Expand Choice Among Public Schools

By John Hood

RALEIGH — For all the satisfied smiles among school-choice supporters, and the gnashing of teeth among its opponents, North Carolina is not one of the top-ranked states for educational freedom.

That’s how the American Legislative Exchange Council sees it, anyway. Its latest Index of State Education Freedom, published in January, gave the Tar Heel State a B+. Florida’s A+ rating snagged the top spot, with Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, West Virginia, Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho filling out the rest of the top 10 states.

What keeps us from earning an A? It’s not our charter school laws or opportunity scholarships for students attending private schools. Both earn high rankings. Where North Carolina gets slammed — the only area where we get a failing grade, in fact — is the extent of parental choice within public schools.

Some local districts give parents a reasonably good chance of transferring their children to schools other than the ones assigned to them. Others offer magnet schools with special programs or distinctive themes. But unlike many states, North Carolina has no statewide policy offering parents choices both within their home school districts and in neighboring ones.

In Florida, for example, parents can opt for any public school in the state so long as the school has space to accommodate new students. Children in special circumstances, such as those in foster care or in military families being redeployed, receive preference.

Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, and Utah also have strong open-enrollment policies. But this form of school choice isn’t as ideologically predictable as some of the others. Among the states with good (B) or fair (C) systems of open enrollment are the likes of Colorado, Delaware, California, and Washington.

Indeed, North Carolinians who detest vouchers, distrust charters, and disdain homeschooling ought to embrace open enrollment as an alternative way to champion parental autonomy within district-run public schools. “In many states with robust open enrollment laws,” wrote Reason Foundation analyst Jude Schwalbach, “public schools remain a cornerstone of a community.”

“Contrary to many district administrators’ fears,” Schwalbach continued, “robust open enrollment laws don’t lead to chaos. In fact, we have good data from multiple states showing that districts can successfully operate even when student mobility is high.”

In Arizona, for example, 13% of public-school students are enrolled in districts other than their assigned ones. On average, data from the 14 states with strong cross-district open enrollment laws show that, on average, 6% of public school students use the programs. State and local funding flows accordingly, without much in the way of political rancor or policy confusion.

In their latest policy guide, my John Locke Foundation colleagues recommended that North Carolina give parents the ability to choose among public schools both within their districts and via transferring to nearby districts. This ought not be a heavy lift. A Carolina Journal Poll found that nearly three-quarters of North Carolinians support open enrollment, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, independents, white voters, black voters, and those from higher-income, middle-income, and lower-income households.

Locke policy analyst Kaitlyn Shepherd argued that policymakers, educators, and activists “concerned with slowing declining enrollment in public schools should welcome open enrollment as a chance to market these schools as the best choice for students and families throughout North Carolina.”

Over my entire professional career, I have advocated parental choice and school competition. I believe they are a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for extending educational opportunity to all North Carolinians and adequately preparing our next generation for the responsibilities that come with career, parenthood, and citizenship. While critics claim the educational-freedom movement is just an elaborate conspiracy to abolish public schools altogether, that does not comport with my personal views or firsthand experience. North Carolina’s constitution requires the provision of public education. Those requirements aren’t going anywhere.

But the constitution does not require that the General Assembly fund only district-run public schools. Nor does it preclude expansive choice within public schools. We’ve done the former. Now, let’s do the latter.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy with American history (FolkloreCycle.com).