The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), December 1, 2007

Don't Confine Students To Low-performing Schools; Empower Parents, Regardless Of Income, With Choices

Imagine opening the door to a new, $451,000 home in Lake Elsinore. That hefty price tag represents the community's median home price. But at least that means a great neighborhood. And half a million dollars surely guarantees access to a good public school system. Right?

Not really. At one local high school, Temescal Canyon, just 36 percent of 11th-graders achieved proficiency in English on the California Standards Test in 2006. And just 18 percent achieved proficiency on the algebra II exam.

With results like that, a half-million dollars doesn't seem like such a good investment. Throughout California, such school-performance results have become too common. Even in the most posh ZIP codes, the state's public schools are failing to provide students with a satisfactory education.

Question "Distinguished" Label

The data are shocking. At more than one in 10 affluent California public schools, a majority of students in at least one grade level scores below proficiency in English or math. Nationwide, six in 10 nonpoor fourth- and eighth-graders in public schools score below proficiency in math and reading.

Unfortunately, Riverside County's schools typify this trend. At Corona's Santiago High, a California Distinguished School in 2005, just 35 percent of 11th-graders achieved proficiency on the state English exam in 2006. And a minuscule 10 percent of the 732 students taking the Early Assessment Program were deemed ready for college-level English.

With the Corona's median home prices near $540,000, parents of Santiago students should ask whether such underperforming schools justify their staggering mortgage payments.

At Martin Luther King Jr. High in Riverside -- another California Distinguished School in 2005 -- just 51 percent of 11th-graders achieved proficiency on the 2006 California Standards Test for English. And only 20 percent of those taking the Early Assessment Program were labeled "ready" for college-level English.

And remember Temescal Canyon High? That too was a California Distinguished School, in 2007. With such poor test scores, one must wonder how California decides which schools should be labeled as "distinguished."

The schools cited above don't fit our preconceived notions of failing institutions. Less than one-third of the students are poor, and very few are nonnative English-speakers or disabled. Many parents have advanced degrees. And most -- if not all -- teachers are certified. In other words, despite the conventional wisdom, low-performing schools aren't just an inner-city problem.

Fuel Academic Competition

Fortunately, there is a solution. It starts with breaking the geographically enforced monopoly on public schooling. Let all California parents, regardless of income or address, choose their children's schools. Such freedom would also introduce some much-needed competition into the educational system, pressuring underperforming schools to shape up or lose students.

School-choice programs would expand the educational opportunities for all students without putting parents -- or state governments -- in the poorhouse. Given the skyrocketing cost of homes in Riverside County and the subpar performance of many of its schools, it's high time for school choice here and throughout California.

Vicki E. Murray is a senior policy fellow in education studies and Lance T. Izumi is director of education studies, at the Pacific Research Institute.