EDITORIAL: School Choice Week in Nevada

Gov. Steve Sisolak and legislative Democrats have announced they have no intention of reviving Nevada’s dormant education savings account program, which was designed to offer a modicum of school choice to parents and students. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers have been noncommittal about Opportunity Scholarships, a tax credit program that provides low-income families with the financial freedom to move into private schools.

This is unfortunate.

As part of National School Choice Week, Reason.com highlights an examination by Greg Forster, author of “A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice.” The book sifts through scores of studies on education and choice. Among the highlights:

There have been 18 school choice studies using “random assignment,” which is the key to avoiding distorted results. Of these, 14 found “choice improves student outcomes,” Reason noted, while two found no effect and two — both in Louisiana — found negative effects.

Thirty-three studies have looked at the effect of choice programs on public schools. All but two found that choice helps improve public schools, most likely by forcing existing campuses to adapt or lose students. Competition is a powerful incentive. Reason reports that one study found no effect, while one study found a negative effect.

Twenty-five of 28 studies on the subject found that school choice programs saved money. Three studies found such programs to be revenue-neutral.

On the issue of racial segregation, 10 studies have examined whether choice leads to more diverse classrooms. “Nine found school choice moves students from more segregated schools to less segregated schools,” Reason reports.

All this reveals there is strong data available for the benefits of granting parents more leeway to escape schools they believe are failing their children. Not all choice plans are created equal, of course. But the striking difference between these alternative methods and traditional public schools is that failing purveyors of educational choice alternatives either improve or go out of business, while floundering public schools are generally rewarded with additional taxpayer resources.

A poll conducted two years ago for the Clark County Education Association found that most Las Vegas parents — particularly in minority communities — favor the concept of school choice as a means of improving the state’s dismal education outcomes. Gov. Sisolak and legislative Democrats may have plenty of pragmatic reasons to appease the hidebound education establishment by pouring more money into the status quo, but ignoring these constituents and their children is not without political risk.