As the debate over school choice in Texas heats up, defenders of government schools are increasingly using terms that are inaccurate and misleading. One of the most common is “public money.” As an example, the Texas Association of School Boards, recently criticized vouchers because “they give public money to private entities.” In truth, there is no such thing as public money.
The use of that term is an attempt to smuggle a premise into the debate—that our money belongs to “the public”—i.e., government—which may take as much as it wants and use it for whatever purposes it chooses. “Public money” is, in fact, private money seized by government.
No rational person would call the money seized by an armed robber to be the “robber’s money.” We recognize that the money properly belongs to the victim, not the robber. The principle doesn’t change merely because the government is doing the taking.
If we want to make the best decisions possible regarding school choice, then we must reject both the term “public money” and the premise which underlies it. We must correctly identify tax dollars as private money that is taken for uses that the rightful owner may or may not agree with. This is true whether tax dollars are used for foreign aid, military excursions, welfare schemes, education, or anything else.
Money taken in the form of taxes rightfully belongs to individuals and businesses. Vouchers and other school choice programs offer parents more control over how their taxes are spent.
The opponents of school choice aren’t content with making it difficult for parents to afford educational alternatives. They want to take more money from those parents, as well as non-parent taxpayers, to increase funding for government schools. They want to deny parents an opportunity to choose the best school for their children. And they want to make those parents pay more for the privilege.
There is no such thing as public money. The sooner that Texans realize this, the sooner we can begin to improve education in the state.