OPINION| Thomas: Time To Stop Taxation for Schools 8-30-2017
My friends in the government schools industrial complex will hate this. Those involved in parochial, private and home schooling get it. The government schools industrial complex have an unfair advantage. They get municipal, state and federal governments to tax the people outlandish fees to pay for a less than stellar service.
The complex has the nerve to not only take the dough, but then set stringent, compulsory rules and regulations. Mandatory testing, 180 day school year, lunch when they say so, recess maybe, a doctors note for an excused absence and standardized testing are just a few of the mandates thrown on today's school chum. When a student runs afoul, they get banished with an in school suspension. When a state report shows the school or system as low performing, the leaders belly ache we need more money. Damn, they usually get it too.
When parents complain about a student bullying their child, the system brushes it off like dandruff. I long for the day, when a student hauls a classmate into court and drops a nice junior sized restraining order on the other kid. That'll ring louder than the tardy bell.
Annie Holmquist is a Senior writer for Intellectual Takeover. Her research reveals that homeschoolers are saving states approximately $22 B a year, simply by not gracing a government school with their presence, by not requesting the school breakfast, lunch and dinner programs, by rejecting some of the other thoughtful, but uncalled for add-on programs. In Massachusetts, homeschoolers are saving the Commonwealth more than $435,000,000 a year, based on the number of home schoolers (29,000+) x per pupil cost ($15,000+). You don't need Common Core math to figure this one out.
So, here it is. According to Holmquist, home school students do better than their government semi-educated peers on standardized tests, earn a higher GPA and also graduate college more often than government schooled students. Pile on the billions in cost savings, it makes me wonder why home-schooling isn't swelling at a faster clip.
BTW>> the numbers reveal home schooling is growing each and every year.
There are two reasons why government schools get away with their top to bottom, authoritarian, educational game plan:
- The taxing scheme makes folks believe schooling is free. We all know there's no such thing as a free lunch, but try convincing dumbed-down parents otherwise. They're busy watching repeats of "A Current Affair."
- Compulsory education now pre-dates anyone alive. In other words, only a few thousand U.S. residents really know better.
What's the solution? Start a drive to usher in a more competitive education system. That's what Horace Mann did when he introduced the current system in the mid 1800's. It took Mann from the 1830's to about 1852. He was no fool. Mann educated his kids outside the system he inspired.
Let's get rid of the coercion-oriented taxing scheme. Make all schooling equal. Schools can enjoy a tax free status, but now schools will charge their market rate for each child. School A may charge $5,000/year and provide breakfast, lunch and dinner. School B is $3,500/year with no meals. School C offers a comprehensive math and science curriculum for $3,500/year. School D specializes in foreign language arts and pre-law for $5,500. Families choose where they want to send their child(ren), based on the family/child's desires. You crave diversity over academics, go here. The best women's basketball coach is at School G, pay for your daughter to go there.
It's time to stop the monopoly government school industrial complex that takes each individual triangle, circle, and hexagon and squashes him/her into a square hole.
Editor’s Note: Brian Thomas is the host of Brian’s Beat on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10am-Noon and Saturdays from 6am-9am. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.