Competition in domains that were once thought to be permanent governmental monopolies is proving to be effective in many arenas. Certainly schools have been one of the modern success stories of privatization. In today's Tennessean it seems that public school teachers in Nashville (yes, those same public school teachers who fight the creation of charter schools and lobby for more and more and more money without any accountability) agree that competition and markets really do work.
"More than one out of every four Metro teachers, or 28.6%, send their children to private school, according to a study released last week."
So, how does this compare to the overall population in Nashville? Teachers are twice as likely to send their kids to private schools as the average family in Nashville.
What could possibly be the reason behind this startling statistic?
Well, School board Vice Chairwoman Kathy Nevill thinks it must be racism. "A lot of it stems back to the same reason the community left the school system — they are scared to death of busing. To some degree they are still scared to death of diversity."
The Director of Nashville Pedro Garcia "had not seen the report and questioned its accuracy." He has gathered his own data. "'I talk to lots of teachers, and I know where they send their kids. I don't believe it's anywhere that high.'" But if the data proves to be true, isn't that a call to action, Dr. Garcia?
"If the report holds up, Garcia said, he is not overly concerned. 'Teachers can send their kids wherever they choose,' he said."
Well, maybe we should go to the teachers and find out the real reason.
"Attempts to interview Metro teachers whose children attend private schools were not successful."
I'll go out on a limb and posit my own explanation. The private schools are better and the teachers know it. Gee, maybe if we all had real choice in schools it might just push public schools a little harder to improve and compete.
