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Growing Income Disparity in Education: Looking at Vouchers and Charter Schools

Tony Orndoff

EDTP 645

UMUC

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The notion of publicly funded education in the United States goes back even before there

was a United States. Boston Latin, the oldest public school still in existence in the United States,

was established in 1635, more than one hundred and fifty years before the drafting of the

Constitution (BLS History). While education in Europe had been limited to a privileged few,

most colonists and early Americans believed that educating the public, at public expense, was an

investment worth making. Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to his mentor George Wythe in 1783

spelled out the need for an educated populace. “Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against

ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen

know…that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of

what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people

in ignorance” (Quotations on Education).

Today, while the purpose of public education has expanded to meet our modern times,

the idea of public education as the linchpin of democracy remains as relevant as ever.

Unfortunately, economic realities in the United States are making it more difficult than ever to

meet this goal. As we see a widening of the gap between rich and poor, we see a widening

“achievement gap” as well. If the goal of public education in the United States is to provide a

level playing field, than the chasm between the haves and have-nots is a major challenge to

meeting this goal. This paper will explore how the gap between the rich and poor has negatively

impacted the quality of education in the Unites States. Further, two solutions, vouchers and

charter schools, will be offered as a way to meet this challenge.

The shift in the United States away from a manufacturing economy to a service economy

helps to explain the growing income gap. Reardon (2013) makes note of this, stating “Largely

gone are the manufacturing jobs that provided a middle-class wage without a college degree” (p.

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14). Today, American workers fall into one of two categories: the “high-skill, high-wage

information sector,” and the “low-skill, low-wage sector” (Reardon, 2013, p 14). Americans in

the information sector are not only doing better than those in the low-skill sector, but are

outpacing these individuals at record levels. “In 1970, a family with school-age children at the

90th percentile of the family income distribution earned 5 times as much as a family at the 10th

percentile; today, the high-income family earns 11 times more than the low-income family”

(Reardon, 2013, p. 13). This scenario creates essentially two Americas, one wealthy, and one

poor, with an ever-shrinking middle class. Along with this gap in income, comes an

“achievement gap” in education as well.

As the income gap has increased over the last 60 years, so too has the average difference

in standardized test scores, even at a time when the difference between black and white tests

scores is decreasing (Reardon, 2013, p. 12). Further, not only is this apparent in standardized

test scores, but in other measures of academic success as well. Higher-income students are more

likely to complete college and more likely to enroll in prestigious colleges and universities.

What is arguably worse is the gap in “behaviors related to civil engagement, such as participating

in extracurricular activities, sports, and academic clubs; volunteering and participating in

community life; and self-reports of social trust” (Reardon, 2013, p. 12).

How can the United States combat this disturbing trend? An increase in spending sounds

like an obvious solution, although the answer is not that simple. It’s not necessarily a lack of

money that is at the heart of this problem, but an unequal distribution of this money. We must

“do more to ensure that all students have equal access to high-quality teachers, stimulating

curriculum and instruction, and adequate school resources (computers, libraries, and the like)”

(Reardon, 2013, p. 15). Both of the solutions offered in this paper, school vouchers and charter

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schools, revolve around the same concept: offering poor parents the same choices as rich parents

when it comes to educating their children.

A school voucher program provides state-funded scholarships that help students pay to

attend private schools which meet state-mandated requirements. Usually, students eligible for

these programs are low-income, although some states provide for students attending low-

performing schools or students with disabilities (School Vouchers, ncsl.org). The idea behind

this concept is two-fold. Low-income students will be given an educational opportunity

normally reserved for wealthier students and that public schools, now competing with private

schools for funding dollars, will improve their academic regimen. While this is a controversial

idea, and one that many supporters of public education have considered a non-starter, voucher

programs have seen some success.

One of the most successful school voucher programs in the United States is in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Beginning as a pilot program in 1991, the Milwaukee Parental Choice

Program (MPCP) has been reauthorized several times, giving students who otherwise would not

have the chance to attend private schools. Cowen, et. al. (2013) recently published an analysis

which details the positive benefits of this program. Going beyond standardized test scores,

Cowen (2013) looked at the idea of “attainment” as a measure of educational success.

“Educational attainment [reaching a given level of schooling] is an important indicator for school

quality because it may be a direct result of the development of academic and life skills related to

a variety of valuable outcomes of interest to policymakers and employers” (Cowen, et. al., 2013,

p. 148). What was discovered was that students who used the voucher program to attend private

school “were more likely to graduate high school…[and] also more likely to enroll in a 4-year

postsecondary institution after graduating…” (Cowen, et. al., 2013, p. 161).

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For some, the idea of turning over public dollars to private schools is troubling, especially

when considering the religious-ties of some private schools. Rather than a voucher system,

another form of education reform based on parental choice lies with charter schools. While a

charter school is a public school, it differs in the manner in which it attempts to reach desired

educational outcomes. “The state may specify student outcomes, but determining how the

school operates should be up to the people who establish and operate it. The charter school

concept trades bureaucracy for accountability, regulation for results” (Nathan, 2005, p. 111).

The advantage of charter schools is the flexibility that teachers and community members

have in reaching state-mandated goals. Rather than traditional methods, charter schools are free

to experiment with their curriculum. The Minnesota New Country School uses a project-based

learning as its primary approach. “Instead, its 120 grade 7-12 students work with their families

and an advisor to develop an individual plan that helps them meet their own needs and interests,

and that also satisfies performance-based graduation requirements” (Nathan, 2005, p. 115).

Not only do those attending charter schools see improved performance, but like voucher

programs, competition from charter schools encourages traditional public schools to innovate in

order to retain students. When a district in Minnesota noticed that nearby Hope Charter School

was incorporating studies of the Hmong culture, the district adapted its programs to

accommodate Hmong parents who might flee the district to attend the charter school. Public

schools in Boston have also given parents and educators more flexibility in order to compete

with nearby charter schools (Nathan, 2005, p. 115).

American education is at a crossroads. What was once a great equalizer, ensuring that

individuals across the social stratum had equal opportunity to contribute to the body politic, has

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become an increasingly divergent system in which separate is unequal. If American education is

to live up to these lofty ideals, it must embrace reforms that it has not previously been willing to

consider. Two of these solutions are school vouchers and charter schools. Both vouchers and

charter schools give all parents, not just wealthy ones, the chance to choose the best educational

program for his or her child. By providing these choices, we are providing the best hope that the

American public will continue to be educated, engaged, and vibrant.

References

BLS History. Boston Latin School. www.bls.org.

Cowen, J., Fleming, D., Witte, J., Wolf, P., Kisida, B. (2013). School vouchers and student

attainment: Evidence from a state-mandated study of Milwaukee’s parental choice

program. The Policy Studies Journal, 41, 147-168.

Nathan, J. (2005). Charters “yes!” vouchers “no!.” Educational Horizons. Winter, 2005. 110-

124).

Quotations on Education. Thomas Jefferson Monticello. www.monticello.org.

Reardon, S. (2013). The widening income achievement gap. Educational Leadership. May, 2013.

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