It is the fundamental right of parents to be able to choose
when, where and how their children should be educated
Everyone today is concerned about the state of the
schools. The facts are these: Billions of dollars over the
last two decades have been spent through direct taxation,
special initiatives and other sources such as the lottery.
In the last three election cycles alone a number of
initiatives have passed costing taxpayers billions to
provide basics such as textbooks and air conditioning. In
this election cycle there will be even more of these
initiatives wanting more money. They also want to put tax
liens on your homes in order to provide more money for these
awful schools. According to their own figures the State of
California now spends on government run schools some $8000
per student per year (see http://www.Libertycaucus.com/Articles/
schoolsideways.htm) What has been the result? Children
that cannot read or write at the level they are supposed to.
See the LA times articles for the abysmal scores. So called
graduates that then try to enter the lower level community
colleges and have to take remedial English, Math and other
courses. Some two thirds of the students in the California
community colleges take these courses because they cannot
function in college without learning what they should have
learned in the government schools first. Children are at
risk in schools that are filled with drugs, gangs and
teachers that cannot or will not teach. Teachers that are
not held accountable in any way. Schools that have awful
conditions such as non-working bathrooms, poorly maintained
campuses and substandard equipment such as computers that
are out of date or more likely missing. The school district
wants taxpayers to buy computers every year but fails to
mention that the computers that go into the schools go out
of them sometimes in the same day by those that work in the
system. Even when these people are prosecuted these same
employees after serving jail time are rehired by that same
school district. Who is also against any innovations or
even improvements such as accountability and competition or
even more charter schools? The teachers labor unions is one
and who also are for all of the propositions that would take
even more money from your pocket and even jeoparidize your
home with tax liens. The other group is the politicians who
want not only to take your money in exchange for a lousy
education but who also wish to control you and your children
in what and where they would learn. Neither of these groups
have been held accountable for all the devastation that has
been suffered by children, their parents and taxpayers. Now
with all of these facts do you think that you are getting
your moneys worth? Do you know of a single child that
deserves to have their lives wasted or threatened in these
government run schools? Do you know of any parent or
taxpayer who deserves such treatment at the hands of
government? It is obvious that the government run schools
are an abysmal failure by any measure. The question is what
to do about it.
More money will not solve the problems inherent in the
schools. The schools now spend more than twice what is
spent on schools in Europe, Japan and the pacific countries
such as New Zealand and Australia. Yet we never hear of any
students in those places going to dilapidated schools,
having no texbooks, having no homework and least of all
graduating without being able to read their diploma. The
question that all of you voters should be asking is where
does all that money go? After some six years we still do
not have textbooks and the previous administrators and
politicians promised that this would be fixed. An
initiative was passed which was supposed to provide money
for textbooks alone but no books and no answer is given to
the question where did that money go? Politicians say vote
for them and they will fix the schools. Well, you have for
them and guess what, you are in the same situation and a lot
poorer for it. They have even wasted a half a billion
dollars on a school that was to be built on a toxic waste
dump!! What is most unforgivable of all is the wasted lives
of school kids. Money can be replaced but a child's time of
learning cannot be. They cannot go back and make up that
time. It is gone forever. Playing catch up is not good for
school kids, the community, the state or the nation. The
Republicans and Democrats are now fighting over the special
labor visas to allow workers in with special skills. When
in actual fact the real problem is not importing labor but
the failure of the government schools to train and provide
people with an education so Americans could take the jobs
now being given to foreigners who do not go to awful schools
and actually do get an education. Now who has been held
accountable for all these terrible things? The answer is no
one. That to me is a crime. As things stand now, you
cannot sue the school district, an administrator, a
bureaucrat, principal teacher or any politician for wasting
your child's life, the lack of a decent education or even
throwing away your money on a school system that does not
work. We cannot even get a refund of our money let alone
get back the time wasted by millions of California school
kids.
There is a ballot initiative that speaks to this
problem. It is school vouchers. What would this do? It
would put the power back where it belongs, in the hands of
the parents. Parents would not knowingly send their child
to an inadequate school. It is only human nature to want
the best for their children. When money has to be taken
from the customer, the parent, that is where accountability
comes in. It the job is not done properly, the parent takes
their child, their money and go elsewhere, where they are
satisfied and do get their educational money's worth. Now
in the government run schools parents have no power to take
their kids and go elsewhere, they are stuck in that one
school. Like all monopolies government does not provide
value for the dollar, you cannot complain about the shoddy
product and expect changes, and there is no alternative.
With choice, good schools are rewarded and bad schools go
under, as well as they should. With the government, bad
schools will go on forever, just like any other government
program no matter how useless, expensive or destructive it
is. Where there is personal choice, all parental needs can
be provided because the one who benefits is the one who
directly pays. Bureaucrats and administrators do not like
this because they become powerless, useless and their jobs
would be eliminated. The unions do not like this because
they would be held accountable for their actions and if they
did not do the job according to the wishes of the parents
(the customers) they would lose their jobs. The politicians
do not like this because they would lose power and control,
not only over a government program but of people. No one
would come to them for solutions or to pass a law because
people could do it themselves. They, the politicians, would
become irrelevant and that is anathema to a poltician,
especially a democrat. For this reason no democrat or
republican politician for that matter would ever want to
cede control over people and their money. Citizens who are
self sufficient and who know what they want for their kids
have no need for meddling, destructive and expensive
politicians.
As a Libertarian I truly believe in choice and the
empowerment of individiuals. The country was founded on the
principle of Liberty, that it is the individual who decides
what is best for him and how to spend his life and money in
the purusit of happiness as Mr. Jefferson put it in the
Declaration of Independence. School vouchers are a step in
the direction of that choice. Libertarians would pefer a
system of tax credits where people could take a dollar for
dollar tax credit and pay for their own children's
schooling. Where there are needs for poor people and their
children the credit could be taken by other individuals or
companies that have no kids but would like to see all kids
educated. This way everyone could choose the kind of school
they want, secular, parochial, christian or any other type
of school. They could choose schools with uniforms, prayer
or even single sex schools. They could choose schools that
provide other or even special needs that the parent
determines is important. No bureaucrat or politician with
some political agenda or special interest agenda could
interfere with a parent's right to educate their child in
the way they think is best. This way everyone's liberty and
choice is preserved and government influence is minimal.
Importantly to all of us, money would be allocated in the
most efficient and productive manner possible. All citizens
need to vote for the liberty and empowerment of the
individual. It is only in this way that the country's and
this state's schools can improve and provide the education
for kids that will keep the nation strong and the leader in
this world of ours
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