Keith Gambill: School choice is a lie. Parents know it.

Should parents be able to use state money to educate their children in any way they want?

Parents with older kids universally remember the pride and unease of dropping off their child on the first day of kindergarten. Their backpacks a bit too large and overly stuffed with colorful boxes of washable markers and crayons, tissues, glue sticks and maybe a note of encouragement tucked inside their lunch container from Mom or Dad.

Letting go of their little hand, ushering them through the door and turning to walk away wondering if they’ll be OK, if their teacher will be nice, if they’ll make friends, if, if, if. Parents place the utmost trust in teachers, bus drivers and school administrators to ensure their child is safe, supported and surrounded by quality and caring educators.

Parents want what’s best for their kids. And for too long, some politicians and corporate outsiders have siphoned billions of taxpayer dollars into funding unaccountable and low-performing charters and private schools. There is zero statistical evidence that voucher programs improve overall student success, and some programs have even shown to have a negative effect for students receiving a voucher. School choice is a lie. And parents know it.

A recent Indiana Department of Education and Gallup survey showed that 88% of Hoosier parents are satisfied with the quality of their child’s school. Nearly 80% are pleased with the curriculum and classroom content. And their highest priority for their kids is academic achievement.

But rather than prioritize public schools—where 90% of Hoosier kids attend—politicians and outside special interest groups continue to perpetuate the myth that public schools aren’t cutting it and that parents should look elsewhere for their students’ learning.

But what parents are they talking to? Not parents of transgender kids. Not parents of kids with special needs. Not parents from marginalized communities. Vouchers have been shown to not support students with disabilities, to fail to protect the human and civil rights of students and to exacerbate segregation.

No matter where we live or what we believe, we all want our children to succeed. But many students are denied opportunities because their schools and communities are underfunded and under-resourced. Parents don’t want to pull their kids out of public schools. They want their community-based public schools to be well-funded, well-resourced places where their kids can thrive.

Educational opportunity does not come from a program that takes public money to support schools that can discriminate and indoctrinate. It comes from a robust system of public schools that can provide a free, quality education to students from all religions and all backgrounds.

There is a decades-long effort by certain politicians to undermine public education by offering paltry wages, diminishing respect for educators and denying educators autonomy to make teaching decisions. Let’s stop diminishing the teaching profession and pulling resources away from our schools. Let’s focus on ensuring our kids have the best chance to succeed. That’s what all Hoosier kids deserve.•

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Gambill is a middle school music and drama teacher in Evansville and the Indiana State Teachers Association president. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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