Sue Kingery Woltanski responds to the claim that resistance to school choice is some sort of mpsychological issue. Reposted with permission.
Voters aren’t rejecting options. They’re choosing community.
As a public education advocate in Florida, I can’t recall a single time I’ve agreed with Patricia Levesque.
Levesque is one of the chief architects of Florida’s long-term campaign to dismantle traditional public education. As CEO of Jeb Bush’s ExcelinEd (formerly the Foundation for Excellence in Education) and head of his Foundation for Florida’s Future, she has driven policy that promotes school choice, high-stakes testing, and market-driven “accountability” reforms. In Florida, few education bills make it through the Legislature without her organizations’ support.
While Levesque frames her work as “empowering families,” the real impact has been:
- Defunding neighborhood schools
- Eroding local control
- Weakening public accountability
- Widening inequities in access, oversight, and outcomes
Her influence is unmistakable—her fingerprints are on nearly every major education policy shift in Florida over the past two decades, especially those that have privatized education under the banner of “reform.”
On July 2, 2025, Levesque published a piece on the free market reform-aligned Education Next blog titled “The Psychology of Voters Rejecting School Choice.” In it, she argues that school choice ballot initiatives fail not because people dislike the concept of choice, but because voters are reluctant to give up something familiar in exchange for a perceived gamble.
And she writes that as if it’s a bad thing.
Florida families—despite decades of “choice” marketing—still overwhelmingly support their local public schools. As I recently wrote, even after 20 years of relentless attacks, public schools remain the number one choice for Florida families. That must drive Levesque crazy.
The reality is this: Even when labeled “failing” by flawed school grading systems or smeared as “woke” in the latest culture war, Florida’s public schools continue to earn the trust of families. Why? Because voters recognize their value—not just as places of learning, but as foundational community institutions rooted in fairness, access, and shared responsibility.
Apparently, comments are not allowed on the Next Ed Blog, so this is my response to Levesque’s piece:
Rebuttal: Why Communities Keep Choosing Public Schools
Patricia Levesque’s recent Education Next article attempts to explain voter resistance to school choice by painting it as an emotional or psychological quirk. But the reality is far simpler: people value public schools because they build strong, connected communities.
Public schools are more than just places where students learn math and reading. They are hubs of civic life—where families meet, neighbors gather, and kids from all backgrounds grow up together. They host town halls, sporting events, school plays, and food drives. They are one of the last truly public institutions that bring people of different races, incomes, and beliefs into shared space and shared purpose.
When voters push back against voucher expansions or school privatization, it’s not because they’re confused. It’s because they recognize that public dollars belong in public schools, and that siphoning those resources into private systems undermines both equity and accountability.
Public schools guarantee that every child, regardless of background, has access to a quality education. They are staffed by certified educators, governed by elected school boards, and bound by civil rights laws—standards not always shared by private or charter alternatives.
Are public schools perfect? Of course not. But they are transparent, inclusive, and open to all, and they provide a foundation for democratic life. In contrast, many “choice” systems promote fragmentation, inequity, and a lack of oversight—often at the expense of the most vulnerable students.
The resistance to “choice” isn’t psychological—it’s principled. Voters aren’t rejecting options. They’re choosing community.