Imagine you run a business. Sales of your primary line are foundering because you’re not producing quality products. You’ve spent handsomely to improve it, but troubles persist. Many customers are deeply unsatisfied.
But a small division within your company has come up with a superior product. Customers begin to flock to that creation at the expense of your main offerings. They’re much happier with the new item. What do you do next?
It depends on who you are. If you’re running the company, you’re thrilled. You shift company resources to the new innovation, especially as it proves itself over time. Doing so will make your company more successful.
But now imagine that you run the main division. Shifting resources to the new product means a decrease in your power, prestige and pay. Your budget will shrink, along with the workforce you manage. Doing so may be better for the company, but it isn’t better for you.
This is why market competition is so important. It pushes companies — and the people within those companies — to innovate and shift resources to the products and services the public wants. Individuals may want to protect the projects that personally benefit them, but if they don’t respond to the public, their company can go bankrupt.
But the public education establishment has long been shielded from competition. For decades, most families have had to attend their zoned public school even when it performed terribly. This arrangement didn’t hurt those running the public schools — they actually benefited from it. They used poor performance as a reason to agitate for more taxpayer money.
What a dramatic difference from how businesses operate.
But over the past 20 years, public pressure and the relentless work of education reformers have given parents more options. One of them is charter schools, which are public schools run by different groups. While not every charter school has succeeded, many charter schools have produced dramatic improvement in academic performance.
A new study from the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice provides more evidence of their success. It looked at how Michigan students with disabilities performed after moving to charter schools.
“Academic performance and attendance improved similarly for both students with and without disabilities after enrolling in charter schools,” it found.
This may not make those running the public education establishment happy, but it’s great news for parents.
Investing in what works is an obvious strategy for any business. Massachusetts’ elected officials need to bring that mindset to education and help charters expand further. Do what’s best for kids, not the adults running traditional public schools.
Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service
