ESCAPE FROM GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
(An in-depth study of the book, Escape to Learning: An Educator’s Answer to the Public School Crisis, by Richard G. Neal)
By Review by Frances Felts
In this book, bound tightly by an anecdotal narration of unparalleled and extensive experiences in every nook and cranny of the public schools across five decades, the author gives us an insider’s view of the hopeless bureaucratic jungle of the monopolistic and monolithic public schools. Driven by the needs of bureaucracy, politics, and teacher unions, parents and their children have become powerless. The internationally distinguishing feature of American life is choice – freedom of choice in everything – except government school attendance. By themselves, the public schools will not change. The have not changed. They cannot change. The only solution is desertion – via equitably differentiated vouchers, where school funding follows the student.
Some Bold Points Documented in the Book
- In June of 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court opened wider the door to financial support for parents who wish to choose private elementary and secondary schools for their children. The Education Establishment, especially teacher unions, geared up immediately to kill any such movement.
- While all other aspects of American life have changed for the better, the government schools have remained frozen in time, mired in the regimentation of a century-old Prussian paradigm and dominated by the entrance requirements of colleges.
- We now have a schools system that is a low-option monopoly trying to serve the pluralistic needs and interests of its citizens. Can’t be done. Our schools are islands of collectivism in a sea of freedom.
- There can be no real school choice until the issue of compulsory attendance is faced. Compulsory education is an oxymoron.
- The state has a right and obligation to assure that its citizens have a basic education necessary to function in our society – but only to that point.
- No proposal for change comes from with the system without an accompanying demand for more money, but more money just disappears into a giant sponge – and the “free” money from the Feds only makes things worse.
- 40 years ago an industrial model of collective bargaining was transferred from the competitive private sector to the non-competitive public sector. It has proven to be the wrong model, especially for public schools. Collective bargaining has turned out to be the worst mistake ever made in public education.
- Contrary to the successful and popular myth skillfully perpetuated by teacher unions, teachers are fairly compensated when compared to comparable jobs.
- The inability to dismiss incompetent teachers has had a depressing impact on the entire performance level of all teachers.
- Propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding, vouchers don’t deprive the public schools of any needed funds. As a matter of fact, any voucher amount less than the cost of educating a public school student, actually saves money for the public schools.
- Fearful that the truth will expose the horrendous failure of the public schools, student dropout rates are universally under reported.
- Through competition, a vibrant free market school system will force the government schools to improve.
- Change will not be easy. The Education Establishment is so powerful that it will be difficult to change from the outside. However, its own failures may ring its own death knell.
- The public schools will wither. The process has already begun. It’s just a question of when they will collapse. Just as Ma Bell, the trucking and airlines industries flourished when freed from stifling regulations, so will education flourish when freed from government control.
- The breakup of the government school monopoly and the issuance of vouchers (free of government control) will give birth to a veritable renaissance of education in the form of virtual learning, home schooling, education franchises, second-chance opportunities, independent study, long distance learning, on-the-job training, and a multiplicity of other learning experiences heretofore unavailable to most students.
A Hard-Hitting Synopsis of the Book
The Big Decision
In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 122 S.Ct. 2460 (June, 2002), the Court upheld a school choice program that was designed by the Ohio legislature to assist certain children in Cleveland in attending private schools. This decision gave great hope for similar programs in other states. But not all states have constitutions friendly to this concept. Friendly or not, great resistance is being exerted in all states that attempt to provide parents with meaningful school choice. The public schools have become the private property of The Education Establishment, consisting of school board members, teacher unions, school bureaucrats, and politicians. These groups have joined forces to kill any threat to their entrenched security.
Double Taxation
Even though private schools are available throughout the nation, they are not a choice for most parents. In the present environment, parents who exercise an option to send their children to private schools are double taxed. They must not only pay tuition to a private school, but they must continue to pay taxes to send other parents’ children to public schools (which on average are twice as expensive as private schools). As a result, 90% of school-age children face de facto compulsory attendance at government schools.
No Real Options
Hide-bound by tradition, misguided by wrong-headed education theorists, and stifled by regulations unrelated to student learning, the intellectual, social, and psychological growth of children is often stunted. The business of schools is less about learning, and more about “administrivia” to keep the school under control. To some extent, if you’ve seen one elementary school, you’ve seen all 52,000 other elementary schools. And to a lesser degree, the same is true for secondary schools. This monolithic approach to education defies the fact that one size does not fit all.
Government Schools will not Change
Our public schools have been in suspended status quo for decades, and little change for the better can be expected. In an institution as entrenched as the public schools, it is almost impossible to make any significant improvements due to the power of the status quo. This status quo is the result of overpowering events over a protracted period of time. Laws have been passed; school real estate has been purchased; school buildings have been constructed; education policies have been adopted; traditions have been established; and, the nation, unfortunately, has integrated the public schools into its social and economic structure. Improvements from within will not happen. Change will take place only when there is a power greater than the status quo, and it will come partially from the unintended consequences of social and technological changes. It will come from the introduction of competitive market forces and accelerated by the mounting failures of the government schools.
