Florida’s public school enrollment rate is dropping, but experts are divided on how much its universal school choice program is to blame.
Multiple districts in the state are closing schools, as attendance falls while thousands of students flock to private school or homeschooling options.
Some experts believe the shift is the natural result of giving parents more options in schooling, while others say Florida’s “lack of transparency” in private school data is hiding a bigger story.
“I don’t think it would be a surprise, or that it should be surprise, that as school choice grows significantly, that it means people are often leaving public schools, and, as that occurs, public schools and public-school districts may have to change how they operate,” said Neal McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at the CATO Institute. “That may mean some schools should shut down.”
“That is not a problem with choice because choice in this case — people are selecting something that they think works better for themselves. And that’s ultimately what we […]
This illustrates the problems inherent in giving people the ability to choose based upon perceived self-interest: They will choose. Many of these choices you may not agree with with, but it’s the family and the children who will bare the costs. Unless you believe that the government should have a monopoly on education this will be the result, and has been for many decades. This is the beauty of using the States as the laboratory for experimentation. We will see very soon if the choices fostered by the legislators of Florida, and used by the citizens will produce superior outcomes. If not, it will be a lesson to others. If so, it will be replicated by others. When you give governments a monopoly in an area choice is reduced or disappears. Given the quality of government leadership around the country, I’ll bet on the citizens to choose in their best interest 100% of the time, but only if they are given a range of choice.
Florida became a Republican state back in the 90’s. It’s been downhill ever since. The educational system in Florida is next to last in the country now. Charter schools, which mainly have D and F ratings are growing in number and now we have vouchers where ANYONE can get $8000 per student for a school—-and many are religious schools! Books are banned in this state. Students and people were admonished by this governor for wearing masks during the pandemic and Florida had one of the highest death rates in the country. The list goes on and on and as long as Americans keep voting for Republicans, it will only get worse. They don’t have a platform when they run, they don’t like to spend tax dollars on important projects, like schools, roads, health care, and both Scott, the previous governor and DeSantis, the current one have turned down Medicaid for the poor in this state. Shame on Republicans!
My daughter has home schooled. Her two older children were bullied and some teachers participated. When I still had a child in school I made arrangements to avoid the bus. One reason was at least one boy exposing himself, but there were other issues. Basically you get all the dysfunction in society being housed together. Smaller schools were more manageable and there was community accountability. There are so many reasons people make choices and they have been known for decades. Too much to unpack here.