Truck and Barter

Public Education

Conservatives are often accused of wanting to destroy public education, but most don't; libertarians are much more forthright in their desire for government to get out of the education business. Being a libertarain conservative, I'm open to a compromise that at least breaks the monoploy. An article in the New York Times points to Dayton, Ohio where my dream is coming to a reality(Thanks to Joanne Jacobs):

Forty charter schools have opened in Dayton, and nine more have received preliminary approval for next fall. That would give this city of 166,000 people about as many charter schools as are in New Jersey, which has a population 50 times larger.

Today 26 percent of Dayton's public school students are enrolled in the taxpayer-financed but privately operated schools, a rate far higher than in any other American city.

Academically, few of the charter schools have proved to be any better than Dayton's public schools, which are among Ohio's worst. Now the authorities are warning that the flow of state money to the charters, $41 million this year, is further undermining the traditional school system.

The article says that the competition has sparked reform, but charters don't outperform the government run school system. If a charter isn't performing to a certain level, that school should be closed or at the very least have its funding removed. The same should be said for school district schools.

Posted at March 30, 2005 11:08 AM

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