School of government at Harvard University, secretary devos sits down with professor Paul Peterson and takes questions from the audience. [ applause ] good evening, everyone. Im the academic dean of the Harvard Kennedy school. Tonight, we are joined by a professor and a very special guest to explore the critical question of how to improve our Education System. In particular, should we address the challenges of our Education System by shifting resources from School Districts to parents by giving them tax dollars to choose whether to send their children to Public Schools, Charter Schools, or private . This is the latest chapter in a debate thats been going on for some time. Milton friedman developed the idea of choice in his 1955 essay the role of government in education. Policymakers, including our guests here tonight, developed these programs into experiments in the 80s and 90s. Given that this debate has been going on for more than 06 years, why did 1900 people sign the Facebook Page to protest tonights event . The controversy surrounding this forum reflects large and profound divisions in american politics and society today. This country is more divided now than its been in many decades. Many people on all sides feel fearful and deeply threatened. For educators, this is an especially sad moment, because its made many people stop listening to each other. In this time of division, what we need most is to listen and understand one another instead of circling the wagons into our own echo chamber. The Kennedy School is all about understanding differences and building bridges, but creating an inclusive space is now difficult because many people from all sides would rather shut each other down rather than hear what one another are saying. Im sure many people followed the controversy over Colin Kaepernick and the others who have been kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. What are they saying . From the farms of virginia to the halls of philadelphia to the fields at gettysburg the idea that we are all created equal is the deepest of american aspirations. These americans in silently kneeling remind our fellow citizens how were all falling short of that ideal because some of us are imprisoned or killed at hutch meijer rates than others. Yet many view their very speech as unamerican. Many people on the left side of the political spectrum are also feeling fear and threats that prevents them from listening to other views. We have seen students and activists shut down conservative speakers at several College Campuses over the past year. Shutting people down is contrary to the values of this space in the Harvard Kennedy school. Here we encourage the exchange of ideas and different viewpoints. Even if we do not agree especially if we do not agree it is important to hear and allow others in attendance to listen and speak as well. The practice of our forum and ask these principals by giving speaker an opportunity to articulate their views and insisting they take questions from you, the audience. People will have an opportunity to ask questions in the last portion of tonights event. I will ask the Harvard University police to escort from the forum anyone who prevents others from speaking by disrupting this event. Our practice of dialogue is critical. When you prevent others from speak or hearing disagreeable views or when you refuse to be challenged it means you have so sure that youre right and so sure they are wrong that you have nothing to learn from them, but on an issue like School Choice how can anyone be so sure of themselves . When we look back years from now we might see School Choice as, the south side of chicago or detroit michigan. It enables them to escape Failing Schools and seize the opportunity for a better life. School choice might enable educators to the widest array of opportunities for students. On the other hand we may come to see that School Choice became a way to exploit uninformed parents that sent children to private schools while enriching the operators of those schools. Still worse, we may come to see a misguided effort to abandon s the dreams of jefferson for a system of Common Schools in which americans from all backgrounds learn how to be citizens of a successful republic together. I do not presume to know how the future will judge us on this question or so many others. I do think that looking at the evidence there help us all reach a better future. Evidence about what kinds of public and pry strike that school arrangements were. He is Senior Editor. Paul peterson is director of education and governor. He is a Senior Editor of education next, a great journal of education policies. He is a member of the American Academy of arts and sciences. And the National Academy of education. Hes written many, many books, including saving schools to virtual learning, school politics, chicago style, and city limits, which is a study of urban politics and policies. Elizabeth devos is the 11th secretary of education of the united states. Shes been involved in politics and education policy for more than 30 years in her home state of michigan and nationwide. In an interview she recounted how she first got engaged with education issues in a visit to pot elses house Christian School in grand rapids. There she saw a school that managed to create a safe, warm, and rich Educational Learning environment for many lowincome children. She started helping individual students with tuition, then supporting the school itself, which her family still does through their