CHARLESTON – For decades, West Virginia’s education system has relied on an antiquated model, where all K-12 funds are assigned to schools and families have to send their child to the government-assigned school based on their ZIP codes (and, often as a result, income level) rather than having flexible options to choose from based on what best suits the unique needs of their kids.
Sadly, there are still some who fear affording parents flexibility, and those who have used fear in an attempt to this much needed block progress. But on Election Night 2020, West Virginians said, “Enough!”
West Virginians voted based on common sense and facts, not fear.
Huffman
It’s important that policymakers and citizens understand the seismic shift that has just occurred and how we got here.
Rather than electing candidates wedded to an outdated system, voters chose a new direction. Mountaineers overwhelmingly elected lawmakers who believe students are at the heart of what matters most, that parents deserve more support and freedom to make decisions about their children’s educational environment, and that supporting our great educators while ensuring every student receives an individualized education are not mutually exclusive principles.
Over the last two years there has been a growing tension over the future of K-12 education in our state. A growing number of legislative leaders and citizens pushed for enhanced flexibility and more robust options for students and families when it comes to being able to access the education that is right for each student. A dwindling but vocal few defended the failing status quo and wrongheadedly depicted more educational options as a threat.
Lawmakers largely tried to split the difference, offering compromise reforms such as limited charter schools, allowing students to attend any public school through open enrollment, and providing historic teacher pay increases for two years running. But these reforms fall well short of meeting the urgent need to transform West Virginia’s education system to one that meets the needs of every student. The compromise reforms of the past do not create an environment where we can ensure every student has access to an individualized and personalized education suited uniquely for them.
Fast forward to Election Night 2020. As election results trickled in, it became clear that West Virginians were overwhelmingly reelecting lawmakers who supported more educational freedom while voting against legislators who stood in the way of more options for parents, students and educators.
This should inform policymakers moving forward in a significant way.
The arguments against providing families a student-centric education system do not hold up to scrutiny, nor did they appeal to voters across the state.
Facts, not fear.
Here is a fact every parent knows to be true: Every child is unique and different. Yet, we still have an education system built around conformity and standardization. Creating more opportunity for families to choose the best learning environment for their son or daughter is a reflection that every student is unique and that we value and respect that uniqueness and should not try to force all students to conform to a single learning environment.
And here’s another set of facts: There’s ample data — 150 empirical studies — on the effectiveness of programs that expand educational freedom. The vast majority of those studies suggests that students, and education systems as a whole, only benefit from having access to more educational options.
Educational freedom was on the ballot this year, and voters have spoken. Lawmakers should stop tinkering and instead get busy reimagining our state’s approach to K-12 education.
Specifically, that means working to put students, families, and educators in a position to innovate by letting parents use their education tax dollars to the highest benefit of their student by allowing parents to enroll in education savings accounts.
And it means getting needless government regulations out of the way of our educators so they can focus on finding more innovative approaches to teaching our kids.
West Virginians have spoken. It’s time for our leaders to listen, and to act.
Huffman is state director of Americans for Prosperity–West Virginia.