Our city’s public education system has been in dire need of reform for decades. Despite spending more money per pupil than any other public schools system in the country, our city-managed schools often deliver worse results.
Why? Advocates for city-managed public schools have lots of ideas why problems exist, but the solutions are often more elusive.
I have a solution: digital transformation of the Department of Education and reorganization of the School Construction Authority.
While we tackle the massive project of reforming our public agencies and turn them into high-perfomance agencies, we also need to make sure parents have more choice and control over their childrens’ fates.
We need to lift the cap on charters and begin to experiment with school vouchers. Allow parents to use a fraction of what we would otherwise spend to look for what works for their children and their communities. At the same time, give public schools more freedom to accommodate local needs and show that they can, in fact, provide a competitive option and a quality education.