The Parental Choice Fallacy in Education Reform Debates

Some tout parental school choice as a strategy for promoting, among other school-related goods, educational innovation. This Article offers clarifying and skeptical thoughts about that position. It first explains what “educational innovation” and “parental choice” mean. It then considers what limitations on this strategy might arise from existing legal regulations, from market forces, or from ethical obligations to children. Finally, the Article explains why parental choice is also unlikely to improve education for the children most in need of a better academic environment and suggests an alternative approach to student reassignment that is much more likely to do so.