Universal School “Choice”: Schools Ultimately Do the Choosing | Cloaking Inequity

Universal School “Choice”: Schools Ultimately Do the Choosing | Cloaking Inequity:

Universal School “Choice”: Schools Ultimately Do the Choosing

I have a question for you… Can you use your finger and identify Chile on a map? I only ask because there are lots of ideas and theories in the US educational policy discourse about schools choice and what would happen if we had a universal school “choice” market. Well, we don’t actually have to imagine or theorize what a universal school choice market would look like. All we have to do is put our finger on Chile— it has been happening there for the past few decades since a dictator prioritized “choice” to reduce the government’s role in education funding. The universal school “choice” market has actually enhanced segregation and inequality instead of remedying it (See New Research: Vouchers Increase Segregation and Offer Benefits to the Few). As you might remember, we asked you the readers of Cloaking Inequity to support a student led research trip to Chile to get a better picture of the reforms that have been rumored to the Chilean privatization of education (See Sponsor a Student!: Inform Your Policymaker Why Vouchers Have Failed). To my knowledge, mainstream US media haven’t discussed the reforms being contemplated in Chile to the universal school “choice” system and the reasons for them. While the team was on the ground in Chile, this happened: Exclusive: Students Tear Gassed By Police While Protesting School “Choice”

The students are back from Chile. Unfortunately I had to cancel the ticket I bought due to my departure from the University of Texas at Austin to accept a promotion at California State University Sacramento. However, the research team has submitted a blog post for you the readers of Cloaking Inequity as a thank you for your support of the Chile research. Here is what they have to say about the new reforms in Chile.

Chile is not repealing its voucher system… not just yet anyhow.

Chileans have, however, begun an important national conversation about opportunity, segregation, and outcomes within what is essentially an unregulated market based education system. It is a system, within which, the majority of stakeholders are not happy. The competition of the open market place has not improved test scores; school choice has led to further socioeconomic segregation; and school stability is dependent on the marketplace. And yet, the idea of choice is still very popular in the country.

Chileans are in the very early stages of exploring regulatory fixes to this system that many people hope will make choice, and the voucher system, more equitable. Presently, there are three reforms they are trying to pass and implement within the next year, and they all seek to mitigate the inequities resulting from an unregulated market system that has been in place for more than three decades.

The first reform focuses on eliminating extra fees that private voucher schools charge students and families. Chile no longer wants to allow private schools to charge more than the price of the governmental voucher amount. This is widely seen as something they should have never allowed. All descriptive evidence has shown that after the government allowed these “add-on fees” school segregation, by social and economic class, grew rapidly. Although no one disputes the increase in segregation in the Chilean 

Universal School “Choice”: Schools Ultimately Do the Choosing | Cloaking Inequity: