(From Indystar.com, November 15, 2008)
By RUSS PULLIAM
The ideal, pursued by political and community leaders from a range of backgrounds, is to provide all parents with a choice of schools for their children.
The idea first gained traction in Indianapolis in the early 1990s when then-state Sen. Louis Mahern proposed vouchers for low-income parents in Indianapolis Public Schools district so they could choose a public or private school.
As a candidate for mayor in 1991, Mahern promoted school choice in an uphill race against Republican Steve Goldsmith. He lost to Goldsmith, but his proposition has gained ground since then.
A few years later, the late civic leader J. Patrick Rooney created the CHOICE charitable trust to give several thousand IPS families a private scholarship option.
Then the charter school movement took off, as Democrat Bart Peterson was elected mayor and became the state's most visible sponsor of charter schools.
Now about 7,000 Indianapolis students attend charters, and several hundred more use CHOICE scholarships at private schools.
The remarkable boom in competition in education was the topic of a GEO Foundation luncheon this week featuring Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker. In his first term in New Jersey's largest city, Booker has cut crime dramatically and attracted controversy for supporting charter schools.
He's a key figure in the Democrats for Education Reform organization and sees accountability in education as the next phase of the civil rights movement. "Create consequences to effect change," he said. "I don't care if schools close. Charter schools are working with less money. Whether charter schools or home school or public school, I am wedded to outcomes — high student achievement."
In Indianapolis, educational reform has most directly affected IPS, which has lost its monopoly on low- and middle-income families.
In response to new charter and private options in the city, IPS administrators have created new magnet programs and expanded academic options. The Oaks Academy on the Near Northside is a classical private school that offers Latin in fourth through eighth grades.
IPS now offers Latin in middle schools. "Suddenly, Latin became something to attract people to the magnet schools," said Joanna Taft, an Oaks parent and board members.
The school choice effort has a strong bipartisan slant. Peterson, Mahern and Booker are Democrats. State Sen. Teresa Lubbers, who spearheaded charter school legislation in the General Assembly, is a Republican. So is Greg Ballard, the city's new mayor who is continuing the charter initiative.
The idea isn't to bash public schools. It's to boost through the free market principle of competition the quest for excellence in all education.