Why Public Schools Should Want School Choice | 5-Minute Videos — Transcript

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1. 0:01according to a 2022 Real Clear Politics
2. 0:05poll 72 percent of Americans support
3. 0:08school choice the ability of parents to
4. 0:11choose the school that best fits their
5. 0:13children's needs 82 percent of
6. 0:15Republicans 68 percent of Democrats and
7. 0:1867 percent of Independents given how
8. 0:22divided Americans are over almost
9. 0:24everything that's about as bipartisan as
10. 0:27it gets and given that politicians read
11. 0:29the polls school choice should be a slam
12. 0:31dunk right well let's take a look at
13. 0:34Texas you can't get much more
14. 0:36conservative than the Lone Star State so
15. 0:39you'd think it would have a very robust
16. 0:41school choice program but you'd be wrong
17. 0:44in Texas public education doesn't look
18. 0:46all that different from Progressive
19. 0:48California or New York and it shares
20. 0:52equally embarrassing educational test
21. 0:54results according to the National
22. 0:56assessment of educational progress 75
23. 0:59percent of Texas 8th graders are not
24. 1:01proficient in reading and math the
25. 1:04state's own assessments are just as Grim
26. 1:06sixty percent of students cannot do math
27. 1:08at grade level and nearly 50 percent
28. 1:10cannot read at grade level this is a
29. 1:13texas-sized problem and it needs a Texas
30. 1:16size solution that solution is school
31. 1:20choice so what's the problem why isn't
32. 1:23it a slam dunk why is a state that has
33. 1:26led on such Cutting Edge initiatives as
34. 1:29medical liability and tort reform
35. 1:31falling behind on a critical issue like
36. 1:33education
37. 1:35here's what those who oppose school
38. 1:37choice will tell you if you offer
39. 1:39Parents Choice the public schools will
40. 1:42lose funding money needed for public
41. 1:44schools which must accept all students
42. 1:46will be siphoned off to competing
43. 1:48Charter Schools or private schools or
44. 1:51someplace else but this concern is
45. 1:53misplaced in states where school choice
46. 1:56already has a long history most parents
47. 1:59do not leave their local school for
48. 2:01another school
49. 2:02why aren't they heading for the exits
50. 2:04here's where it gets interesting and
51. 2:07instructive in states where parents have
52. 2:09Choice Public Schools improve when
53. 2:13Florida first implemented their school
54. 2:15choice program in 2002 they were ranked
55. 2:18number 33 in the nation for educating
56. 2:20low-income students by 2019 they had
57. 2:24risen to number one in the nation
58. 2:26Indiana similarly went from number 22 in
59. 2:30the nation to number three with
60. 2:33low-income students in the same period
61. 2:35of time after implementing choice
62. 2:37all this Improvement happened without
63. 2:40parents abandoning their local schools
64. 2:43look at it this way what parent doesn't
65. 2:45want their local school to be a good
66. 2:47school answer zero school choice does
67. 2:51not destroy Public Schools it makes them
68. 2:54better and of course if a public school
69. 2:56is already a good one with good outcomes
70. 2:59then students and parents won't want to
71. 3:01use their choice option
72. 3:03nothing will change but if a school is
73. 3:07failing and its test scores are poor and
74. 3:09they don't make improvements then
75. 3:11parents will have an option to go
76. 3:13elsewhere just that consequence just
77. 3:16giving that power to the parents will
78. 3:19push the failing schools to do better
79. 3:21that's what the data tells us and if a
80. 3:24school still can't cut the mustard then
81. 3:27and only then do parents look for an
82. 3:30alternative in short the argument that
83. 3:32school choice will drain money away from
84. 3:34public schools has been proven false
85. 3:37people are starting to get it in 2022 in
86. 3:41a truly Landmark piece of legislation
87. 3:43Arizona passed a school choice bill that
88. 3:46gives parents an education scholarship
89. 3:48account of anywhere from seven thousand
90. 3:51dollars per student to more than thirty
91. 3:53thousand dollars for students with
92. 3:55special needs the money follows the
93. 3:57student not the school the simple change
94. 4:00changes everything successes like these
95. 4:04have accelerated the wave of new Choice
96. 4:06programs across the country Iowa Utah
97. 4:10and Arkansas have hopped on the school
98. 4:12choice bandwagon in 2023. more states
99. 4:15are poised to come on board
100. 4:17Texas has a great chance to be one of
101. 4:20them if Texas passes a robust school
102. 4:24choice law it would very likely see the
103. 4:26same results Florida and Indiana have
104. 4:28seen everybody wins the school Choice
105. 4:31Movement would be unstoppable and what
106. 4:34after all is this movement really about
107. 4:37freedom freedom for parents to choose
108. 4:40the best educational option for their
109. 4:43children school choice is the way it
110. 4:46makes everybody students and teachers
111. 4:49better this isn't politics it's just
112. 4:52common sense as Nebraska state senator
113. 4:54Justin Wang a Democrat put it this is
114. 4:58about parents and students wanting
115. 5:00something better wanting to access the
116. 5:03American dream isn't that what we all
117. 5:06want
118. 5:07I'm Mandy Drogan of the Texas public
119. 5:09policy foundation for Prager University
120. 5:12thank you for watching this video to
121. 5:15keep prageru videos free please consider
122. 5:17making a tax deductible donation