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Three months later, school-choice advocates have scored big victories around the country. Indiana enlarged its voucher program. Montana lifted caps on charter schools. Arkansas now offers tax-credit scholarships to low-income students. West Virginia and Kentucky have funded savings accounts that help parents pay tuition at private schools. Florida, a movement leader, has enlarged its tax-credit scholarship programs. Even Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee promises to veto a moratorium on new charter schools. As one voucher activist told me: “This feels like the most school choice legislative action in . . . years.”
The pandemic is the driving force. The failure of the public schools to educate children in the past year has angered parents and policy makers. The novel coronavirus is particularly dangerous for the elderly. It is no more risky for teachers than it is for grocery clerks and other essential workers. Serious illness is rare among children. Meanwhile, the loss of learning and social connectivity produced by school closures has been devastating, especially for low-income minority children.
Teachers unions nonetheless insist that schools remain closed until ventilation systems can be installed, desks are placed an impractical 6 feet apart, and teachers and students are vaccinated. While school districts dithered in the fall and winter, parents explored alternatives. Phones at Boston’s Catholic schools rang incessantly when public schools announced they would remain closed.
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