Diary of a Mad Voter: A tough choice on schools

My youngest daughter is on a waitlist to a top early childhood education program until next October. My husband and I are willing to wait because we're confident she'll thrive there. Still, we find ourselves troubled. The reason: She's already waiting in line, but hasn't even been born yet.

Optimistic about her future, I must concede I'm also a little scared about the world she'll live in. Could people really be putting their children on school waiting lists three months before they are even conceived? If only we hadn't waited until the second trimester.
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Not that we didn't have fair warning. More than a year ago, as we began to look at preschool for our oldest daughter, now a toddler, we ran into the stiffest of competition. After one top school's waiting list hit 700 children, administrators stopped taking names.

Fortunately, we weren't out of luck completely. After several months on a waiting list at the same school we hope our youngest daughter will attend, we gained admission.

But now, as we've mastered getting in to a top preschool in a large city, we're back to the drawing board. We must plan for kindergarten.

As we've recently learned, the rules are a little more sophisticated and the stakes are a lot higher. One in four Denver families opt out of public schools and we're beginning to learn why.

While liberal lawmakers love to paint such families as elitists, the truth is clearly not that simple. As Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, eloquently put it recently, many lawmakers seem to favor "school choice for me, not for thee."

A 2007 Heritage survey found that 37 percent of U.S. Congressman and 45 percent of senators send their children to private schools—rates three to four times greater than that of ordinary American families.

Colorado's Democratic legislators and teachers' unions actively fight school choice efforts. Earlier this year, House Education Chair Mike Merrifield got into hot water and was forced to resign his chairmanship after saying there was a "special place in hell" for charter school parents and those seeking other educational options, including publicly-funded scholarships for low-income students seeking escape from failing public schools.

Those like Merrifield continue to fight school choice efforts despite overwhelming evidence that it helps everyone—including children from our most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Public charter schools in Denver's mostly Hispanic west Denver neighborhoods are thriving. Just a few years ago, these neighborhoods were bleeding students to better districts; today, they have parents begging for admission.

Jessica Peck Corry is a public policy analyst with the Independence Institute.

Like many Denver families, my husband and I face a difficult decision. Do we send our daughters to the mediocre public school located just blocks from our house, or instead, do we continue to pay property taxes to fund this school, while also somehow finding a way to finance tuition at one of Denver's elite private schools?

The truth is that my husband and I would love to send our daughters to our neighborhood public school, but a recent look at test scores proved devastating to this idea. Nearly half the school's children function below grade level when it comes to math, reading, and science.

We've also considered moving a few blocks east so we can live in the "good" district, where student performance indicators are nearly twice as high.

But can we afford this? For the same house we're living in now, we'd likely pay 30 to 50 percent more on our mortgage every month. At play dates these days, parents lament "you either pay it in your mortgage or you pay it in tuition." But even if we scale back and are lucky enough to find a less expensive house in the better district, we'd still run the risk of being waitlisted.

One of my former neighbors made the move, but was shocked when she learned her children will have to wait at least a year before they can be admitted.

After another neighbor cautioned us that many private schools begin interviewing for kindergarten admission more than a year in advance, we realized that we have only a matter of months before we'll have to begin preparing for the process of school tours, open houses, and lengthy applications. The hunt is on. But the process makes applying for college look like a walk in the park.

One school for "gifted" children asks the following questions: What was your child's Apgar score (based on a test that evaluates a newborn's health, breathing, and heart rate) one minute after birth? Was there exposure to radiation during pregnancy? Was there any alcohol consumed post-conception?

Literally, the process of judging children at this school begins before they are even born. And the poor mothers—how does the woman who enjoyed a couple glasses of wine (with her doctor's okay) during pregnancy answer the question about alcohol? What if she had an x-ray after a fall during the second trimester? Do "yes" answers mean her child won't get in? Is there any hope?

So we looked at other schools, including a top Catholic school located within walking distance of our home. The application clearly (and understandably) gives strong preference to Catholic families. My husband grew up Presbyterian and I grew up in the Church of Christ. Does this mean our girls will miss out?

Now well into the process of investigating schools, we have settled on three or four top choices. The average tuition for full-day kindergarten starts at about $15,000—more than three years of my college tuition and almost as much as what I paid for my master's degree from a private university five years ago. Forget about the college fund, why didn't anyone tell us to invest in a kindergarten fund?

I'm quickly learning that our situation is not unique. Many of Denver's middle class families are finding themselves similarly positioned.

Two years ago, my husband and I left the quiet tranquility of the suburbs to take the plunge on life in one of downtown's original neighborhoods.

We fell in love with our 110-year-old house, the tree-lined streets, and ultimately, the urban chaotic community that we both secretly missed after tenures on the East Coast. From the moment we arrived, we knew we were supposed to be here. We loved the idea of our children growing up in a neighborhood like this. It would foster their curiosities and build their sense of independence. But what is all of this worth if they can't get a quality formal education?

My husband and I are products of quality public schools. He got a great education while growing up in a Midwest college town; my experience, however, was only salvaged due to the tenacity of my parents. After they realized that the neighborhood school my brother, sisters, and I were attending was failing us, they looked for options. Private school tuition was out of the question.

After years languishing on a waitlist for a top alternative public school, we got in. We thrived. The Jefferson County school led the state in test scores, graduation rates, and all other performance indicators. Many of my classmates' parents bragged about putting them on the waitlist on the way home from the hospital.

My husband and I dream of having three or four children, but could we ever possibly afford $60,000 a year in private school tuition? Likely not. Should we pack it up and move to a better—and less expensive—school district in the suburbs? We're reluctant to leave our neighborhood, knowing our children would miss out on the positive life experiences that will define their lives here.

Good schools aren't just talking points for America's families. Politicians should stop reading from the script of teachers' unions and start listening to parents. We'll do whatever it takes to save our kids from failing schools. Who can blame us?

Editor’s note: Jessica Peck Corry's weekly blogs are part of a new feature on The Denver Post's PoliticsWest.com site called "Diary of a Mad Voter." The group blog, published in partnership with NewWest.Net/Politics, is intended to give a glimpse into the hearts and minds of several independent-minded voters and thinkers in the Rocky Mountain West in the '08 election cycle. Check back regularly at www.politicswest.com for "Diary of a Mad Voter."

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