A Massachusetts Teacher Strike and School Choice

​A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed made the case for school choice as an antidote to “illegal work stoppages” in the educational system.
 
In January, the Newton Teachers Association in Massachusetts staged a walkout in pursuit of higher pay, despite earning an average of more than $93,000 per employee (8 percent higher than the average statewide salary). The work stoppage left 12,000 Newton schoolchildren abandoned for weeks, with courts attempting in the interim to enforce a 1973 law prohibiting Massachusetts public employees from striking.
 
The Journal contends that making per-pupil spending directly available to parents and children to choose their own educational paths will disincentivize disruptions like the one that took place in Newton. That is doubtlessly true. For our part, Protect The 1st values school choice not for any operational or political reason, but because it substantiates the guarantees of the First Amendment. It permits parents, religious or nonreligious, conservative or liberal, to find schools that best fit the values they want to pass on to their children.
 
Research proves that school choice brings powerful improvements in academic results and in children’s lives. It empowers parents and it challenges public schools to do better. That is why school choice is sweeping the nation, with 10 states passing universal school choice since 2021 and many others creating education savings accounts that allow public funds to follow the child.
 
The school choice movement would do well to steer clear of any hint of union-busting (which itself implicates First Amendment rights to free association). Instead, let’s look at the measurable benefits over time – not least of which is allowing parents to pass down their values and children to achieve excellence. Such a change would not only be in the best interests of parents and their children. It would be in the enlightened self-interest of teachers themselves, offering many new opportunities for flourishing careers.