School Choice and the Privatization of Education

Abstract

Today's “school choice” movement is among a growing and extensive series of legislative and bureaucratic processes that, while purporting to further a social good, would ultimately exacerbate student achievement and opportunity disparities. This chapter examines the forces driving the school choice movement, suggesting it is a continuation of a decades-long privatization effort fueled largely by market interests. These interests stand to gain economic and political power while low-income families and communities suffer the greatest losses from a diminished public education system. The chapter examines how the school choice movement manages the conversion of public tax dollars to private entities, identifies many of the organizations and institutions driving the effort, and asserts the need for public education supporters to join forces with teacher unions, citizen action organizations, and universities to curb the process and appropriately address barriers to student achievement and opportunity. Strategies including university-assisted community schools are presented.