philanthropy. This grew into a larger effort to provide a scholarship fund. And then she pursued this commitment to choice in the Public Policy domain, working to pass michigans First Charter School law in 1993. Then, as now, she seeks to transform Education Systems to provide such choices for parents and students broadly. Her advocacy has drawn fierce criticism. The New York Times wrote its hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from Public Schools than betsy devos. Her Senate Confirmation vote to become education secretary could not have been closer. It was split 50 50 with Vice President pence breaking the tie. So we have a lot to talk about and controversial issues. Ill be returning later to moderate the question and answer period. For now please welcome Paul Peterson and secretary elizabeth devos. [ applause ] thank you for the kind introduction and thank you for the opportunity to be here at the Kennedy School. Truly one of the gems of post secondary education. Professon peterson, i look forward to our conversation, but i first want to recognize the significance and influential contribution to the advancement of School Choice youve made over the years. Through both the program on education policy and governance here at harvard and education next, few scholars have left such indelible fingerprints on this critical conversation. Thank you for continuing to facilitatitate that dialogue. And a special thanks to the president for her decade of leadership at one of americas finest institutes of higher learning. I wish her nothing but the best. Here in cambridge, there are many great people working on many great ideas to better the lives of all americans and people across the globe. Thats been the case for a very long time. Your graduates have gone on to shape culture and society, create new businesses and new technologies to help cure diseases and lead governments at all levels around the globe. Its a privilege to be here at the Kennedy School. I dont want to talk about my edge, but president john f. Kennedy is the first president i can remember. I do know that president kennedy understood the proper role of the states, and once warned that every time we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders and shift that problem to the hands of the government, we are sacrificing the liberties of our people. President kennedy had it right then. And despite the fact that we have all too often disregarded his observations, hes still right today. One of the many pernicious effects of the growth of government is people worry less and less about each other. Thinking their worries are now in the hands of socalled experts in washington. Theres perhaps no better example than our current Education System. Many inside and outside of government insist the government system is best equipped to educate children. In that fantasy scenario, the state replaces the family. The schoolhouse becomes a home, a and the child becomes a constituent. Not too long ago, the American Federation for teachers tweeted at me. The union wrote betsy devos says public should invest in individual students. No, we should invest in a system of great Public Schools for all kids. The union bosses made it clear, they care more about a system created in the 1800s than they do about students. Their focus is on school buildings, instead of school kids. Isnt education supposed to be about kids . Education is an investment in individual students. Thats why funding and focus should follow the student, not the other way around. Ive been on the job now for some time. And i came into office with a core belief. It is the inalienable right and responsibility of parents to best choose the learning environment that meets their childs needs. Im more convinced of that today. This symposium rightly squs us to consider the future of School Choice. But the current reality is, the vast majority of futures in America Today are less to chance, not to choice. The world got to see what many of us already knew in the film waiting for superman. Parents who want to free their child from a Failing School are sometimes allowed by the system to enter a lottery for only a few seats in a different school. Even today, thousands of children compete for a limited number of openings. As if children were part of a bingo game. I suggest that any sycophant of the system or skeptic of choice visit one of these lotteries. Watch the faces of these parents, many of whom are struggling to get by every day. Watch their faces hidden in their hands or covered in tears because they didnt win new future for their son or daughter. This scene is heart wrenching, and its down right disgraceful. Childrens futures arent to be gambled. There are too many kids trapped in a school that doesnt meet their needs. There are too many parents who are denied the fundamental right to decide the best way to educate their child. Its what makes me so passionate about change thing paradigm once and for all. Now, ive been called the School Choice secretary by some. I think its meant as an insult. But i wear it as a badge of honor. So lets talk for a moment about what choice really is. School choice. Defenders of the system would have you believe it means vouchlers, right . And Charter Schools, private schools or maybe even religious schools. It means taking money from Public Schools. No accountability, no standard, the wild west, the market run amok. Theyve done a mighty fine job setting the scene for that house of horrors in the press. They did so by trying to paint an indelible line, forcing a false dichotomy. If you support giving parents any options, any say, you must therefore be dopposed to Public Schools, Public Schoolteachers and Public School students. