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The Shell Game
of Publicly Funded Education
Education/Nancy Salvato |
August 24, 2005
- Under which shell are your tax dollars? What, not in
your local public school district? Are they in your state? Are they
somewhere in this country? How do we lose sight of them like that? Let's
see…
Where will Los Angeles get the money to tutor 300,000 students in schools
designated "low performing" under No Child Left Behind? Part of their
schools' federal funding will be given to parents, about $1500.00 per child,
to cover the cost of tutoring their children in Math or English. In effect,
money that you and I work hard to earn will be handed over to other parents.
Yet many in the education establishment are screaming that there aren't
enough federal funds to meet all their needs. There should be more. Should
those residing on both sides of the continental divide be taxed more, at the
federal level, to provide remediation to students residing in Los Angeles?
I don't think so. First of all, instead of giving money to parents who have
been given no other option than to send their children to a school that is
failing, I think the parents should be given vouchers which would allow
their children to attend a school which would be more likely to meet their
needs in the first place. It would certainly cost less. Also, it could be
argued that families must sign a contract agreeing to do the necessary work
at home which will ensure a child's success at school. Teachers and families
should be forced to partner.
I vehemently disagree with the idea that federal tax dollars can be used to
fund "special interests" (to the benefit of one group) instead of on
something to benefit the whole country –for instance, developing and testing
effective teaching methods which could be used in classrooms throughout the
U.S.
Those who serve in the government are supposed to look after their
constituents. Yet politicians continually authorize government spending on
failing public schools. Allowing any business, including education, to spend
other people's money invites waste and corruption. There is definitely a
difference between "free money" and money that comes as the result of hard
work and dedication. Yet "Educrats" continue to receive "free money" instead
of having to work hard to keep their classrooms filled with students.
There are other unintended consequences of continued government interest in
education. The cost of higher education will continue to rise as long as
government co-signs the student loans necessary to make this education
affordable for most families. In South Carolina, when students default on
these loans, the government guarantees the lenders 98% of their principal.
Under Clinton, our federal government started its own program of lending
money. The federal government also hands out Pell grants to help cover the
costs of 5.4 million students.
Rather than force institutions of higher learning to offer an affordable
education, this government funding –at taxpayer expense, has allowed
colleges to keep raising their costs because they know that an artificial
market has the money –from you and I- to continue paying their unreasonable
fees.
Vermont is poised to be the 6th state to authorize universal preschool
–extending the public school's role to daycare under the guise of "best
practice". This decision will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Many
private schools will be driven out of business –unable to offer innovative
or specialized instruction, because most will not be able to compete with
the public schools whose programs are "free". But as you can see we all foot
the costs in one way or another.
Many people believe that their government is supposed to take care of them.
But that is simply not true. The government is supposed to make sure that
people can take care of themselves. Education worked much better in this
country before government got involved. Education should be left to the
forces of the free market. We need to stop thinking that the government can
do it better. NCLB has made transparent the failures of our public schools.
Now let the parents decide how their education dollars should be spent to
fix them.
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