KINDER'S COMMENTARY: SCHOOL CHOICE IS KEY ISSUE IN SEVERAL GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS

In the Nov. 3 elections, among the issues being fought over is the issue of parental freedom to choose your children's schools.

The list of gubernatorial candidates who support school choice is substantial. Here are some, with school choice backers listed first:

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who backs vouchers, is opposed by Bill Bristow (D). California Attorney General Dan Lungren (R), a strong voucher supporter, is opposed by Lt. Gov. Gray Davis (D). In Colorado, State Treasurer Bill Owens (R), who supports tuition tax credits, faces Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler.

In Florida, businessman Jeb Bush (R), a charter-school pioneer and longtime voucher supporter, faces Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay (D). In Illinois, Secretary of State George Ryan (R) recently announced his support for tuition tax credits in his race against U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard (D). In Maine, where former U.S. Rep. James Longley (R), calls for "earnest discussion regarding the merits" of genuine school choice, he faces Gov. Angus King (D).

In Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Norm Coleman (R), who pledges to expand that state's pathbreaking tax credit and deduction program for educational expenses, faces Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III (D). In New Hampshire, Jay Lucas (R), a school choice supporter, is challenging Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D). In New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (R), who strongly favors school choice, is challenged by Martin Chavez (D).

In Oregon, Bill Sizemore (R), a school choice backer, is challenging Gov. John Kitzhaber (D). Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), who has fought many battles for school choice, faces state Assemblyman Ivan Itkin (D). And in Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R), a longtime backer of the expanded Milwaukee Parental Choice Program -- one of America's first beachheads in the long-running battle for school choice -- is challenged by Garvey Lawton (D).

Any who doubt the world is changing, check Illinois. GOP Secretary of State Ryan pocketed the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association, then backed tuition tax credits for families with children in private schools anyway. IEA spokesmen, who normally would denounce any such move as "destroying the public schools," noted their disagreement on this issue and nonetheless still back Ryan. Paper tiger, anyone?

This year could mean almost as much for school choice as did 1994's historic GOP landslides. Of that year it could be said that not a single candidate favoring school choice lost on that issue anywhere in the nation. If a Wall Street Journal forecast of 35 Republican governors is even close, the political environment for school choice will improve still further, and 1998 will be the year when momentum for parental freedom in education became irreversible.

The outcomes of at least two Missouri Senate races may result in a net shift of as many votes favoring school choice in that 34-member chamber. And this after recent years have already seen majority Senate votes favoring tuition tax deductions for parents with children in private and parochial schools.

And what of Missouri, on a statewide basis, which for interesting historical and religious reasons is one of the half-dozen toughest states for school choice backers?

Coming, in 2000: a hoped-for showdown, in the governor's race, over the rights of Show Me State parents to choose their children's schools, between a Republican champion of choice and a Democratic defender of the status quo.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.