Posted by
Libertybob on Sunday, March 18, 2007 1:28:10 PM
Class, today we are going to examine the solution to our collapsing public school system. The solution is the concept of vouchers. Vouchers are simply taking money that the state already spends per pupil, and allowing parents to choose which school will receive that funding by enrolling their child at the school. Instead of a bureaucracy running the education system, schools would send vouchers to the government for monetary re-imbursement of education expenses. Schools would get the vouchers from parents when the child enrolls in that school. Parents would choose which schools get to teach their children. Parents get the vouchers from the government. The Government makes the vouchers from the per pupil money that they are already spending.
Here is your homework. First, check THIS link out. Find the amount your state spends per pupil. Next, we will do some math.
If you didn't attend a public school and are therefore capable of calculating,
do the math to see what privatization could really do for your state. It adds great
power to arguments to have facts on your side. For example, in Michigan
where I reside, the per pupil spending is $9,072. That means if a
teacher could have a private class of just 15 students and collect
revenue directly instead of through the bureaucracy, they'd be able to
make over $136,000 per year. And that is assuming that they only have
15 kids per class. Isn't that better than the average salary of $20,000
per year and 40 kid classrooms?
Then, leave it to the teachers
to determine how they will diversify the education they offer. Say,
they band together with music, science, math teachers etc and each pays
10% of their salary to have a building in common. Another 10% could go
to learning materials. Congrats! A school with excellent teacher, 15
kids per class and teachers making over $100,000 per year. That's one example, but there are others. Perhaps they would focus solely on math, science, and technology. Perhaps they would focus more intensively on the arts. Perhaps grade school teachers would simply teach alone to keep a small, well known group of children. High School teachers with special skills may open a trade school to teach real life job skills. Others may prefer to focus on pre-college courses.
But the implications of implementing such a system are even broader than that. Are you Catholic? Mormon? Baptist? Atheist? Jewish? Muslim? Why not be allowed to send your child to a school that reflects your values? Parents are already paying for it through taxes, after all. Why should you have to pay for a service you don't use? Furthermore, when the issues of prayer in school come up, or the Evolution/Creation debate, they also have the solution in school choice. Parents could send their children to schools where Evolution is taught, where Creation is taught, where both are taught.
The point is, teachers are professionals who should be allowed to use their full innovation to teach our children. Parents should have the right to choose how their children will be educated. It can be done with the money we are already spending.
Leftists: What's so bad about that?
Conservatives: Write your local congress person and ask them to give teachers a multi-thousand dollar raise, and explain to them how it would work.