It’s time for school vouchers : Ric Llewellyn

The public school system is a mess. Though it has never worked in the past, the thought is to throw more money at it. Over the years, billions of dollars have been earmarked for California schools.

In 2008, Kern County voters approved every school bond measure proposed. But here we are again, bemoaning the tattered condition of our school facilities, notifying teachers of layoffs and canceling graduation ceremonies.

In most other areas of life we are loath to accept a monopoly. We complain around the water cooler that our electric bills are too high and we don’t have a choice. But with our schools we just keep spending money on what seems to be the only game in town.

It’s time to have a choice. Not the kind of “choice” we have now, but real options when it comes to the character and quality of the education of our children. Now we choose one single parent’s address over another’s to get into the better school. Now we exercise “choice” by creatively exploiting inter-district transfers. Or we choose to bear the additional financial burden of putting our kids in a private school.

It’s time to let parents choose a single-gender school, a religious school, or a progressive alternative school. It’s time to let parents choose a school not plagued by violence, a school known for dynamic teachers, a school with the right sports program. It’s time to destroy the limitations oppressing some kids because their neighborhood is poor. It’s time to incentivize school funding, and I don’t mean through some wishy-washy Academic Performance Index. How many kids will we sacrifice while Kern County schools are getting their acts together?

It’s time for school vouchers. With a voucher, the parents shop for a school that fits their philosophy, their vision of the future, their system of values, their academic priorities. Across town or next door, it doesn’t matter. Public or private, it doesn’t matter. Secular or religious, it doesn’t matter. Rich neighborhood or poor neighborhood, it doesn’t matter.

With vouchers, good schools will be fully funded and mediocre schools will have an undeniable and immediate incentive to become good schools. Disinterested teachers will be motivated to engage their students and provide a “product” worth buying. Exceptional teachers will flourish and be empowered to practice their profession fully.

A voucher system will encourage focused spending where the “consumer” is looking for value. There will be no need to spread resources so thin that no one is well served. Instead, each school will budget to fulfill its mission. Imagine the contentment of the students, parents and teachers when they all experience exactly what they expected from their educational experience!

A voucher system would not abolish academic performance standards, but it might make the way we think about academic performance obsolete. School vouchers would not abolish the administrative system we have in place, but it might make it easier to administer the system.

I am disappointed to say that most people think school vouchers are a bad idea. Some think that it would cause the collapse of our public school system. Well, it is a striking testimony to the educational peril in which we find ourselves to suggest that given the choice, parents would abandon what we have and choose an “experiment” instead.

It’s time for school vouchers. If California won’t do it, maybe Kern County can. Let’s begin to explore opportunities for educational excellence for our kids’ sakes.

The Bakersfield Californian, May 29 2009