I Wish This Conversation Were Happening Today in America

Unfortunately, as a nation, we are so far from this possibility.

School Choice… Make it Local

In a press release sent out around midnight, the Barr campaign sent out a press release discussing school choice for families, rather than sending them to our failing and failed schools operating under one of the worst social promotion programs in “No Child Left Behind.”  Competition brings about the best product and innovation as we have seen in the free market economy, and this can be extended to the current educational system that is broken beyond repair.

America’s public educational monopoly is not working.  “The failure to adequately educate our children to compete in the international marketplace and to be good citizens in a free society is truly scandalous,” says Barr.  “The answers will not come from Washington.  Instead, they will come from families across America as they educate their own children, put their children into private schools, and improve the public system,” Barr adds.  We expect choice and competition throughout the economy.  “It’s time to apply those same principles to education,” he insists.

Well stated, Mr. Barr.  It is not surprising that my position on the matter is very similar.  In addition to a better system, control over education is returned to the states and communities that have a vested interest in the education of their children, rather than a federal system that punishes schools for not meeting arbitrary goals that do not accurately measure a student’s (and school’s) performance.

School Choice

As most schools in the Atlanta area have wrapped up their ’07-’08 school year and begin the summer vacation, I am reminded once again about the money pit that is public/government education. As we dump our tax dollars into it, we are getting less of a return on our investment with each successive year of unacceptable results. A local school system, which will remain nameless, averaged spending over $13,000 per student in 2004 (the most recent year I could find information). Their academic reputation is certainly not one that would influence me to send my child there. In fact, the superintendent’s focal point for the 2007-2008 school year was identifying gang members and prohibiting their freedom of expression through symbols, gestures, and colors. It is not a focus on ensuring the best education for the students in the county’s educational system. It is not a focus on teaching methods to reach the students. It is not a focus on achieving something, but rather a focus on something that can be easily eliminated in a school choice scenario.

Picture this: Each family in America has the ability to choose which school their child attends, public, private, charter, parochial, home, whatever. The family shops for the school that best fits what they want for their child. A successful school will offer more programs that their customers want. A successful school will offer a learning experience that their customers want. A successful school will attract their customers’ money. How do we make this a possibility? Right now, we are all paying taxes to the federal, state, and local governments. Through various spending decisions, they choose how much of that money is allocated to the educational systems we fund with our taxes. What if each child’s $13,000 allocation was attached to him or her to use for education? The family can decide how that $13,000 can be spent through their choice of schools.

Competition between schools would provide better opportunities for all potential pupils, as they have to offer what the families want. If a school does not meet the community’s expectations, families will choose to send their children elsewhere, they will not instruct students, thus they will not receive any funding to continue “educating.” Consistently, private schools offer a higher quality product than their public counterparts. This newfound competition will force the public schools to innovate, rather than stagnate in their mediocrity. If they are unable to match the choices available elsewhere, they will be forced to close by the free market. The most compelling feature of the public schools is that they provide “free” transportation for those who live outside a predetermined “walking distance.” One of the loudest arguments against my proposed solution to the education crisis is that it leaves behind the poorest families, who cannot afford transportation to the school of their choice. My answer to them is that they should make transportation the focal issue in their decision-making. As with all families, the decision is about what school matches the most of their desires. If a family desires a school that will provide transportation, they will choose one that will. If a family desires a school that does not begin until 11 AM, because they believe it enhances the learning process, they will choose one that will. If a family desires a school that focuses education on Creationism over Evolution, they will choose one that will.

The choice of schools will also allow schools to choose their customers, the right to refuse service to any customer for any reason. Admission standards may be in place to limit the lesser achieving students from disrupting those with a future academically. The problem that has caused the local system to focus on gangs, rather than educating would be eliminated as a predetermined and agreed upon discipline would have been enacted at the first sign of a problem. There would be no need for sweeping “No Tolerance” statutes, since each issue could be reasonably decided upon by its merits.

As Spiderman’s uncle wisely stated in the first of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, with great power comes great responsibility. If the power of choice is not exercised, then the responsibility of the decision-making will affect families for generations to come.