Rampaging Toward Choice - vouchers and charter schools in Washington, D.C

Reason, Jan, 2000 by Michael W. Lynch

For $4,000 a year, less than half of what the public-school system spends on a student, Nannie Helen Burroughs offers parents classes of no more than 20 kids, classrooms wired for Internet access, a computer center, a library, Bible study, and a plethora of extracurricular activities. Principal Shirley Hayes knows all of the students and their parents. She doesn't test kids for admission, but after the first month of school she meets with all her teachers to discuss how each child is doing. Those who need remediation receive it. Those who need "enhancement"--the current term for working ahead--get that as well. Each student is tested in the spring. In addition, the school's counselor, a retired D.C. government school employee, stands ready to test any child, the results ready the same day, to diagnose any problems.

Hayes, like every other person in this story, is no enemy of public education. She spent much of her life in the city's schools, which she attended as a student and worked in as a teacher for 12 years, then 23 years more as a principal. In 1990, she won a Washington Post award for excellence, which hangs on her wall. After retiring, she took a six-month temporary assignment at Burroughs. That was six years ago.

Seventeen of her 38 staff members are also former government school employees. Says Hayes, "They left because of the bureaucracy, but they still have a desire to teach." With their government pensions, they are able to accept the lower salaries at Burroughs. "Many of my teachers are retired people on annuities," says Hayes. "Private schools don't pay well, so there's a lot of turnover. Mine don't leave."

Turnover may not be a problem for Hayes, but it can be for some scholarship students. Families that hit a tough financial stretch may be forced to remove their kids from private schools. Douglas Dewey, executive vice president of the Children's Scholarship Fund, expects one in six of the program's children to give up the scholarships. Private school principals say the most common reason parents leave is financial.

Bernice Gates, who swore an oath to God and herself that she'll never put her four privately schooled kids back into public schools, was almost forced to do just that earlier this year. Gates moved from her friend's basement, buying a four-bedroom home in Northeast Washington with help from a city government program. Her finances became even tighter, and she fell behind on her tuition payments. She hasn't heard back on a social work job she applied for in the D.C. government schools, and she's currently applying for overtime at her job in the D.C. Department of Health. If that doesn't come through, a noticeably saddened Gates says, she'll try to pick up another part-time job, although it's not clear when she'd have the time to work.

Meanwhile, her three youngest are no longer at Calvary Christian Academy. Having gotten into a financial bind, Gates was forced to move them to a less expensive school, which she says was particularly traumatic for Derek, who'd been in CCA since starting school. She's moved Derek and William to Holy Redeemer, the school that she credits with saving Silky's life.