The School Choice Wars (Scarecrow Education Book)

by John D. Merrifield

The futility of participation in school policy making,40 and all of the well-established reasons for low participation in political decision making, are better reasons for the minimal communication between clients and policy makers. The political process suffers from a lot of apathy because participants bear 100 percent of the high participation costs, but enjoy only a fraction of the benefits, and then only if their position(s) prevail. Long ballots and frequent elections dilute awareness of most ballot propositions and public offices. Since people naturally respond to the large number of issues and high participation costs by focusing their efforts where the stakes are highest for them, particular groups like teachers have especially high participation and awareness rates.