LEGISLATORS EYE MORE CHOICES FOR SCHOOLS

Just a few years ago, discussions about school choice in Missouri rarely occurred or didn't last long.

There were only two choices for education: public, which all taxpayers supported, and private, which taxpaying parents supported.

If you lived in a neighborhood and didn't like the school to which your children were assigned, you were welcome to pull them out and send them to a private school. And if you couldn't afford the tuition, tough luck.

That situation led to an underground, third option: lying about where kids live so they could attend schools their parents liked.

The solution is clear and gaining momentum in the Missouri Legislature this year. Parents should be allowed to choose where their children attend school, regardless of neighborhood or finances.

State Sen. Marvin Singleton, R-Joplin, is proposing one of the smartest bills, a measure that would allow choice in school districts that have more than one school serving a grade level. If, for example, a child were assigned to Alma Schrader Elementary School in Cape Girardeau but her parents prefer Franklin Elementary School because of the convenience, curriculum or staff, the girl could switch.

That sort of competition could help all public schools rise to their highest level of achievement.

Singleton also wants charter schools in every town, not just St. Louis and Kansas City, where they're allowed under a 1998 state law.

Charter schools operate with taxpayer money but without many public-school regulations, which frees them to try new methods of teaching, alternate curricula and extended school days. State universities must approve them, but Singleton's proposal would allow voters to decide if they want charter schools in their districts.

A third bill, this one sponsored by state Rep. David Reynolds, D-Florissant, would lift the section of the state Constitution that bans parochial schools from receiving taxpayer dollars. He says he wants the schools to be able to tap into public funds for safety improvements.

The Constitutional change also could be the first step toward private-school vouchers -- state-paid tuition to private and religious schools.

It's high time the legislature began to look seriously at school choice instead of being satisfied with the status quo of public schools for some and private schools for others. The state's children deserve the best our education system has to offer, and who better to decide what that is than concerned parents?