More Money Isn't The Answer

The ongoing debate about public education centers around funding, with the usual refrain being “We need more money to make sure our kids get a good education!” But time and again it has been found that funding in and of itself is not an indicator of how well any public school system educates the children. Even the liberal Brookings Institute has found that money is not the biggest indicator of the success of any school system.

We don’t need to take the word of any think tanks or teacher unions or school administrators that the only fix for our failing public education system is increasing amounts of tax money. There’s real world proof they are wrong.

The proof?

Vermont.

Ninety-three Vermont towns (36 percent of its 255 municipalities) have no government-run school at all. What do these towns handle education of their children?

In these towns, the funds local governments expect to spend per pupil are instead given directly to the parents of school-age children.

This method gives lower- and middle-income parents the same superpower wealthy families have always had: school choice. Kids aren’t assigned to public schools by zip code⁠ – instead, parents have the ability to put their kids in school anywhere, to buy the educational experience best suited to each child. If that decision doesn’t work out, they can change it the following year and try a school that might better fit their child’s needs.

Imagine that. School choice in liberal Vermont.

The results of that school choice? Though costs are similar to other schools in the Green Mountain State, the outcomes are better.

This is something I wish the supporters of school choice in my home state would use as a means of slapping down the public school lobbyists that have been fighting hard against, working to prevent taxpayer money from being used to allow parents to choose where their children will be educated.

I suggest you Read The Whole Thing.