Overhauling Public Education

Yesterday's Talk of the Nation featured a 30 minute interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his plans to overhaul the educational system, calling it "the civil rights issue of our generation". I agree that it's hard to think of a topic more important than this one.

I am delighted that he is in favor of things like merit pay and charter schools, but why not take it the final step and be in favor of getting the government out of the business of running schools altogether? This is not to say that the government should not finance education, particularly for those who cannot afford it -- it's simply to say that schools should not be run by politicians.

His criteria for charter schools are:

1.) There needs to be a high barrier to entry so that only the very top applicants are given permission to run their own school.
2.) The schools need to be given the freedom to operate and be innovative.
3.) The schools need to be held accountable for their performance.

I applaud him for point # 2, and I think this is single most important issue in the education reform discussion. But points 1 and 3 are again just dragging the schools back into politics. Instead of letting the politicians decide who is a good applicant or which schools are performing best, let the parents decide; and instead of letting the politicians decide the optimal class size, or the right teacher pay, let the schools decide.

My ideal scenario would be for parents to get an educational stipend so they can choose to spend it on whichever school they want, and the schools can choose to charge whatever they want, and run their school however they want. Why not at least try this in some small section of the country and see how it works? Besides, the burden of proof should be on the government to prove why schools should not be run like regular businesses.

Bottom-line: The single biggest problem in the public school system is that schools are run by politicians in the interest of politicians instead of by businesspeople in the interest of parents.