There is another way to fix primary education in this country and I feel this is the superior option. The second option is school choice and I'm not talking about the piece meal approach that is currently under way. I'm talking about a broad across the board change involving all levels of government. I'm a little short on some details, but I'm going to present a basic overview of what I think is needed.
The first thing about my proposal is that it will be revenue neutral and in the long run will save money. I believe this is critical and any program that is not revenue neutral is bound to fail. I also believe that any piece meal, state by state, city by city approach is doomed to failure as it allows the usual opponents of choice to concentrate their efforts. Keep these two points in mind when considering why the Utah measure just failed.
As a nation we currently spend about $55o billion dollars, $9000.00 per pupil. This money is collected and distributed though various methods and distributed by various means.
My proposal: Effective immediately all methods of collecting moneys for education shall be frozen and the amounts collected and distributed by each entity will be frozen. They will not be increased for five years. After five years they will be adjusted for student numbers and an inflation number that considers only the costs involved in education. All of these dollars whether from the feds, the state, the local government or school district levies shall be sent to one place: The local Congressional District School Voucher Distribution and Certification Office. These offices shall not be run by government, but instead open for bid by private enterprise. They shall be free of political affiliation or influence and they shall operate under a strict set of guidelines and audits set forth in this plan. Their cost of operation will not exceed 5% of total dollars for their district. (This is a far lower expense than any government run program) They will be responsible for distributing education vouchers to every family within their district. They shall be responsible for certifying private and public schools meet the criteria contained in this plan and all home schooling programs meets the criteria in this measure. They shall be responsible for maintaining a zero tolerance towards any institution or individual that defrauds this program. Severe financial and incarceration penalties will be imposed on anyone committing fraud.
To insure continuity and give every entity a chance to compete in an open and fair free market this program shall be instituted over a period of ten years. This shall not be done by state or region, but rather by student social security number. The numbers zero through nine shall be placed in a hat. On January 15th of each year a number will be drawn out of the hat. If the number 4 is drawn all school age children with a social security number ending in 4 shall become eligible for a parental controlled voucher for the school year that begins 8 to 9 months later. The voucher can be used at any accredited public or private institution or home schooling program. The vouchers for the numbers not yet drawn will automatically go to the current public schools. They will have ten years to slowly change and meet the desires of parents or they will cease to exist.
We currently spend about $9000.00 per pupil in public education. I propose that the vouchers should be $5500 for grades 1-6, $6000 for grades 7 and 8, and $6500 for grades 9-12. The vouchers will be available to all students and parents after their number is drawn. In no way will they be income based. The money not distributed in vouchers shall be used to cover the 5% administration fee, special education pr programs etc. (This program does not address the problem of students without social security numbers. Hopefully, this program will give incentive for that problem to be addressed, but if it is not, those students shall become the problem of the federal government as that is the branch of government that created the problem.) In the beginning public schools will receive the full $9000 for the student not yet eligible for the parental voucher program. This figure will slowly be reduced and the parental voucher amounts will be increased. Private schools that have tuition that exceeds the voucher provided shall be encouraged to provide scholarships, work for tuition programs etc. to cover the additional cost. They will not be forced to provide education at less than their cost. (Charity is not charity when it is forced.)
I hope that this program will foster a true competitive free market educational system where the priority is giving each child the best education possible while reducing the cost. I think that most public education institutions will fight for their fair share of this market, that private schools run by businesses and religious institutions will spring up. That specialty high schools will appear focusing on fine arts, languages, science, math, vocational skills, history or English and literature. I can envision a time when students and dollars will freely flow to schools offering advanced classes. Eventually providing each child with a combination of parental, private and public education that will allow them to think for themselves, support themselves and insure the American tradition of each generation being more affluent and productive than the last will continue. This will not happen if we continue to rely on our current outdated, union controlled, administratively heavy public education system. This program will allow us to do away with the Federal Department of Education, State Departments of Public Instruction etc. and therefore save us billions of dollars in the long run which may be spent on actual education or used to reduce taxes. ( A reasonable balance of the two would be my choice.)
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