For all those opponents of school choice who argue about corruption

Despite what some school folks would like to believe, the people in our school systems are no different from the rest of society. Most are great, but some are not.

And, that does not apply only to charter school folks who in a few cases have corruptly cheated both students and taxpayers. There is too much misbehavior in our public schools, too.

Right here in Kentucky we’ve had a number of unfortunate examples of people from our traditional public school system who have stepped over a line. There is no denying a disturbing trickle of school staff doing inappropriate things with students. But, there are other cases of traditional public school folks running off with our kids’ money, too.

A few years ago, following an audit by the office of the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts, a former superintendent of the Dayton Independent School District got sent to federal prison.

Now, another case identified by the auditor has run its court cycle, and the former Mason County Schools superintendent Tim Moore has pleaded guilty to taking money and will reimburse his former school district $25,000 as part of a plea deal.

The point is that the traditional public school system offers no guarantees from corruption any more than we can guarantee that a few charter school people won’t fall into the same trap. People are people, but this is a lousy excuse to deny our kids the benefits of increased school choice when many charter schools are providing great results for disadvantaged students while here in Kentucky too many kids remain left behind in our traditional-only public school system. After all, the corrupt charter school people are being identified, and charters are being closed when needed. When was the last time a traditional public school was closed for similar reasons?