here has been a lot of talk about “school privatization” in recent years as certain politicians seem to be amping up attempts to push U.S. education in that direction, but it is a wildly unpopular concept, as far as teachers and student-parents are concerned. This resistance, however, has not stopped or even slowed down attempts to push “school choice” bills through the legislature.
Robyn Hyden, executive director for Alabama Arise, joined The Valley Labor Report last week to give her take on the situation; Hyden is based in Montgomery, Alabama, where “school choice” bills are currently being proposed.
“So far, in Alabama, I have not seen one proposal that has any traction,” Hyden said. “And I think that’s because so many of our lawmakers do represent rural districts, they know how important those public school institutions are to their communities. They know that diverting funds to private schools or charter schools isn’t going to help most of the kids that they represent.”
But this doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t worry about privatization. “We’ve got to be honest about the fact that it’s a real threat,” Hyden clarified. “I don’t think we can relax, I think we have to be really concerned that these types of proposals are really moving ahead in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee.”
But Hyden went on to emphasize the need for communities to keep pushing against school privatization. “So far I’ve been happy to see that most of [our lawmakers] aren’t falling for the lie… [but] we’ve got to keep up the pressure. So many people across our state rely on schools to be stronger… We can’t do that if we’re stealing their money every chance we get.”
Watch the full interview with Alabama Arise’s Robyn Hyden on the Alabama Legislative Session: