School choice debate to resume in Kansas education committee
By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter
TOPEKA — Parents get to choose the tax-supported colleges and universities in which to enroll their children, says one longtime advocate of homeschooling.
So why are there so few choices for public schools? That’s the question asked by Jeff Barclay, pastor at Christ Community Church in Lawrence.
Only 25 of Kansas’ 1,445 public schools are charter schools. The state has an estimated 160 private schools, most of them near the state’s largest population centers in Kansas City or Wichita. Kansas offers no help to parents seeking private school alternatives.
The state Board of Education quietly shelved a proposal in 2006 to provide tax-funded vouchers after school boards and other education groups objected to the plan.
But a proposal to change the makeup of Kansas’ schools may resurface in House Education Committee hearings scheduled this week in Topeka.
Barclay was a teacher, coach and administrator in both public and private schools for nearly 30 years before becoming a full-time pastor. He and his wife, Cindy, homeschooled their six children so they could provide the Christian education they say is missing in public schools.
Homeschooling, private schooling and public schooling — the Barclay children experienced them all as they grew to college age — are all appropriate choices for students and families, Barclay said.
“And I think the competition is good for all of them,” he said. “There’s a reason you see McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken on the same street corners — it’s to give the public a choice.
“I don’t know why we don’t extend that to schools, as well,” he said.
The question is at the heart of a Kansas House Education Committee hearing, scheduled Thursday, to explore ways to offer more educational choices and improve the quality of education students receive, all in the most cost-efficient ways possible.
The Kansas hearings are not formally tied to a National School Choice Week, which runs Jan 22-28 and includes more than 250 events across the nation. For more details click here.
But the hearings are another indicator of growing public interest in the idea, said Andrew Campanella, a national coordinator of School Choice Week activities.
