School Choice Does Work, is Constitutional
By Richard Komer
October 18, 2013
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris in 2002 was of one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions since Brown vs. Board of Education. In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the court upheld the constitutionality of a school choice program in Cleveland for low-income children long ignored by the educational establishment. The ruling laid to rest the argument of public school apologists that giving parents the means to choose private religious schools for their children’s education violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. The court held that so long as a program is religiously neutral — neither favoring nor disfavoring a religious school option — and so long as that choice is driven by the independent choices of parents, the fact that many families will choose religious schools does not violate the Constitution’s guarantees of religious freedom for all nor advance the establishment of religion.
Zelman represented a huge step forward in a then decade-long effort to vindicate the constitutionality of programs that enable parents to select the best available education for their children with publicly funded vouchers — whether the schools the parents selected were public, private or religious. Zelman opened the way for an explosion of choice programs across the nation — programs that represent a truly fundamental change from the educational status quo.
This remarkable progress has resulted because of education reformers and their legislative partners who recognized early on that the public education system is incapable of reforming itself from within. Teachers’ unions and public education bureaucracies exercise too much control to permit real reform to occur, endorsing instead only those programs that increase their membership or offer cosmetic change.
The bottom line is this: In study after study, school choice offers a cost-saving alternative to continuing to reward failure with ever increasing public funding. By empowering parents, school choice gives them real power to improve their children’s lives, resulting in greater parental involvement and increased satisfaction. As graduation rates have gone up for participating families, increased interest in school choice has developed across the board, but notably among leaders of minority communities, whose children are tragically ill-served by the existing government monopoly over public education.
Thanks to Zelman, as more and more states consider school choice legislation in all its variety, they can do so confident that school choice is fully compatible with the federal Constitution.
Richard Komer is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represented parents in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.
A Reflection of CER’s 20th Anniversary
The Center for Education Reform (CER) conference room is filled beyond capacity with white polka dot boxes and there is a consistent assembly line in progress to tie the beautiful red bows atop the boxes. The guest list is checked over and over and over again to ensure it is correct. After the last couple of months of precise planning by the CER team, it all comes together on October 14, 2013 for an extraordinary day to commemorate CER’s 20th Year Anniversary.
The conference was infused with a plethora of significant advocates of education reform, yet the reaffirmation that grassroots organizations can in fact have great impact on an issue was enough to recharge my hope for education reform. The passion and fervor that leaders such as Janet Barresi, Bill Manning and the many others who were in attendance had when they spoke about education reform was powerful and inspiring. It was especially helpful in a field that can often get discouraging by the bureaucracy that exist and the hoops that must be jumped through when trying to make effective change in the education system.
I also enjoyed the panel discussion entitled “Changing the Complexion.” Dr. Howard Fuller spoke profound words about the inclusion of minorities within the education reform field. He stated that while it is important to change the complexion of those involved in the dialogue around education reform, it does not end there. If those individuals are not given the power to actively employ education reform policies within their communities, then changing the completion has no real benefit. As a minority woman of color, I seek to not only change the complexion of the discussion but also of what those in power look like. I hope to also empower suffering communities to use available resources such as CER and make meaningful change.
For me, the gala was a defining moment of the impact CER has had for the past 20 years and continues to have on the conversation and implementation of education reform. During both the Conference and Gala, countless individuals spoke of the great influence both the Center for Education Reform has offered them and the tireless ally Jeanne has been. It was also symbolic of how other individuals and organizations can come together and work for a common cause and create a revolution around the county.
Overall, I am so grateful to be interning at a wonderful organization that has made so much of an impact in the education field. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the history of CER.