Nancy steps up

In a scathing condemnation of the PPS' school board's inaction on the glaring educational inequities that exist between the district's wealthy and poor schools, Nancy Smith (my proposed board replacement for the departing Dan Ryan) takes head on the sacred cow of school choice.  Here's a excerpt from her post at PPS Equity:

"The district’s rationale? Changing these policies would result in removing 'choice'. However, it is disingenuous, hypocritical and indefensible to justify policies under the guise of 'choice' when these policies simultaneously remove 'choice' from our most vulnerable students."

I've been making the same argument for some five years now:  School choice, a market based solution to the perceived mediocrity of our public schools, along with the choice-enabling district transfer policy, benefits only the creme de la creme of Portland's student population, the ones most likely to succeed regardless of what school they attend.  The remainder --the poor and the disadvantaged-- are left behind in schools with falling enrollments and fewer curricular offerings. 

That's no way to run a "public" school district.

So I say Bravo! to Nancy Smith.  And I urge all of you to back her (or Steve Buel --either would add a much needed voice for change to a stagnant board) to serve the remaining year of Dan Ryan's term.