School Choice Is Good Medicine

Whether Scholarships or Politics, Children Must Be the Focus

By James Leininger, M.D.

I have never made a secret about what motivates me politically: the need to improve the lives of poor children in Texas.

As an emergency room doctor, I saw too many children pass through our doors whose lives had gone horribly wrong. All too often, they were kids without hope; kids who had fallen through the cracks despite generous public and private efforts.

My colleagues and I could help mend their bodies, but their real needs went far deeper than the best surgeon could ever provide.

Almost 15 years ago I read about a private scholarship program helping kids out of bad schools in bad neighborhoods in Indianapolis. I thought, “That’s the answer!” That summer we offered 1,000 scholarships to low income children in San Antonio. The first week we saw more than 6,000 applications from desperate parents.

Because we have been blessed with financial resources, my wife and I knew we needed to help as many children as possible. With the help of other generous, caring people we created a $50 million scholarship program in San Antonio’s Edgewood School District, one of the worst school districts in Texas at that time. Inspired by competition, that district, which had three failing campuses, had no failing schools two years later and the entire district improved to a “recognized” rating by TEA for the first time in their history. This greatly benefited even those students who chose to remain in the public school system.

The results? Absolutely incredible! While the drop-out rate in many Texas inner-city schools is 50 percent or more we have never had a single scholarship student drop out. These scholarships are only available to economically-at-risk students, yet more than 95 percent have gone on to college on their own, with no financial assistance from the program. No other educational program has ever achieved such stunning results.

In many ways, this has been the most meaningful experience of my life. Like saving a life in the emergency room, helping families save children trapped in failing and sometimes dangerous schools is incredibly rewarding. Obviously, children who succeed academically are far less likely to be victimized, to fall into gangs, or become burdens on society.

But there are so many more Texas children still desperately in need of help. This is why I am so engaged politically. It should not be only wealthy parents who enjoy the choice of where to best educate their children. Every single school year that passes waiting for glacial improvements in public schools see thousands more futures lost.

Giving parents the option of choosing a better school is opposed by defenders of the status quo in the legislature who prefer tiny steps, approved by teachers unions, then tweaked by bureaucrats and watered down by administrators once passed into law. Even these small improvements take years. Meanwhile it’s kids who suffer.

Children do not have time to wait for a school to improve, let alone an entrenched system to change. They need to be allowed to transfer to a school that will work for them. It doesn’t matter if it is a public or private school; our concern should be that our tax dollars are used to see the child get the best possible education.

We know that when a child doesn’t get an education, every tax dollar expended is wasted. We also know that competition will greatly accelerate improvements in public schools as it has in the District of Columbia, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Florida.

That’s why I work so hard in the political arena. Too much of the focus by special interests in Austin has been about something other than the immediate needs of good kids trapped in failing schools.

My political giving is an open record, as it should be. On the other hand, groups seeking to keep kids trapped in failing schools hide from public view both taxpayer-financed lobby efforts and substantial unreported political spending. The opponents of this common sense proposal to help poor children should stop hiding their income and spending activities from full review. And, the media should scrutinize their efforts as they have mine.

My resolve is firm and my political activities unambiguous: those who support helping the neediest children escape failing schools will receive my support and I will vigorously oppose those who force needy children to be trapped in bad and dangerous schools.

“School choice” is good medicine for Texas’ neediest children, and all taxpayers. It ensures tax dollars go to successfully educating a child. But most importantly, it gives children who are bleeding academically an immediate chance for survival like no other reform.

I’ve seen it work in San Antonio and in other cities across America. Simply put, the success of these forgotten children is vital to Texas’ future. That is why I urge all Texans to demand that their lawmakers give desperate parents a true choice, so they can give their children the chance they deserve.

James Leininger, M.D., founded a medical wound care company in San Antonio and is a retired emergency room physician.

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