The Rise of School Choice in Education Funding Reform: An Analysis of Two Policy Moments. (March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Windle, Joel
• Other Names: Lubienski Christopher guest-editor.; Scott Janelle guest-editor.; DeBray Elizabeth guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Educational policy. Volume 28:Number 2(2014:Mar.)
• Page Start: 306
• Page End: 324
• Publication Date: 2014-03
• Subjects: educational equity -- educational policy -- educational reform -- policy formation -- politics of education -- top-down reform -- social justice -- public education -- private education -- policy makers; Education and state -- United States -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; 379.2
• DOI: 10.1177/0895904813513151
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0895-9048

Abstract

This article contributes to the analysis of the global spread of support for school choice and to the understanding of how a particular form of policy development reflects and cements this support. It maps the growing dominance of school choice within a reconfiguration of politics, policy making, and research. To establish the nature of this reconfiguration, a comparison is made between the Karmel Review, which established systematic federal government intervention in Australian schooling, and the Gonski Review. The analysis traces a move away from a social-democratic model built around an autonomous and representative government authority in which educational research was broadly writ, to a neoliberal model under direct government control, drawing selectively on a cast of corporate consultants and technocrats. I conclude with a consideration of the wider implications of the dominance of school choice as a paradigm for funding reform.