It is time for the government to dismantle the Department of Education (which educates nobody), return the funds to the states to put toward education as their own citizens' needs require, and turn over control of the schools to the states and municipalities. It is time for the government to credit each parent with the full amount of money spent on educating their children.  This return would allow each parent to select a school that is achieving its goals. This would allow parents to "shop" for and find a good education for their child. This would allow even inner-city parents a chance to force schools to provide an education, or close their doors. Freedom of choice should be available for every parent and student. A good education should not be for the privileged few who can afford to send their children to private schools. A good education should not be out of any parent's reach.

The Republicans' stance on government-funded education is typical of their response to everything--more money, more regulation, and more programs. President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program leaves the impression that every child will be graduated -- regardless of his or her test scores. To boost the program's mission, the government will triple funding for reading--to $900 million in 2002. The program calls for periodic progress reports (we always called them report cards), information about teachers (we called that asking questions), and information about the schools' performance (we called that knowing your community). All in all, this is a program which promises everything, spends a lot to do it, but has no new mission or goals.

The Democratic stance on government-funded education is similar to the Republican position--more money. In fact, the Democrats are railing against the insufficient funding provided under Bush's regime. The Democrats are calling for more educational grants, more funds for special education, more teacher incentive grants, and the list goes on and on. The Democrats believe that with sufficient funding, all of the ills in public education will be cured. More money? Billions more?

More on the economic costs of Federally-controlled education