Guest Columnist
This year marks the 20th anniversary of when the United States created the holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., our nation’s greatest civil rights leader and freedom fighter. Unfortunately, freedom is far from our conversation when we talk about educating African-American children in St. Louis.
State Rep. Maria Chapelle-Nadal threw freedom out the window when she made remarks about House Bill 639 in what seems like an attempt to heighten her own political stature. She suggested that the bill would abandon the school district, but in reality the bill will do exactly the opposite.
Not only does the bill provide support for the school districts, it also provides assistance for low-income families – only low-income families. Rep. Nadal is incorrect in her statement that the bill serves upper- and mid-income families.
But what is most troubling is the amount of energy we spend talking about our education problems. Dr. King was a man of action. In his time, people rolled up their selves and created solutions for the community’s issues. We constantly keep discussing reforming the school district, building better educational facilities, balancing the budget, but what about educating the children? As well as raising the scores of black and brown children who come from impoverished conditions and whose families have little resources or opportunities? It’s a known fact that you have a choice of schools for your children, if you have money.
I’m confident that Dr. King would have wanted us to focus on empowering individuals, not marrying ourselves to systems. His message was about consistent change and growth to become real stakeholders in America. We will not see that level of growth collectively, if we continue to do things the same way. It is a tragedy that the mental murder of thousands of black children is occurring across America as we speak and we waste our time arguing over the delivery mechanisims.
If our children can learn better with a choice of public schools, non-public schools, Montessori, or religious schools, why do we care about which mechanism is used? The answer is simple, we don’t.
Most parents only want the best opportunities for their children. I’ve never met a parent who said that even though my child is failing in their current school, I’m going to continue letting them fail because I have an allegiance to their school. Parents want better solutions for their children.
School Choice Missouri has and will continue to support educational options for low-income families. We seek to provide parents with the opportunity to receive scholarships for private schools as well as funding for improved public schools, charter schools, tutorials/after school programs, etc. We only aspire to alleviate the terrible conditions the majority of our children face in urban America.
In addition, this is not a movement rooted by the usual suspects, with the usual ideas and the usual outcomes. These are our children, and it is our fight. Let’s collectively create better circumstances for them “by all means necessary.”
As our state looks for ways to provide scholarships for low-income families who need other educational opportunities, I invite everyone to find out about school choice for yourself, make up your own mind, think about what kind of choices you would want for your own children or grandchildren. Then ask the question: why would anyone, particularly a Black Caucus member, oppose this movement toward freedom?
Donayle Whitmore-Smith is director of School Choice Missouri.