Reposted from TennEconomics-Legislative Report

The City Paper discussed the emergence of education in the Nashville mayoral race.

If a casual observer were to listen to the collective political pitches of the Metro mayoral field they might mistake this summer’s election as an old-fashioned school superintendent campaign.

Clement, Dean, Gentry, Briley and the rest offer up the usual…
… smaller class sizes, higher teacher pay, public-private partnerships etc. In other words, they want to spend more money. Dean doesn’t want to “throw money at the problem of low-performing schools.” He wants to “wisely invest it.” Whatever.

Buck Dozier’s plan though is substantially and qualitatively different. His Athens Project will seek to raise $1 billion for an endowment to help fund education. That is bold and ambitious. Here is why I think the Athens Project can be successful - Dozier’s plan is far more comprehensive.

It embraces genuine reform. As such it has the potential to capture the imagination of those with the ability to contribute.

“A key success to learning starts with parental buy-in to their child’s education. One way I see to ensure greater buy-in is to give parents real options for schooling,” Dozier said in a speech last December.

He’s right. Parental involvement is crucial. Dedicated and well-trained teachers who teach smaller classes aren’t enough. The best way to get parents involved is by providing them options.

“I am 100 percent behind choice; charter schools, home schooling are some of the … aspects of choice in our community. … I welcome quality alternatives to public education. I don’t see them as a threat to public education at all. They actually enhance the learning environment in Nashville,” he said this week.

Choice in education is not a conservative idea. It is not a liberal idea. It represents a systemic reform that is missing from all the other candidates’ plans. Good teachers should embrace it (expect the teachers’ unions to howl in protest). Parents should embrace it. The business community and interested citizens without children should embrace enhanced opportunity through expanded choice (don’t expect the Tennessean to embrace it but the City Paper might).

There are over 70,000 children in Metro schools, half of whom are “at-risk.” Any policy that does not include enhanced choice is not worth the paper it is written on.