By Katreena Crookshanks

Del. Chris Saxman’s announcement that a coalition of concerned citizens is forming School Choice Virginia provides the chance to examine why school choice is an option Virginians ought to have.

There are two principal reasons: one is money, the other the right of parents to educate chkldren as they see fit.

According to the Virginia Department of Education’s report: Keister, Spotswood, Stone Spring and Waterman elementary schools did not make the Adequate Yearly Progress required under No Child Left Behind. Thomas Harrison failed to make the AYP for the third year in a row.

Consequently, the Harrisonburg City School District did not meet the AYP goals. The Harrisonburg City School District had six schools, with 4,528 students for the 2007-2008 school year.

According to the same Virginia Department of Education report, Rockingham County School District (with 20 schools and 11,850 students) met their AYP goals for 2007-2008. Harrisonburg City Schools’ approved budget for 2008-2009 is $60.3 million, about $10 million per school. The Rockingham County Schools budget for 2008-2009 is $164 million, about $8.2 million per school. Harrisonburg plans to spend nearly $2 million more per school.

If additional funding equates to increased performance, as some logic dictates, Harrisonburg City Schools should outperform Rockingham County Schools. And wasn’t passage of the lottery bill years ago supposed to ease school budget funding? Obviously more money, the mantra from the National Education Association and state and local school boards, is not working. When will “more money” be enough?

Some people advocate increased school voluntarism as the answer. Those idea smacks of elitism. Many Harrisonburg residents work 12-hour shifts or eight-hour 9-5 shifts at various area businesses, many work two jobs to support families and many employers do not allow time off for volunteer work.

Many working parents are already overwhelmed by helping with homework, which they may not even understand and SOL at-home prep work. The last thing they need to hear is someone telling them to do more to help the schools succeed.

Other comments allege it’s the wealthy citizens spending money for private institutions. That’s a half-truth. Yes, some of the parents are wealthy. However, some private-school parents work two jobs to pay for that education, receive school scholarships and are dual- or single-income households making sacrifices (as in no vacations, no cable or satellite TV, one family paid-for vehicle, a smaller house, etc.). All of them still pay taxes for public schools. It’s obvious class envy is alive and well in the ’Burg.

For those of you opposed to tax credits, think about it this way. If my mechanic is unable to fix my car, why should I continue to pay him? You’d probably agree that I have the right as a consumer to take my car and my money elsewhere. Should I not have the same right for my child (who is far more important)? From a consumer’s point of view, the school system is being paid by the taxpayers to educate all of the children.

Finally, school choice is about far more than private schools. It also pertains to charter schools, magnet schools, home schooling and parents’ rights to decide what’s best for their child. For more information, please visit www.heritage.org/research/education/schoolchoice/Virginia.cfm.

Crookshanks lives in Harrisonburg.