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Think about who. Yes, who. Probably a good time to think about it since its just about dinnertime. Like education, we all need food to grow and thrive. But we dont all want or need the exact same thing at the exact same time. What tastes good to me may not taste good to you. Whats working for me right now might not work a few years from now. Accordingly, we choose how to get best get the food that meets our unique needs. Think about how you eat. You could visit a Grocery Store or a Convenience Store to buy food and cook at home. Or you could visit a restaurant. Maybe a sitdown place or a fast food joint. Maybe a hybrid that combines the best of both. Here at the department of education, there arent many restaurants. But you know what . Food trucks started lining the streets to provide options. Some are better than others. And some are even local restaurants that have added food trucks to their businesses to better feet themeet their custo needs. If you visit a food truck instead of a restaurant, do you hate restaurants . Are you trying to put Grocery Stores out of business . No. You are simply making the right choice for you based on your individual needs at the time. Just as in how you eat, education is not a binary choice. Being for equal access and opportunity, being for choice is not being against anything. Im not for or against any one type, one brand or one breed of School Choice. Im not for any type of school over another. But the definitions we have traditionally worked from have become tools that divide us. Isnt the public made up of students and parents . Isnt public money really their money . Taxpayer money . And doesnt every school aim to serve a public good . A school that prepares its students to lead successful lives is a benefit to all of us. The definition of Public Education should be to educate the public. Thats why we should fight less about the word that comes before school. I suspect all of you here at harvard applied to schools and will take your education and continue to the public good. When you chose to attend harvard, did anyone suggest you were against public universities . No, you sat down and figured out the best fit for you. You compared options and made an informed decision. No one seems to criticize that choice. No one thinks choice in Higher Education is wrong. So why is it wrong in elementary, middle, or high school . Instead of dividing the public when it comes to education, the focus should be on the end, not the means. We should be for students, all students. And thats why im for parents having access to the learning environment thats the right fit for their child. I believe in students, and i trust parents. So with that understanding of choice, what does the future look like . Im not a creature of washington, so im not afraid to say this. We do not know what the future of School Choice looks like. And thats not only something with which im okay. Its something i celebrate and embrace. What this looks like for a famtly in wyoming will be different than a family in indiana decides. States are different, families are dynamic, and children are uniq unique. Each should be free to pursue different avenues that lead each child to his or her fullest future. Thats why i whole heartedly believe the future of choice does not begin with a new federal mandate from washington. That might sound counterintuitive to some. But after eight months in washington, and three decades working in space, i know that washington tries to mandate choice. All well end up with is a mountain of mediocrity, a surge of spending and a bloat of bureaucracy to go along with it. But washington does have an important supporting role to play in the future of choice. We can amplify the voices of those who only want better for their kids. We can assist states who are working to further empower parents and urge those who havent. We dont need a new federal program to administer. Washington, and in particular, the u. S. Department of education, just needs to get out of the way. Thats because the real future of choice, its their futures to shape and its already under way today. I recently went on a tour of the heartland to visit the teachers, parents and students shaping their own futures. I wanted to highlight and learn from innovative educators breaking free of the standard mold to better meet the needs of their students. What i saw was encouraging. Traditional Public Schools, Charter Schools, private schools, parochial schools, home schools, even a high school at a zoo. They were all different. All with unique approaches. But what they all had in common was just that, a deliberate focus on serving their students. And students and parents chose them. What worked in those schools for those students might not work everywhere. And it might not work for you. But it worked for them. And that is the future of School Choice. There was another common characteristic these schools shared. They all embraced doing right by the students without anyone in washington giving them a permission slip to do so. More important ly, without anyoe in washington telling them no. That is also the future of choice. Just as no one school is the right fit for every student, there is no one size fits all from washington, d. C. When it comes