COMPETITION FORCES CLEVELAND SCHOOLS TO STEP UP
The Plain Dealer Letters to the Editor
by George A. Clowes
November 7, 2003 The Plain Dealer's Oct. 14 editorial, calling on White Hat Management to open its books, misses the mark. The issue is not whether White Hat's founder, David Brennan, "is reaping large profits" by running schools for about $6,300 per pupil, or subsidizing them, but why so many parents prefer to send their children to his schools rather than to the much-better-funded Cleveland public schools.
Four years ago, the Cleveland Municipal School District received about $2,750 more per pupil than Brennan receives now, according to figures the district reported to the U.S. Department of Education for 1999-2000. If Brennan can deliver an education that parents want for $6,300 per pupil, why can't the Cleveland schools deliver one for $9,050 per pupil? Why is the district's high school graduation rate for African-American students - just 29 percent - the lowest among the 50 largest school districts in the country, according to a 2001 study by the Manhattan Institute?
It's not for want of resources. Nationally, public schools employ one teacher for about 16 students. In 1999-2000, the Cleveland schools employed one teacher for every 11 students and spent a total of $686 million. The Plain Dealer might want to ask why all that money didn't produce a quality education for so many Cleveland public school students. One sure way to prompt the district to produce a better education is through the power of competition - offering parents an alternative. That's what Brennan's White Hat schools are doing, and the shocked reaction of the public schools shows that competition already is doing its wake-up work. Better-funded vouchers would provide even stronger competition.
Instead of carping about what Brennan may - or may not - be making out of his educational venture, The Plain Dealer should be encouraging the city schools to respond to competition by providing what they are supposed to deliver in the first place: a quality education.
Clowes is a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute.
Originally printed in The Plain Dealer.
(c) 2003
The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.