Are education vouchers anti-racist?

"In pre-pandemic California, only 32% of fourth-graders were at or above proficient for their grade in reading. Only 19% of eighth-grade Hispanics read at grade level, and only 10% of eighth-grade blacks did. Those who find disparate impact everywhere should be screaming from the rooftops that public education is racist" (Kessler, WSJ, Nov. 2021).

The state of public education for many students is deplorable. The problem is especially acute for children of color living in large urban school districts. 

A common saying is, "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it." The correlate is, "If its broken, then fix it." Public education in too many parts of our country is broken.

I support wide-spread availability of education vouchers to give parents the opportunity to send their children to better schools. I live in the Richmond VA metropolitan area, commonly called RVA. I am convinced that many good "private" schools would appear in RVA if parents had vouchers for $10,000 per year. A good private school near me charges less than $7,000.

Vouchers would enable parents to pursue more options for their children, in contrast to the desire of some politicians and commentators.

1. "I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."
2. “Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.”

Here are some facts on Richmond City public schools from US News and World Reports.

    Average expenditure per child = $14,000.