Education in America: School Choice is the Right Policy

Education is one of the most fundamental and important institutions in any society. Given the immensity of education’s role in molding future leaders, education should be controlled at the local level where parents and the community are familiar with important local issues and who are invested in the outcome of education. The federal government should have a limited role in allocating tax dollars for education. But as the Department of Education has grown, its control over education funding has increased as well.

The fundamental problem with federal control over funding local school districts is that the Department of Education has greater influence on education. This occurs when local school districts seek federal funding to supplement their budgets. When school districts seek federal funding, however, they must conform to the policies of a bureau in Washington D.C. thus they lose control at the local level.

The Department of Education was established in 1980 during President Carter’s administration by combining offices from several federal agencies. Currently, the Department of Education has 4,200 employees and a budget of $68.7 billion. The Department of Education’s purposes are: 1) to establish policies relating to federal financial aid for education, administer distribution of those funds and monitor their use in K-12 and higher education; 2) to collect data and oversee research on America’s schools and disseminate this information to Congress, educators and the general public; 3) to identify the major issues and problems in education and focus national attention on them; 4) and to enforce federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal funds and ensure equal access to education for every individual.

The Department of Education’s purposes are grandiose and encompass every aspect of education. Its purposes are admirable but should local tax payer dollars go to Washington D.C. so that a federal bureau can mandate how those tax dollars should be spent at the local level in misguided legislation such as No Child Left Behind? The system is like sending money to a stranger who lives a thousand miles away has never met you so that he can tell you how to raise your child.

Like any federal bureaucracy, once the Department of Education was created it became a permanent fixture in the debate between those who prefer limited government and those who prefer stifling government regulations. Also like any federal bureaucracy or program, once created it will likely control some aspect of tax payer lives in perpetuity. The fundamental question is this: are parents better informed and more invested in the education that their children receive or is the federal government?

On the surface, the National Center for Education Statistics data suggests that the Department of Education has succeeded in improving some standardized test scores in reading and math. The improvements, though, began in 1984 during a time when state legislatures and the federal and states courts systems allowed parents greater choice in education.

As Krista Kafer, Senior Fellow at the Independence Institute, illustrated in her article "A Chronology of School Choice in the U.S." school choice in the form of home education, intradistrict school choice and charter schools opened up several options for parents. More state funds were also made available to parents by way of tax credits or vouchers which allowed greater choice in sending children to private or public schools.

The correlation between school choice and improvements in testing scores is not mere coincidence. When given the opportunity to send a child to a school that performs well or leave the child in a school that performs poorly, parents typically choose the higher performing school.

To achieve significant improvements in the education performance of American K-12 children, the federal government should either step out of the way or reorganize its funding criteria. Education funds should primarily be attached to students, i.e. vouchers, rather than allocated to school districts. Many European countries have outperformed the U.S. in standardized tests as documented by the National Center for Education Statistics Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The U.S. was outperformed by eight countries according the TIMSS. All eight countries were in Asia or Europe and utilize a voucher system that attaches funds to students rather than allocating funds to a school district. Vouchers create a competitive environment wherein schools need to attract students who want to perform well. Competition also compels poorly performing schools to improve because funding can easily move from one school to another.

Education decisions must be made at the local level where parents and the community have more incentives and investment in the outcome of their children’s education. Tax payer dollars should remain at the local level rather than going to a federal bureau in Washington D.C. where a bureaucrat makes decisions about what’s best for your children.