Bellevue public school officials are considering adoption of a program called MindUp, a new social and emotional learning curriculum for middle school students.  MindUp is being promoted by actress Goldie Hawn. She says MindUp is based on her practice of Buddhism and is intended as a way to teach children how to “mindfully” develop their interpersonal skills.

Some parents, however, are uncomfortable with this approach, concerned about introducing religious-based practices in public schools. Regardless of which view may be closer to the truth, MindUp is clearly making some parents angry – which in itself seems unmindful and unkind to me.

My concern is not so much the MindUp proposal, it is more about how unending controversy and parent disappointment seems to be endemic to our system of public education.  If Bellevue school officials decide to adopt MindUp, parents and teachers will quickly discover they are stuck.  Every middle school in Bellevue will have to implement it.

Sure, parents could file lawsuits, launch street protests or work politically to defeat school board members in the next election, but none of these is a very effective way to get involved in your child’s education.  At the same time, as an education researcher, I notice private schools are hardly every embroiled in controversies, let alone a seemingly unending series of lawsuits, strikes and disputes.

Controversy in public education is as common as rain in Seattle.  The root cause of the controversy seems clear – it is the lack of education choice by parents and families.  Students are assigned to schools by zip code and there is often little parents can do about it.  Here is a partial list of education issues over which public school parents have little control:

     Late start school days and early dismissals

     School closures on weekdays

     Strikes that close schools

     Curriculum and lesson plans

     High-stakes testing

     The quality of their child’s teacher

     Disciplinary policy

Parents deserve more options than they are currently allowed in public education.  All children deserve to go to a great school, and all parents, not just those who can afford private schools, deserve to have their views heard and respected.

Parents with education choice, either public or private, find they do not have to wrestle with controversies like MindUp or teacher strikes.  That is why officials in states like Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin and others give parents public school choice.  That is why, when union-called strikes shuttered public schools across the state, charter schools remained open.  And of course private schools stayed open too.

Teachers at private and independent charter schools avoid politics and focus each day at the vital task at hand - educating the children parents have lovingly entrusted to them.

When their assigned public school is not working, because a season of controversy has arrived again, parents should have the option of enrolling their children in a public charter school.  Failing that, since their popularity means most charter schools are over-subscribed, families should be offered an education scholarship of $9,000 (the amount the state spends per-child now) to send their children to a school that works for them.

Only when parents are no longer stuck, and have the voluntary option to send their children, and their education dollars elsewhere will school officials really MindUp and listen to parents.