PERSPECTIVE ON VOUCHERS : Try ‘Choice’ Among Public Schools : Before subsidizing private schools, which will shut out the vast majority of children, let’s provide the means for reform and competition in the present system.

California business and community groups have been actively engaged in trying to improve public education for more than a decade. But just as we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel, particularly in Los Angeles, we’ve come up against educational vouchers, which is premature and counterproductive. One-stop remedies such as vouchers never provide solutions to complex problems. Worse, there is a real danger that the mirage of a “quick fix” will derail any serious restructuring effort to make our public schools truly first-rate. The tragedy of the voucher is that it can get in the way of real reform.

LEARN is an alliance of business, education, labor and community leaders. We’re committed to help bring about a massive restructuring of the Los Angeles school system.

What LEARN seeks is a new system of governance and accountability that will foster better teaching, better curriculum, better school services and an effective means of measuring achievement. We want the schools to be free from excessive state and “downtown” control--from the top-down, centralized bureaucracy. We want every child to be given the chance to get ready for the challenges and opportunities of the future. We want schools to be given the means to teach and be held accountable for the results.

In business competition, responsiveness and accountability are facts of life. Heed these imperatives or fade away. We feel the same should be true of the schools.

But that concept of competition and choice also gives rise to the voucher plan in which children and their parents would be free to choose from all education venues-- public, private or religious--that suit their ambitions and interests.

The appeal of that message is that choice is very American: Customers choose which product to buy and students should be free to choose, too. But how far should that right of choice go when it applies to education?

The voucher initiative calls for using tax revenue to give every student a financial credit that would be valid at any school, public or private, that meets basic standards. Under the scheme, private schools would be eligible for state aid for the first time.

Despite our strong free-enterprise bent, we in LEARN believe this measure carries the concept of choice too far, too fast. Our chief concern is that introduction of the voucher system at this time would pull the rug out from under education reform. The message of this initiative seems to be: Why restructure public education? Why not just force it to compete with private schools?

We think we know what would happen if the voucher initiative passes. Rather than working for reform of the public schools, parents and elected officials would vote with their feet. Precious tax dollars would be funneled to private institutions. Kids attending these schools would undoubtedly do well. But private schools would maintain their selectivity, and most children would not be accepted. In some cases, vouchers would not entirely cover tuition, and children whose parents could not make up the difference would be shut out. In any event, there would not be enough of the good schools to go around, and most of our children would still be denied a quality education.

Choice, to get back to that word, is a good idea. It’s a sensible approach to education and certainly nothing new to Americans. But in this sense, at least, we believe it should be kept within the public-school system. Real choice within that system is possible and a necessary component of LEARN’s action plan, but only in the context of a total restructuring plan. And, of course, any system of choice must be equitable toward all students, including racial and ethnic groups and economic classes.

In many districts, solid choices are already coming into existence, varying and enriching the public school menu of opportunities. School districts in many areas have begun programs, like magnet schools, to extend more options to lower-income families. The Los Angeles Unified School District has 86 magnet schools that students go to from everywhere in the district.

Magnet schools are popular and successful. A key reason is that their programs and methods are carefully designed to meet specific needs, interests and goals. And parents can choose the magnet school. When they exercise that choice, they naturally have a sense of greater partnership in that school and in the progress their child will make there.

But that degree of choice is hardly enough. LEARN wants everyone in Los Angeles to have a choice like that--and more. We believe that parents should be free to select whichever school in the system they believe is best for their youngster. The logistics would be difficult but not impossible. But first things first: For choice to serve the interests of all children and the community, we must first give our schools the resources they need to compete effectively.

We believe that choice will work best when quality education is widespread enough to ensure that all students have equal access to a solid education. In the meantime, choice must be introduced with sufficient safeguards to ensure equity and access for all students.

We believe that competition brings out the best in us, pushing us the extra mile to attract and keep customers, clients and pupils. But like most Americans, we bristle at unfair competition, whether country to country, or school to school. We should fight it in either case.

Our public schools need help. They need resources and the power to change. Certainly they need to improve before they can be thrust into the competition of the marketplace. Like any good business, schools must respond to the demands of their customers--the students and their parents. We need to give them the tools to do the job.

LEARN is attempting to give the parents and students of Los Angeles true choice within a restructured public school system. We think that plan deserves a chance. Vouchers are not the answer.