Bethany Mandel: Unions, Coming for a Private School Near You
7th August 2020
For the last week, I’ve been lobbying for our local private schools, which have been closed until at least October 1st by the executives in Montgomery County, Maryland. You may have heard about the controversy, which could become a battleground for private school parents across the country.
Last month, the public schools announced that they would not be opening for in-person instruction until at least January. In part as a result of that announcement, their projected enrollments saw a significant drop-off. Local media reported, “MCPS was expecting over 2,500 new students by the end of August. As of July 1, only about 300 K-12 new students had been enrolled.” There’s no word about how many kids who were enrolled have been pulled out, but it’s likely as significant as the lowered projected enrollment numbers. Schools are funded by the number of bodies enrolled, and this exodus is an existential threat to the stability of the public school model.
If private schools opened and offered a refuge for these parents, the public school system would suffer a crushing blackeye, not to mention guarantee their numbers (and cashflow) wouldn’t bounce back whenever schools do reopen. And so, what did the county do? They kneecapped the private schools, declaring that they would not be allowed to reopen until the day after public schools would receive money for an enrolled student. The county hopes that if a family are forced into choosing between online-only options, they’ll choose the school without tuition.