Pennsylvania Governor Joins Movement for School Choice. Time for a 'Family Politics'

Education outside of the home is an extension of the parental role.

The current overly federalized approach to the provision of education in the United States is failing miserably and our children are suffering. Statistics and experience confirm the obvious. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is that change. It means affirming again, as a matter of public policy and legislation, that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home for their children.

P>WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic online) - On Tuesday May 9, 2011 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, who made education one of the hallmarks of his 2010 campaign for governor, spoke to the second annual National Policy Summit of the American Federation for Children. He said that providing parents with an alternative to a failed public school for their children was a "moral obligation". He publicly endorsed Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1 which will provide up to $9,000 per child to parents. The money will be portable and could be used toward an alternative school from the full array of options, public, private, charter or parochial.

The address came a month after the United States Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit Court in the case of Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. In 2009 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Arizona school choice program was unconstitutional.  Attorneys for the state of Arizona and several other parties asked the US Supreme Court to review the case. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion of the Court. It reversed based upon the legal doctrine of standing, which considers whether the parties have a right to bring the underlying cause of action.

The opponents of school choice have tried to argue that because the Supreme Court decision only addressed the standing issue it has less importance. However, the effect of the Supreme Court ruling was to uphold the Arizona legislation and give one more green light to the movement for educational reform called parental or school choice. It also gave direction to other States considering this desperately needed educational reform on how to pass legislation which will withstand the attacks of those who oppose it.  

This decision was a huge boon for parental choice in education or "school choice", especially when the policy objective is attained through the vehicle of tax credits. Pennsylvania is one of a growing number of States joining this movement for true educational justice and reform. The American Federation for Children and the Alliance for School Choice provide a helpful map which shows the momentum in this movement. 

"School Choice" is an idea whose time has clearly come. I prefer the term "Parental Choice" because it emphasizes that Parents are the ones who should make the educational decision for their children. They are the first teachers of their children. Some of those who oppose parental choice or school choice are entrenched in the current federalized educational bureaucracy and threatened by competition. Others are simply afraid of this reform movement because they have bought the propaganda of those who oppose it. However, people of every walk of life admit the obvious, our educational system is broken.

As an ardent supporter of "Parental Choice" in Education, I am not against government. I think it is important to make the point that good government begins in the family. Any governance outside of the home, at every other level, must recognize the first government of the family and follow the social ordering principle of subsidiarity as properly applied. That principle reminds us that good government is bottom up, not top down, deferring first to the smallest governing unit. That first governing unit is the family. All other government should recognize its primacy. It is time to stop usurping the role of parents and begin empowering and helping families in our educational policy.

The current overly federalized approach to the provision of education in the United States is failing miserably and our children are suffering. Statistics and experience confirm the obvious. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is that change. It means affirming again, as a matter of public policy and legislation, that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home. This solution is winning the support of leaders from both major parties, as well as the hearts and minds of families all over America.

Education outside of the home is an extension of the parental role. Those who provide it should recognize and defer to the parents' primary role in the educational mission of their own children. The children being educated are not, in the words of the US Supreme Courts' Wisconsin v Yoder decision "....mere creatures of the State".

The family is the first government and the first school house. We have forgotten that objective truth as a Nation and we are reaping the bad consequences. Those who try to paint supporters of school choice as backward and anti-Government are using sophistry. The fact is that educational reform like this is forward looking. Their doggedly clinging to a bloated federal bureaucratic approach is what is backward.

In his Apostolic Exhortation on the family, "Familiaris Consortio" Blessed John Paul II  wrote: "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others..."

In his "Letter to Families" he wrote "Parents are the first and most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents. They share their educational mission with other individuals or institutions, such as the Church and the State. But the mission of education must always be carried out in accordance with a proper application of the Principle of Subsidiarity.

"This implies the legitimacy and indeed the need of giving assistance to the parents, but finds its intrinsic and absolute limit in their prevailing right and actual capabilities. The principle of subsidiarity is thus at the service of parental love, meeting the good of the family unit. For parents by themselves are not capable of satisfying every requirement of the whole process of raising children; especially in matters concerning their schooling and the entire gamut of socialization."

These words of the late Pope underscore the vital application of the principle of subsidiarity in the education of children, "Subsidiarity thus complements paternal and maternal love and confirms its fundamental nature, inasmuch as all other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization."

The teaching of the Catholic Church on the primacy of parents in the educational mission, if understood properly and clearly presented, can provide insights for building a new National Educational policy. After all, defending the primacy of marriage - and the family founded upon it - as the first cell of society, the first church, first government, first school, first hospital, first economy, and the first mediating institution of the broader society is integral to advancing the common good of society. Reaffirming the rightful role of the family is the path to our national recovery.

This position is not just our "religious" position, it is the truth. Parents are the first teachers of their children and all education really does begin in the home. We need to acknowledge in our positive law the right of parents to choose for their own children where they go to school. That choice should include the full array of options, public, private, parochial, charter and home schools, no matter what the economic status of the family. The proper role of the government outside of the home should be to support the parents and thus help these children not prop up a failing model. This is good government ina two fold sense; efficient and moral. 

Parental (School) Choice is an idea whose time has come. It is a matter of true social justice, not what is masquerading as social justice in some circles these days. The opposition of some in control of the teachers unions to such a just approach to educational policy and fundamental fairness shows how far some of these mediating associations have strayed from their primary role. They fail to defer to the first mediating institution of the family. Parental choice in education is right for our children, right for our parents and right for the future of our Nation.

We are standing on the precipice of one of the most important Presidential elections in decades. The issues are not "liberal" v "conservative", "Democrat" v "Republican". They concern the future of this experiment in ordered liberty called the United States of America. Parental Choice in education is the path to a true reform of education and must become an integral part of the Presidential campaign debate. It is time for a new politics, a family politics. We must participate in building a movement for true hope, true change and true educational reform.

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