For Georgian Choice, Slips Twixt the Cup and Lip
by Frederick M. Hess • Jun 30, 2010 at 9:10 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
 Print |  Send |  RSS |
The Republic of Georgia's attempt to embrace expansive school choice has encountered some substantial roadblocks, all of which are more than a little familiar and may provide some useful guidance and cautions for those promoting choice-based reform in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Georgia offers a terrific illustration of the difference between choice in theory and in practice. The theory of choice requires that schools compete for students, with rewards flowing to schools that attract students (and therefore revenues) and adverse consequences to those that do not. However, in Georgia, there is no shame in being director (e.g. principal) of a school whose revenues do not cover its outlays. Indeed, half or more of the nation's 2,300 schools are now "deficit" schools. The rationales and excuses are many. "High mountain" schools cannot attract new students (though, of course, they also don't lose students, and they receive a voucher weighted at 1.7 times the basic voucher), utility bills are unexpectedly high, especially in areas affected by the 2008 Russian invasion, and so on.
As the reform-friendly Transparency International Georgia concluded in a 2010 analysis, the reforms have "not been as successful in achieving many of [their] objectives as had been hoped. A lack of funding for the voucher system has meant that schools have not been able to assert their financial autonomy. School boards of
