Education reform

I've been thinking about education reform for a while now. It's not my strongest subject but I'm learning more and more about it every day. I'm not sure how other states fund public education but in Texas it's through ever increasing ad valorem taxes. I've got an idea to make education better which could be applied to all areas of the country but I wanted to hear what you guys think first before I give my opinion.

 

I too believe that privatization is the best way to go. Though I'm sure there are several people on this board that will disagree. Their arguments will likely focus on the supposed high cost of private education and more than likely something about the "poor" or "equality" or such noise. But I believe I have a solution, perhaps not original, but a good idea anyway, that would not do away with public education right away, but allow free market actors to compete with the government.

First let's address the reason why private education is expensive. Private education is expensive because it is a niche market, it is a luxury. But why is it a luxury? Because the government so heavily subsidizes public education, that is, nearly 100% of its budget comes from taxes, and is able to use its authority to command people to go to school, it has taken over the education industry. They have created this myth that public education is free. And whenever you offer something for "free" everyone wants it. Because everyone seeks out this "free" the market for private education cannot compete because of a lack of customers.

So how do we create the atmosphere of open competition with the state in regards to education? Since I live in Texas I'll focus on what changes I would make here.

First thing we have to do is put ad valorem taxes back into the hands of the people. I propose to allow people who have school age children choose whether or not they want their kids to go to public schools or private schools. If their kids go to public school then they would pay the property taxes they normally would have paid. But if their children attend a private school they could opt out of the public education system and keep the money they would have paid in taxes. This is to allow them to spend their education dollars how they see fit.

The second thing I would do is freeze the ad valorem tax rate at its current rate. Currently the school district I'm in charges $1.155 per $100 valuation. My proposal would freeze that tax rate forever. While the tax rate could never go up it can certainly go down. This is so that as school districts begin losing children to the private schools they cannot raise taxes on everyone else to make up for the lost revenue. They will have to adjust to new market conditions, though more slowly than the private market could, by reducing the waste within the system and streamlining their operations to save money.

The idea is to choke off public education by taking away its finances. I believe that as more private schools are opened up competition between schools will cause them to find new and innovative ways to educate our children while reducing the cost to do so. I believe that by creating an opportunity for private schools to compete we will see a rapid decline in the use of public schools and they will eventually all be put out of business, so to speak.

Another key aspect to the survival of the private school system is to leave the market totally unregulated. Allow parents, teachers and schools to determine what the curriculum will be and find better ways to deliver it to the students. Let people pick and choose what type of education they want their children to receive.

That's all I can do right now. Let me know what you think.

 

I disagree. If more and more people are switching to private schools then there will come a time when the public option will not matter. And it isn't fair to everyone else to have continually rising taxes so that public schools can continue to do a terrible job. Think outside of the box for a moment.

If a student leaves a public school they simply have to adjust their budget down to accommodate for the lack of one less student. If they cannot adjust their budgets according to their revenue stream then it only proves how incompetent they are. If they cannot even manage their own budgets then what right do they have educating our children?

Now, as for finding a "fair way to even out the market" freezing the amount of money public education gets through theft is a fair way. Already they are ahead of the game by not having to worry about budgets because they need only raise taxes. Because they do not have to adhere to a profit/loss system they can "out compete" private schools, not because they are better but because their revenue comes from confiscatory taxation (theft) instead of actually earning it. To allow public schools to continue to raise taxes even though they are doing a terrible job educating our children isn't fair to the private market which must continue to make improvements in the delivery, quality and overall cost of their product.

Of course, if we allow public schools to continue to raise taxes then eventually people are going to tire of the system anyway and demand it be done away with. It doesn't really matter one way or the other. At some point in the future private education will hit critical mass as the majority of people adopt it rather than public education. Once we make it possible for private schools to compete with public schools it doesn't matter one way or the other. The private market will eventually prevail and all public school systems will collapse.

 

There is something to be said about learning on your own. I mean, we learn something new everyday of our lives. But some people need a structured environment in order to learn some things. I think education should be a choice between the parents and the child, not the state. Get rid of compulsory attendance laws and begin the process of privatizing education. We can let the market close down public schools so long as we keep the state away from private schools and more tax dollars.

The great thing about a private market in education is the ability to choose what kind of schooling you want. You could go to a school that focused on science and math, or one that emphasized art and culture or perhaps a religious school run by a church. Some kids might opt to learn a trade and enter the job market early. The opportunities for a customized education built to suit each individual are amazing. I think getting away from the "one size fits all" model of public education would be a great step in the right direction.