Where Do Public School Teachers Send Their Kids to School?

Written By: Alan Bonsteel, M.D. Published In: School Reform News Publication Date: November 1, 2004 Publisher: The Heartland Institute

Public school teachers in urban areas are far more likely than city residents in general to send their children to private schools, according to a new analysis of 2000 Census data by researchers led by Denis P. Doyle, who previously analyzed 1980 and 1990 Census data.

While just 12.2 percent of U.S. families send their children to private schools, that figure rises to 17.5 percent among urban families in general and to 21.5 percent among urban public school teachers, almost twice the national average.

The difference in the choices made by public school teachers and the general public were especially striking in America's largest cities, where public schools are often the most troubled. For example, in the New York City area, 32.5 percent of public school teachers send their children to private schools, compared to 22.7 percent of the general public. In Chicago, 38.7 percent of public school teachers, versus 22.6 percent of the general public, send their children to private schools. In Los Angeles, private schools are chosen by 24.5 percent of public school teachers and 15.7 percent of the public.

Also noteworthy are the differences in cities where school choice programs have seen their greatest successes. In Milwaukee, for instance, home of the nation's oldest publicly funded voucher program, 29.4 percent of public school teachers send their children to private schools, versus 23.4 percent of the general public.

In Washington, DC, home of the nation's newest publicly funded voucher program, 26.8 percent of public school teachers send their children to private schools, versus 19.8 percent of the public. One of the revelations that helped pass the DC voucher legislation was the disclosure in the news media that the politicians opposing school choice in that city did not enroll their own children in District of Columbia public schools.

"We can assume that no one knows the condition and quality of public schools better than teachers who work in them every day," note the authors of the new study. "If these teachers are more likely than the general public--which may not have nearly as much information or expertise in these matters--to send their own daughters and sons to the public schools in which they teach, it is a strong vote of confidence in those schools."

However, if public school teachers choose not to send their own children to the public schools in which they teach, "then we might reasonably conclude that those in the best position to know are signaling a strong 'sell' about public education in their communities," contend the researchers in the September 2004 study,"Where Do Public School Teachers Send Their Kids to School?" issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

In San Francisco, outspoken school choice opponent Jill Wynns, a school board commissioner, dismissed any effort to draw conclusions about the quality of public schools from the data. Wynns suggested many public school educators might choose a private school because of religious beliefs.

Wynns acknowledged her oldest son attended a private school. She denied any conflict between her public stance and her own actions, saying her son had been recruited to attend a private school through a summer program, with the small school having advantages for him.

"It was a choice I let him make; he created the opportunity," she told the San Francisco Examiner.

The Fordham study makes clear that--in the absence of publicly funded school choice--the ability to take advantage of such an "opportunity" is a function of income. For example, only 10.3 percent of families with incomes less than $42,000 choose a private school for their children, compared to 35.6 percent of families with incomes exceeding $84,000.

"We support a teacher's right to choose a private school," school choice advocate Howard Fuller told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We simply ask them to support the same freedom for low-income families."

The authors note there has been little change in the data on this subject over the past 20 years. Doyle, the study's lead author, is cofounder of SchoolNet, Inc., a Web-based school improvement company. His coauthors are economist Brian Diepold and SchoolNet academic specialist David DeSchryver, who is also managing editor of The Doyle Report.

Financial support for the study was provided by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute; the American Education Reform Council, formerly based in Milwaukee and now part of the Arizona-based Alliance for School Choice; and California Parents for Educational Choice.

Alan Bonsteel, M.D. (bonsteel@earthlink.net) is president of California Parents for Educational Choice, which has a Web site at http://www.cpeconline.org.

The September 2004 report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, "Where Do Public School Teachers Send Their Kids to School?" by Denis P. Doyle, Brian Diepold, and David A. DeSchryver, is available online at http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/Fwd-1.1.pdf.

[** warning: stepping on soapbox **]

I'm a high school math teacher in a Wisconsin public school... and for the life of me, I do *not* understand why it's so saturated with Dems... and pro-CHOICE Dems, at that! Abstracting completely from the *moral* issues with murdering children, rural schools in Wisconsin have had enrollments decline to the point where schools are merging and closing every year... and then the *vast* majority of teachers (Dems, of course) go out and vote for pro-death Feingold and ["governor"] Doyle, and continue to support the 25%+ death rate of our future students! Does this seem even a WEE bit illogical to anyone else?

As for the supposed "grievances of public school teachers"--I swear, I'm surrounded by the biggest group of WHINERS since the Hollywood actors' cabal! Do you realize that, in my county, public school teachers have the highest average income, BY FAR, compared to anyone else in the county? (With the possible exception of attorneys... and even that's in doubt.) And yet, all the teacher unions (may they dissolve rapidly) scream for more money, more perks, less accountability ("What's wrong with *finding out* whether students in my class actually learn, or not??"), etc.

**AAARGH!!!!**

(*pant*) (*pant*) (*deep breath*)

I, of all people, realize that teaching is a tough job. I've been doing this for almost 10 years--including 5 years in an inner city school--and I have no intention of doing anything else. I simply don't think that the taxpayers have to give me a fat Christmas bonus in order to "fix" things. I don't think that "public-funded abortion services WITHIN the school system" (which the NEA advocates--see their web page!) is a good solution to the problem. I, for one, think that a few less liberal loony-tune judges, making less loony-tune decisions which grant student delinquents the "right" to misbehave with impunity, and freeing up parent choice in schools, just *might* be better. I think that a bit less homosexual activism (and other pervasive efforts at NEA social engineering) would help matters; I really do.

My opinion is that I should teach math, because I want to empower kids to think for themselves, and to know that there's such a thing as "objective reality", rather than "defne morality and reality for yourselves". I don't need a $*&!&*@ raise, nor do I need more inservice days (God preserve us from those, BTW!), nor do I need my students smilingly accepting every perversion that comes down the pipeline from Madison. I need the freedom to teach. I need the freedom to have accountability--for my students, and for myself. Quite frankly, I want to be able to mention God in the classroom without the ACLU going apoplectic. I want to teach, not to sponge off the taxpayers... which, at least in our area, are staggering under some of the heaviest taxes (percentage-wise) in the nation. Give me enough money to make a decent living (and I'm certainly making that), and I promise to teach my heart out. Why, oh why, can't more public school teachers just *SHUT UP* about their liberal bugaboos, and join me???

[stepping off soapbox]

Sorry about the rant; I think this thread (and others) have touched a raw nerve!

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