MINOT, N.D. — “Right-wingers want your tax money to send their kids to private schools,” screams a recent headline over
a recent column from left-wing commentator Mike McFeely
.
A provocative argument, though I had a chuckle at the implication. Given the ideological leanings of most North Dakotans, as measured by decades of election results, we could argue that most tax dollars in our state are paid by “right-wingers.”
The idea of directing tax dollars to private schools is a complicated one. I recently interviewed Nick Archuleta, the president of North Dakota United, the union which represents public workers and teachers in our state, and he made some valid arguments.
Would private schools drain resources away from public schools while not having the same obligation to enroll and educate every child who comes along? Including those with special needs?
What about accountability? Say what you want about the public schools, but if you want to know how much they’re spending on everything from pencils and soccer balls to salaries for administrators, you can.
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Would we get that same sort of transparency for tax dollars sent to private schools?
Our current political moment isn’t very helpful for the school choice argument. Americans are already at war with one another from their respective cultural bubbles. Fox News addicts war with MSNBC and CNN loyalists, often on social media platforms that have deployed algorithms designed to keep us enraged with one another.
Do we want to subsidize yet another avenue to isolate ourselves from each other?
Are we going to end up with right-wing schools, and left-wing schools?
I support school choice policies, but I’ll admit that possibility scares me.
That cranks, such as talk radio host Scott Hennen, who spends his days promoting election conspiracies and selling Mike Lindell’s pillows while being
syndicated by the same company
that
, is a visible promoter of school choice policies in our state isn’t helpful.
Maybe the school choice people should pay him to keep quiet.
Still, school choice policies, despite attempts to paint them as nutty ideas from ideologues, enjoy more support than you may realize.
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It’s hard to find national polling on school choice questions that wasn’t sponsored by an advocacy group, but Gallup
, and found a 59% majority supported “school-choice programs that allow students to attend any private or public school,” a figure that included 74% of Republicans and even 46% of Democrats.
A more recent poll, albeit one sponsored by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice group,
.
Those are strong numbers, though it’s one thing to support a concept, and another to support a concrete piece of legislation that represents real trade-offs and compromises, which is no doubt why school choice policy has struggled to pass here in North Dakota.
Still, it’s a debate worth having, despite the willingness of some to dismiss it out of hand.
Rob Port, founder of SayAnythingBlog.com, is a Forum Communications commentator. Listen to his Plain Talk Podcast and follow him on Twitter at @RobPort. He can be reached via email at rport@forumcomm.com.