angus55 said:
Agthatbuilds said:
My money should follow my kids. simple as that. If that's my local public school, great.
If that's the high school across town, great.
If that's a charter school, great.
If that's a private school, great.
If I don't have kids in school give me my money back, great
Awesome.
Now, don't partake in any goods and services in your area that are provided by the kids that go through the school district either. Don't patronize any businesses that hire kids that don't go to college, etc. I mean, you shouldn't get any benefit if you aren't paying, right?
Schools and educating kids have to get paid for, and whether you think it is socialist or not, the bottom line is that society in general benefits significantly from an educated populace.
But that doesn't mean that the state should be 100% in charge and control of the education system, which is all the argument for vouchers really is - it promotes competition in an education system that desperately needs competition, not only to raise the bar but to push costs down. Because that is exactly what competition in a free market does.
Yet people are absolutely terrified of that same principle - that they love when they go to Home Depot or Wal Mart or wherever and instead of paying $2000 for that 60" flat screen like we did 10 years ago, are now paying $500 for it. But in schools, for whatever reason, they are brainwashed into thinking the same exact principles somehow are evil and won't work.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with parents of kids that are currently going through the education system to have more power and more input - through the one thing that all education systems value the most - their money - and have more freedom in determining which school their child is educated at. Hell, they are really the ones that have th most skin in the game as it is, because 99.999% of people that don't have kids in the district DGAF about much district associated, at least until taxes roll around anyway. There is also nothing wrong with the idea that, because we all benefit from educating the younger generations, that everybody pays into the eduation system.
What everybody should want is an education system that pushes to raise the bar, not lower it, and that is forced to operate in the same manner that a business would - cut costs, cut redundant and useless over head, get rid of properties that aren't being used that the district could sell off, quit building hundred million dollar football stadiums, etc. Because as it is right now, most school districts have absolutely zero incentive to operate with any efficiency - zero. If they need more money, they raise their tax rate or issue a bond. I guarantee you that I could go into any district and within probably 2 or 3 hours identfy a dozen or more positions that could be eiliminated from the administrative side, all of whom cost the distric in excess of $100k a year when you account for salary, insurance, benefits, etc.
Good schools should be rewarded for being good, and poor schools should either realize that they need to become a good school if they want to compete. Administrator pay should be tied to kids coming and going to some degree instead of just bigass paychecks for superintendents.
Amazing, I know.
