Two Scholars
Aaron J. Griffen, Ph.D. @DrAaronJGriffen 
Responds to
Liv Finne, Esq. @livfinne
Understanding Choice in School Choice​
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In a recent Q/A with Dr. Michael A. Robinson, Founder, and CEO of Forest Of The Rain Productions, on school choice, Liv Finne, Esq. Director of the Center for Education at Washington Policy Center provided several reasons why school choice/charter schools are viable options for parents seeking the best educational outcomes for their children. Dr. Aaron J. Griffen, veteran administrator for Denver Public Schools responded with a question. Below you will find Dr. Griffen's response and Ms. Finne's reply. 

To read the Liv Finne's original Q/A with Dr. Michael A. Robinson, click here.
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Aaron J. Griffen, Ph.D.
Picture@DrAaronJGriffen
 Liv Finne, Esq., ​I still do not see how school choice allows parents to direct school funding. I have been in Colorado for 5 years and have not seen how this happens. If the point is to direct school funding, then school choice is fallible and creates what opponents say is resegregation because even with choice all parents do not benefit due to transportation and other factors. So I would take care to say that parents direct school funding. There are funding formulas at play which direct school funding. This is a message from the Bush playbook. As a parent, I do not want to be treated as a valued customer but as a contributing community member. Treating me like a customer screams capitalism and relegates me to a dollar sign. And per most response to your questions about good parents, those we deem as "bad" are never treated like valuable customers despite them choosing to send their child to that school. 

I am a proponent of choice. I, however, caution any messaging that a parent to choose intends to redirect funding, which is how the point reads. There is a wave of opposition against for-profit charters and charters in general, with the assumption that all charters are for profit. That is not true. In Colorado, there are not supposed to be any for-profit charters: https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-22-education/co-rev-st-sect-22-30-5-104.html 

Despite the successes of public charters, when putting the redirection of funding as a result and intent of school choice, that puts public charters at odds with traditional schools as the charge is that charters are taking away resources. Any argument for public charters should not be that parents get to redirect funding and are thus treated better. That widens the divide that we should be working to close for the sake of all learners and families - not just the ones who exercise choice or attend public charters.​
 Liv Finne, Esq. 
Picture@livfinne
Aaron J. Griffen, Ph.D., Thank you. School choice allows parents to direct public funding to the schools that are the best fit for their children. School choice includes public charter schools. Charter schools are the most significant improvement in public education in 25 years. In Colorado there are 250 public charter schools, serving 120,513 students, 13 percent of the public school population. Because parents are given the choice of choosing a charter school, and to direct their public funding to their choice of school, charter schools respect and engage parents as valued community members and a key player in a student's academic success. Test results show children learn more at Colorado's charter schools than at traditional public schools. Charter schools are a great leap forward for families. 
​https://coloradoleague.org/page/infographics… 

School choice puts parents into the driver's seat. School choice takes the power of school assignment away from unaccountable school bureaucracies and gives it to the parents and families, the people who know their children the best. Colorado does not offer parents scholarships to send their children to private schools, another school choice option. This is a shame because scholarships like these are very helpful to families, especially families who have historically been under-served by traditional schools.

​The point of school choice is to shift power away from monopoly schools to individual families. Charter schools are the leading example of the success of school choice. Today there are 3.2 million students in 7000 public charter schools in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The first charter schools opened in the early 1990s, in Minnesota, and these schools are popular with the public.