Here's an op-ed I wrote recently, which was published in The News Tribune (Tacoma):

Suppose you’re a parent struggling to make ends meet. Your children attend a local public school where eight of 10 students fail basic academic tests in reading, writing or math.

You want your children to have a promising future, for which education is key, but you’re trapped. You can’t afford private school tuition or tutors, and though your district has open enrollment, the best-performing schools are already full.

The parents of 1,706 children attending three Tacoma middle schools (Gault, Jason Lee and McIlvaigh) are in exactly this predicament.

Eighty percent of the students in those schools failed at least one core subject on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning last year. And that’s an improvement over years past.

In an attempt to help these children, federal law requires school districts to set aside a small portion (10 percent) of their federal funding to provide free private tutoring for low-income students in chronically failing public schools. Eligible students in Tacoma can claim up to $1,372 each and can choose from a list of state-approved tutors, which includes private schools, community services and widely known programs like Kumon Math.

You’d think parents would jump at this opportunity. Yet most are not. Around the nation, only 25 percent to 50 percent of the students eligible for tutoring are receiving services. In Tacoma, the percentages are even smaller. Fewer than 10 percent of eligible parents have requested information about tutoring, and fewer than 1 percent of the eligible students are receiving instruction.

Why the low turnout?

No doubt many factors contribute, including parent apathy. But two obvious factors are that many parents don’t know the services are available to them, and those who do face a complicated and often obstructive process to reach them.

One of the reasons parents don’t know about their alternatives is that school district officials responsible for informing them would rather not. After all, every student who takes advantage of the tutoring directs money away from the district to other service providers. There is a very human (though not always excusable) tendency to protect self-interests.

When the Evergreen Freedom Foundation discovered last year that the Tacoma School District’s letter of notification to parents was prohibitively complicated and technical, we decided to send our own letter, along with a simulated “check” representing the amount available per student. The resulting media coverage prompted the district to simplify its communications and increase efforts to reach parents. This more than doubled the number of interested parents.

It also caused school officials and a legislator, state Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, to worry that the district would “incur extra costs if the EFF letter was successful in generating more students interested in tutoring,” according to e-mails obtained under a Freedom of Information request to the district.

In an e-mail to Regala and other interested parties, district staffer Lorraine Wilson seems to offer comfort in the knowledge that “families face obstacles to getting the tutoring services.” Such obstacles include the need for transportation to off-site facilities, parent work schedules, after school activities, etc.

The idea that the district does not have enough money to allow students these options is flat wrong. Last year, Tacoma schools spent an average of $12,189 per student. Average per-pupil spending over the last four years was $10,895. The district received $9,465,861 in federal funds for this school year, of which it must set aside at least 10 percent ($946,586) for tutoring. Currently, only 11 students in Tacoma are receiving tutoring services out of 1,269 eligible. If each of those students uses the maximum amount available, the district will spend $15,092. That leaves $931,094.

Federal guidelines allow schools to use remaining funds to provide transportation for students, and the district could make empty classrooms available to tutors after school. Unfortunately, school officials don’t seem to be pursuing either possibility.

While only 11 students are receiving tutoring, 119 parents have sought more information or requested a tutor. When I asked a district official (Donald Lloyd) about the disparity, he replied, “Your guess is as good as mine.” He said the district is not trying to find the answer.

Parents and students need the best educational opportunities available. Accessing those opportunities requires that Tacoma schools change their attitude and remember why they exist in the first place.