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Education

EDUCATION – WHO MAKES THE CHOICE?
 
Ask the Founders – Education is not explicitly discussed in the U.S. Constitution, thereby, it would fall under the provision of the Tenth Amendment, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Looking at education policy reform, it is important to examine (1) the proper role of government in education, (2) the need for choice for parents, and (3) the undue influence of teachers unions.
 
At the time of our Founders, education was a very local responsibility. Since then, the role of the government (state and federal) has significantly increased. Education is another issue in which competition and freedom of choice are critical components for success. The proper role of the law is to provide a system of justice, not coordinate the everyday components of life.
 
Frederic Bastiat – When justice is organized by law – that is, by force – this excludes the idea of using law (force) to organize any human activity whatever, whether it be labor, charity, agriculture, commerce, industry, education, art, or religion. The organizing by law of any one of these would inevitably destroy the essential organization—justice.” - The Law (page 21)
 
Federalism creates competition – The brilliant concept of leaving education to the states is that it gives each state the opportunity to experiment and compete. The more education is controlled from the top-down, that is, from the federal level, the less innovation you will see from the states. Imagine an environment with multiple options – an environment in which public schools compete with each other, with charter and private schools, the opportunity to home school, and the requirement for schools to compete in order to attract the most qualified teachers.
 
Power of Choice – Choice among public schools improves the quality of education. The next steps in education choice reform include competition between public schools and private schools by providing vouchers, scholarships, or education tax credits for parents who choose to send their children to private schools. There are multiple ways to increase choices in education.
 
Key Terms of Education Choice[i]
  • Private School Choice policies like vouchers, scholarships, or education tax credits help parents to enroll their children in a private school of choice
  • Public School Choice allows parents more opportunity to choose the best public school for their children by offering open enrollment within the public education system
  • Charter Schools are publicly funded schools that meet certain performance standards set by the government but are otherwise free from the traditional public school system
  • Online Learning allows students to learn on the computer instead of in a classroom – nine percent of all public schools nationwide offer some distance learning
  • Home Schooling provides parents the opportunity to educate their children at home if they are not pleased with local public or private school options – there are many innovative curriculums including online curricula. 
Increased competition results in increased efficiency. For example, an increased popularity in home schooling has enabled students to receive a quality education while saving taxpayers money. More than 1.5 million children are currently being educated at home. The Heritage Foundation estimates that it would cost between $4 and $10 billion annually to enroll these students in “free” public school.[ii]
 
Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation: “First, private schools, which provide a superior working environment for teachers, do a better job of teaching. The research shows this is true even when they serve exactly the same kinds of students and families as public schools. Second, public schools improve when parents have the power to choose their schools. When parents choose schools, the schools are more accountable by giving parents what they want: in many cases, better teaching.” [iii]
 
One primary key to education reform is ensuring that all education choices are not made by government bureaucrats, but by parents and taxpayers. The ability to choose among various options is an amazing tool for reform. Funding should follow the student, enabling parents to choose to send their child to one of many public or charter schools or to receive assistance to send them to private school. Although the private school choice component is ideal, the quality of education has even significantly improved in areas of the country with open enrollment among public schools, forcing the underperforming schools to improve in order to compete.
 
Lastly, the teachers unions have grown to be powerful advocates of their teachers, regardless of the effectiveness of individual teachers. This often results in keeping underperforming teachers in positions that could otherwise be filled by qualified teachers. As long as powerful teachers unions are ensuring teachers are employed regardless of their performance, schools cannot truly compete. Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, reinforced this assumption by saying, "When schoolchildren start paying dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."[iv]
 
Conclusion – Again, the more centrally controlled any part of society becomes, the less likely competition, innovation and improvement will occur. The federal government was not given the role to establish a national education system. Like many other issues, education was left to the laboratories of innovation and competition – the states.  Choice must remain with the parents, driving competition and improvement among schools, as parents choose which schools are best for their children. It is the students and the parents which should be the focus – not the teachers unions. Teachers should be motivated to provide an excellent education – and when they don’t, there must be ways to replace them with teachers who value the students’ education. Protected salaries and guaranteed employment through teachers unions do not encourage improvement among teachers. So, we must continue to fight to keep most elements of education at the state – not federal – level, ensure parents have a real choice in their child’s education, and prevent teachers unions from ignoring the most important stakeholders in education – the students and parents.

[i] The Heritage Foundation (2009). School Choice in America. Retrieved online from: http://www.heritage.org/research/education/schoolchoice/index.cfm
[ii] Burke, L. (2009, January 28). Homeschooling Sees Dramatic Rise in Popularity. Web Memo # 2254. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved online from: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm2254.cfm
[iii] Enlow, R. (2009, September). Working in America’s Schools. Inside ALEC. Retrieved online from: http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/InsideALEC/InsideALEC_Sept09_v8.pdf

[iv] Van Beek, M. D. (2009, July 17). The Nature of Teachers Unions. Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Retrieved online from: http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=10766 

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