Time to privatize public schools?

Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wisc.) dilemma is shared by numerous other states—how do you keep funding public education workers whose salaries and benefit costs are sure to rise even as revenue falls? Despite reasonable pay for teachers in Wisconsin, students aren’t excelling. CNS News said, “In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a ‘proficient’ rating while another 2 percent earned an ‘advanced’ rating.”

Maybe it’s time to posit a familiar question. Is it time to privatize public schools?

We already have charter schools as options, but in many states, there’s a cap on licenses. The  Dallas Morning News said Texas, for example, only licenses 215 charter operators.

But charter schools aren’t the only option. What is stopping communities from forming their own schools? That’s the sort of school I went to as a girl—it was actually funded by the textile mill in my hometown. The mill also provided a beautiful park for us to play in.

As for our education in that small school where the per pupil expenditure was probably far less than that of a government school, it was stellar. Teachers did not permit us to refuse to learn and a paddle would be quickly applied—in front of the other students—if you acted up. Of course at that time, parents had the teacher’s back. The rule was if you got into trouble at school, your trouble would double when you got home.

The Wisconsin protests raise numerous questions about our education system. At present, the collective bargaining Democrats and liberals advocate for does nothing to address disparities within system quality. A lousy teacher gets what a great teacher gets. It’s not easy to fire a teacher, even an under-performing teacher. While it’s a good thing to pay teachers a fair salary, it’s not a good thing to demand taxpayers build educators’ retirement accounts and fund their healthcare. Everyone should have their own resources vested in both healthcare and retirement.

Fact is state and local governments are at the end of the line when it comes to revenue. The average person is also bombarded with regulatory fees on utilities, cell phones, Internet access and other bills. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.

Maybe it’s time to look at new models for education. Obviously the public system built on megaschools and diktats from the federal education bureaucracy have failed both parents and children.

Parents admittedly play a vital role in sending children to school ready to learn. Many parents fail that responsibility. We can’t do a lot about that right now—most leaders won’t even acknowledge the importance of the family in a student’s success.

But we can address the issue of failing schools. And we should do so immediately, for the sake of the child and the taxpayer.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Feb. 23, 2011)