality, innovation and progress. Forty thousand scholarships is wonderful for those who received them, but we must do more. The only way is through fundamental reform of an ailing monopoly.
Stedman Graham,
Chairman, Stedman Graham Training and Development