With the 2019 legislative session less than a year away, we are already hearing the opening salvos of another debate over funding government schools. Invariably, the article, blog post, or editorial calls for more money for this program or that.
The funding of government schools has been a contentious political issue for decades. As has been the case in session after session, no matter what proposals are adopted and what compromises are made, few Texans will be happy with the results. And this will continue until enough people question the premise underlying government schools.
We don’t have political debates over restaurants, and the reason is quite simple. Restaurants operate in a predominantly free market. Restaurants are free to offer the cuisine and quality that they think diners want. And diners are free to patronize those restaurants that offer what they want for a price they think is fair.
But what if diners were not given such choices? What if diners were assigned to a particular restaurant based on where they live and tax dollars supported the restaurants? Suddenly, restaurants would become a heated political issue. Those assigned to restaurants with sub-par quality and a cuisine that they did not like would launch political campaigns to improve “public” restaurants. This is how government schools operate.
Students are assigned to schools based on where they live. They are fed a cuisine of ideas and curriculum that they may or may not like, but they have little choice in the matter. They have to accept what they are fed.
Culinary entrepreneurs offer us a wide variety of choices in regard to restaurants. Educational entrepreneurs would do the same, if they were freed from the constricting regulations of bureaucrats. And the consumers of educational services, if freed from the burden of financing government schools, would be able to afford alternative services.
If we want to get politics out of education, then we must get government out of education.26