Why Public Schools Matter for All

The calm mother of three looked at me coolly, as I explained the work of The Institute for Educational and Social Justice and why we believe public education, ultimately, is one of the last frontiers of the Civil Rights Movement.

“I don’t worry about what goes on in the public schools because my children aren’t in them,” she said flatly. “That’s why I homeschool – so I don’t have to worry about things like that. I control what my children learn, how they learn and who they are friends with. What goes on in the public schools here just isn’t a problem for us and we’re really happy about that.”

It’s an idea I have heard many times through the years, particularly when I have found myself travelling, for one reason or another, in circles with large numbers of private or homeschool families. These parents, who are often bright, caring and engaged in the greater world believe that they can not only opt out of public schools, but avoid being affected by their performance at all.

So, why should the quality of public schools matter to families who homeschool, send their children to private schools or people who do not have school-aged children?

• Public schools dramatically shape the potential for economic development. When corporate decision-makers decide whether to locate new facilities in your community, one of the first things they want to know is whether your local public schools are reputable. Why? Because they know it is far easier to recruit workers to areas with strong public schools. In requesting information, they often want to know about test scores, but also about the appeal of existing school facilities, honors and advanced placement offerings, sports teams and the availability of other extra-curricular activities. They also want to know that your local high school graduates are learning the skills they will need to be successful employees. Clearly, having quality public schools can create more professional opportunities – not just to public school graduates but to private and home-school graduates, too.
• The quality of local public schools drives real estate values. Anyone who has even browsed real estate listings has seen ads proclaiming, “Highly desirable school district!” “Zoned for an exemplary school!” “Great neighborhood school! This one won’t last!” In the home-buying game, the public school zone matters more than just about anything else. Want to see your housing values increase? Do what you can to improve neighborhood schools.
• Quality public schools contribute to the safety of your community. We know that areas surrounding schools with particularly high drop-out rates generally also have higher crime rates. If you live in a neighborhood with a high drop-out rates, your odds of being the victim of burglary, aggravated assault and other crimes is much higher.
• Quality schools contribute to a community’s morale in ways that are difficult to measure. If you think neighborhood schools don’t matter, try being part of a team that is trying to close one. Communities grieve deeply when neighborhood schools are closed, in part because of the sense of community that schools often cultivate. In a crisis, the local high school gym often becomes a gathering place for people – the place that individuals and families come to receive emergency supplies and needed information, or where they come simply to cry together and pray together. Communities – both urban and rural – often rally behind school successes, such as students at a national Academic Decathlon event, championship baseball teams or spelling bee champions. When students from the local school do well, the community’s morale improves and there is a sense that the community can be successful in other more universal ways as well.
• Even in areas with thriving private schools and large home-school communities, the public schools still are almost always responsible for educating the majority. Even if you home-school or support a local private school, odds are good that most of the people you rely upon on a day-to-day basis – people like your nurse, your dentist, the waitress at your favorite neighborhood restaurant, the emergency dispatcher who responds to your frantic 911 call, the manager of your local grocery store, your accountant – were educated by the local public school system. Don’t you want them to have the academic and social foundation needed to do their jobs well?

Public schools matter – not just to the children that are enrolled in them, but to the communities they serve.

Opting out of the public school debate is simply not an option.