Is School Choice an Unintended Consequence of the Coronavirus?
The law of unintended consequences is glaringly apparent in the ongoing 2020 drama caused by the Coronavirus. But there’s at least one positive consequence that I’m actually thanking God for: it’s compelling some local school divisions to consider giving parents options (i.e., choices) regarding their children’s public education.
Forced to Give Parents a Choice
Virtual education or in-person learning – that’s the dilemma school districts have been grappling with ever since Governor Northam deferred back-to-school decisions to the local school divisions. With the 2020-2021 school year quickly approaching, school divisions around Virginia are making decisions on how to return to school with many choosing full virtual learning for at least the first half of the school year.
There’s also a growing number of people, including elected officials, who feel that Virginia is ready to resume in-person schooling this fall based on the recommendations made by the American Academy of Pediatrics which call for students to be physically present in schools. Senator Siobhan Dunnavant, an obstetrician-gynecologist herself, argued that “It’s clear that children rarely transmit Covid-19 between one another and adults, and the negative impacts of a disrupted school year will far outweigh the risk of bringing all children back into the classroom in September.”
However, despite the recommendations coming from medical professionals, many parents remain concerned about the potential health risks their kids would be subject to if they returned to the classroom. As a result there’s a trend among some localities that actually promotes school choice – kind of.
Recognizing that there’s a genuine divide among parents about sending their kids back to school, the School Boards for Amelia County, Dinwiddie County, Goochland County, Hanover County, Prince George County, Powhatan County, and Colonial Heights have approved back-to-school plans for the 2020-2021 school year. Their plans actually give parents a choice between virtual learning and some form of in-person schooling for their kids. These school boards have decided to give parents not just a voice in public schooling plans for this fall, but empower them to determine what’s best for their child.
Opt-In An Option After All!
In addition to these school divisions giving options for how children can return to school this fall, some localities, Hanover addressing bus transportation by implementing an “Opt-In” policy. To help accommodate those parents in Hanover who are choosing to send their children back to socially distanced classrooms, county officials are offering bus transportation on an opt-in basis. This fall, parents are assumed to be transporting their children to school themselves unless they opt in to allow their child to ride the school bus each day.
For years, The Family Foundation has advocated for legislation that would flip the current approval process for Family Life Education (FLE) from “opt-out” to “opt-in,” in order to give more authority and oversight to parents. The proposal would’ve simply required public schools to obtain parents’ permission before their child participates in the ever-evolving FLE curriculum. (For example, see HB2570 from the 2019 General Assembly Session.)
The reasons why some lawmakers have rejected a simple opt-in proposal like this have included: “There are students who need to hear this curriculum,” and the oft-frequented statement, “the opt-out procedure is already in place and it would be an administrative burden to switch to an opt-in procedure.” But now with opt-in procedures for bus transportation this fall, such as the one proposed in Hanover, that ruse is removed. It now clearly demonstrates that local school divisions are indeed capable of implementing large-scale opt-in procedures. Hopefully, lawmakers will take note that opt-in procedures can work and apply this same philosophy to the approval process for FLE programs across the state.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit Virginia during the month of March, the public school system had very little reason to include anything that resembled choice. But since then, they’ve been forced to consider various alternatives that give parents more say in their child’s education.
While we’ve had to endure numerous Executive Orders the past four months by Governor Northam that place limits on our personal liberties, as well as the creation of a “Snitch State,” there’s at least the silver lining that the coronavirus has led a few school divisions to offer limited schooling options to parents, giving them more oversight. Hopefully this trend will continue to lead to broader school choice policies in Virginia that allows parents to choose the best type of school - public or private - for their children.
