The dynamic of school choice improves the whole system because competition favors the
consumer in every market. The market for education is no different.
Competition has certainly improved the products and services of other industries. In
the 1980s, U.S. automobile manufacturers were faced with increasing competition from
Japanese car makers, who produced safer, more efficient, and more reliable products. In
response to losing significant market share, U.S. automobile manufacturers simultaneously
formed partnerships with foreign manufacturers and launched extensive efforts to improve
their products.27 Thus, competition brought about improvement in products
offered by all manufacturers—both national and foreign. Today, U.S. manufacturers
again lead the world in many markets.
Now consider the Lansing School District discussed above. In response to
"losing" 745 students to other districts and charter schools in the 1996-97
year, the Lansing School District is creating more options to offer its residents. The
school district has added a sixth grade to one of its existing elementary schools and
plans to pilot several more K-6 schools in the coming year. In addition, the school
district is considering offering all-day kindergartens in some of its elementary schools.
Finally, in the ultimate tribute to the power of consumer choice, the district has
launched an advertising campaign to showcase its new and improved offerings.28
In the case of the Lansing School District, the exercise of choice options by about 700
students has generated better programs for the over 17,000 who remain in the traditional
schools.29
One of the strengths of parental choice is that—just as a restaurant need not lose
all of its customers before the chef gets the message—even a small number of students
choosing an alternative school can send a powerful message to traditional public school
administrators.
The logic that choice options help even those students who stay in the traditional
public school system is now overwhelming. A recent "Editorial Notebook" column
in The New York Times, subtitled "How Choice Changes Public Schools,"
confirms how even mainstream opinion has been moved by the evidence now at hand:
In Milwaukee, the threat of expanded competition has worked precisely as Milton
Friedman predicted. A system that once treated parents with contempt has begun to answer
their calls and embrace local experiments through a charter school and other partnerships
with community groups. A city that once rebuffed requests for public Montessori schools
now has them. Said John Gardner of the Milwaukee school board: "A system that has
been arrogant and indifferent for 20 years has suddenly got religion." 30
