Why is the left opposed to school choice?

[PJ]

TNF, Bedstuy, and Del Tachi all had some pretty good explanations. The evidence that private schools perform 'better' than public schools doesn't really mean anything, because demographics that perform better in school tend to be enrolled in private schools. The mentality that we ought to privatize education because public education has problems misses the point. Of course public education has issues, including an obsession with standardized testing, unequal funding to schools, etc., but these problems don't occur because the educational system itself is public rather than private. Public education is a far better means of educating the populous than private education because it recognizes the rights of all people to an education. School choice isn't going to help poor kids at all because when you introduce a school with tuition fees, versus one without, the poor are obviously going to opt for the school they don't to pay to attend. Tuition fees to pay for an education is an antiquated and backwards concept. I'd support an end to school vouchers, banning homeschooling and other forms of private education, and increasing funding so that schools aren't overly dependent on donations from private philanthropists to receive adequate funding. Public school curriculums need to revamped, with Common Core replaced by a program with less emphasis on standardized tests.

Fun fact: When the KKK controlled Oregonian politics in the 1920's, private education was actually banned in order to eliminate Catholic schools.

As for the argument that private schools are better because the parents have more resources, that's not going to change. Private schools are not going to get banned. The main discussion here is about helping parents who don't have the money to offer their children the alternative of private school.

Banning private schools would do a lot more to help education of the poor than school vouchers. When wealthy parents enroll their children in public schools, they bring their wealth with them in the form of extra volunteer time (because at least one of the spouses probably has more work flexibility) and donations. Making people for their children's education helps the poor how exactly?

[PJ]

KKK controlled Oregonian politics in the 1920s? How did that happen?

Oregon was pretty white supremacist before civil rights hit the mainstream. Southern Democrats got second in the state in 1860, which is pretty remarkable considering they were representing a different region of the country. Even though Oregon was admitted as a free state, that had to do with maintaining a balance of free and slave states more than anything else. Had 'popular sovereignty' been applied in the state, it probably would've voted in favor of slavery. Confederate sympathy was actually somewhat popular, especially in the Southwest part of the state. Oregon also had restrictive laws about even allowing minorities to be in communities: it was illegal for blacks to stay overnight in most towns. I don't have any objective proof of this, but I've always suspected that many migrants who moved out west to Oregon during western expansion were Southerners, more so than most other western states. So when the KKK hit its peak in the 1920's, it was only natural that Oregon was one of its most successful states outside the South, although given that there were (and still are) so few minorities here (although Hispanics are changing that), they were more focused on anti-Catholicism than persecution of African-Americans.

Even today, Eastern Oregon is extremely conservative. Oregon's conservatives are considered more conservative than any other state, and the reason that the state has a liberal reputation despite that is according to the same study, Oregon's liberals are more liberal than any other state. If you drive around rural Eastern Oregon (Burns, Pendleton, Baker City, etc.) you will probably see endless amounts Impeach Obama bumper stickers and at least one confederate flag.

EDIT: Also, the hypothetical state of Jefferson, including Southwest Oregon and Northern California, is named after Jefferson Davis.