Choice does improve schooling

Massively increased choice and resulting competition improve schooling correspondingly. In contrast to the relatively small scale of present U.S. choice programs, Sweden, perhaps surprisingly, provides an excellent example. In 1993, the Swedish government required that all school districts fund schools of choice at a per-student rate of 85 percent of the per-student cost of regular public schools.

Tuition charges were eliminated, new educational standards established, and an open admission policy accepted students of varying ability, ethnicity and socioeconomic level. Sweden's nationwide choice program was a rousing success in terms of achievement and parental satisfaction.

Parents have the incentives and information to choose schools for their children just as they choose their names, food and physicians. There seem to be no good reasons why they cannot and should not choose their children's schools.

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Herbert J. Walberg is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution; a member of Hoover's Koret Task Force on K12 Education; and University Scholar and research professor emeritus of education and psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Readers may write to the author at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010; Web site: www.hoover.org. For information about the institution's funding, please go to www-hoover.stanford.edu/Main/brochure/finances.html.