Educational
Choice Illinois (ECI) is “a 501c3 public
charity, dedicated to advancing public policy that expands quality educational
options for Illinois children in need” that recently released an
announcement celebrating the creation of its “bipartisan” Policy Advisory Board. Their board, 31
members in total, is tasked with “[assisting] ECI in setting
its policy agenda” in addition to meeting with community leaders, legislators,
participating in outreach, etc.
What is especially
interesting about the Board is its composition.
While ECI reports that the Board is “bipartisan,” it is clear that those
who sit on the Board are far from bipartisan when it comes to educational
policy. Of the 31 members, at least 23
work for organizations/think-tanks that are overtly in favor of
pro-privatization education reforms (e.g., charter schools, vouchers, etc.),
and none are known skeptics. Of the
other 8 members, their history or current position on reform cannot be readily
ascertained. Though, as a lobbyist,
Vince Williams – who is among the 8 – is likely to advocate for the majority
opinion of the Advisory Board – which, in this case, is predominately comprised
of pro-privatization ideologues. Thus,
given the history of pro-privatization activities from the members of this
Board, one must ask if it was their disposition — as opposed to, say, expertise
on the issue — that was ultimately the litmus test for their participation.
In ECI’s promotional
video, Myles Mendoza
(Executive Director) states that, “[ECI] is a group that really thinks very,
very differently about education. What
we care about most are the interests of children, plain and simple.” Given the composition of its Advisory Board,
it becomes clear that ECI does not think “very, very differently” among itself
since almost all of its members have a history of advocating for
pro-privatization reforms. In their
video, Lisa Graham Keegan (ECI Board member and Chair of the National
Association of Charter School Authorizers) states, “I’m a big fan of watching
how geese fly because they fly in formation and they take that one goose out in
front who takes the brunt and to let that goose in front take them where they
need to go, it’s very clear to me that Illinois is head goose here. And you’re going to hear a lot of honking
from a lot of places but you’re going to take us where the rest of the country
is going to go.”
In the case of
ECI, the goose out front is its new Policy Director Joshua Dwyer. Dwyer, in his former role at the free-market
oriented Illinois Policy Institute, advocated for lifting the charter school cap,
increasing online learning, and expanding school vouchers. Operating under the assumption that
market-based school reforms are the panacea of the supposed “crisis” in public
education, Dwyer — with masters degrees in public policy and journalism —
purported that “the main goal of any reforms should be to allow students in
Chicago’s lowest-performing elementary and high schools to leave their schools
immediately.” That is, education reform
ought not attempt at mending areas of public schooling that need to be
addressed; rather, the goal of any reform ought to lead to an abandoning of
local public schools – as opposed to addressing the school-based or systemic
issues that cause poor performance.
The assumption
that schools fail due to a lack of competition and thereby create a dichotomy
of “good” schools where students succeed and “bad” schools where students fall
behind is the typical ideology and rhetoric of pro-privatization
reformers. Though, on the face of it, it
is hypocritical to suggest that injecting market-competition reforms into schools will
somehow create level playing fields and equitable outcomes. By definition, competition requires winners
and losers.
Thus, the
“honking” that we will likely hear from ECI’s new Policy Advisory Board will
all sound the same as they fly in formation towards privatizing education by
promoting more charters and more vouchers – all of which “flies” in the face of
real evidence.
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