Public Servants have become the Public Masters
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, allowing collective bargaining in federal employment. This Order gave great impetus to the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to organize teachers along union lines. Combined, the NEA and the AFT represent one of the most powerful lobbies, especially at the state level. As the result of the effective work of these unions, under the banner of “Less Work, More Pay, and More Power,” most of the states had collective bargaining laws for teachers (and other public employees) within a relatively short period of time. During that period, the teacher unions flexed their powerful political muscles in state legislature after state legislature. Many intimidating tactics were employed, including participation in thousands of illegal strikes. The end product is a school system under the control of teacher unions. This has been accomplished by negotiating thousands of binding labor contracts that effectively prohibit any real improvements in the education program. Ironically, the NEA, AFT, and AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) have upstaged the United Mine Workers, the Teamsters, and the AFL-CIO. The Praetorian Guards have taken over.
“Survive” – The Most Important Word to an Establishmentarian
Our public schools have become the personal property of members of The Education Establishment. Politicians deceitfully invoke the welfare of children in order to buy votes and stay in office. State education department officials take fun trips in government-issued vehicles around the states, and, when not traveling, they have meetings and write regulations. School board members enjoy their offices for all the wrong reasons. Superintendents are well compensated CEO’s. School administrators have escaped the classroom to better-paying jobs. And, teachers have life-long jobs no matter how incompetent or no matter what happens. Can’t outsource classrooms to Mexico. All of these groups have a lot at stake in the public school monopoly, and they will not give up easily.
Myth: Teachers are Underpaid and Overworked
There are sound economic reasons for the current status of teacher compensation. There are sound reasons why teachers earn less than superintendents, and why teachers earn more than school clerks. Salaries are determined by a variety of factors: available supply of workers, degree and consequences of decision-making, accountability, amount of risk, job requirements, scope of supervision, amount of financial investment required for income, hours of work annually, etc. Also, the total compensation package, including fringe benefits, needs to be considered. When these factors are taken into account in comparing teachers’ jobs with comparable jobs in the private sector (or even in other government services), teachers come out quite well. This is especially true when the benefits of retirement, shorter work year, family-friendly workday, and unbelievable job security are given weight. Also, teachers are paid the salaries they now receive because this is what they have asked for in negotiating their labor contracts. They have negotiated to be paid on the average on a rigid salary grid that does not recognize quality of performance. As a result, some teachers are underpaid, while some are overpaid, but most are paid fairly.
Concocted Arguments Against Vouchers
Those who oppose vouchers have developed a long list of reasons why vouchers are bad. The arguments against choice make for excellent sound bites in the public media: Taxes cannot be used to pay for private education. Wrong. Vouchers will cause racial segregation. Wrong. Choice will cause all smart kids to leave the public schools. Wrong. Vouchers deprive the public schools of needed funds. Wrong. Private schools foster classism. Wrong. Education is so important that only the state should educate children. Really Wrong. Viable private school systems would fracture the needed cohesion of the American people. Wrong. Private schools would not accept special education students. Wrong. Private schools would not locate in poor neighborhoods. Wrong. Private schools would not locate in rural areas. So? There’s always the public school
The Many Advantages of Vouchers
Although a breakup of the government school monopoly would curtail some of the power that teacher unions have over education, the overriding value of vouchers is that parents would be empowered in the education of their children. There is no commonsense reason why the state should be the exclusive vehicle by which education is delivered, any more than the state should be the sole deliverer of food and housing. When parents use their own money to purchase education, they choose with care programs uniquely tailored to the needs and interests of their children – unlike the one-size-fits-all public school program. On May 9, 2002, during his 90th birthday celebration at the White House, Dr. Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics stated:
When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful how much he spends and how he spends it.
When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less careful about what he spends it on.
When a man spends someone else’s money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about what he buys, but doesn’t care at all how much he spends.
And when a man spends someone else’s money on someone else, he doesn’t care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that’s government for you.
The Incredible World of Choice
No voucher program is safe as long as the government safeguards it. Vouchers under the control of The Education Establishment would result in private schools being different from public schools in name only. Nevertheless, the use of tax-based vouchers for private education does require some oversight. Therefore, independent state boards free of government control should be established for this purpose. None of the existing state regulations governing public schools should be used, and no member of The Education Establishment should serve on such boards. State board members should come from parents and the business community and be appointed by an independent non-partisan state commission. All vouchers should be equitably differentiated, based upon the needs of the individual student. For example, it costs more to educate a handicapped student than a non-handicapped student. (A formula for how to do this is available is found in Richard G. Neal’s book, School Based Management: A Detailed Guide for Successful Implementation.) Just think, if only 20% of public school parents chose vouchers valued at an average of $6,000 (that’s $4,000 less than the per-pupils costs in public schools), a $billion market would be created! This much money in the hands of concerned and responsible parents would create a competitive education system rich in learning opportunities. One could expect an increase in home schooling, more gender-based grouping, an expansion of “virtual reality” programs, more on-site schools at businesses, increased enrollment in religion-affiliated programs, greater use of performance contracting, an expansion in education franchises, more non-aged-based learning opportunities, greater use of the environment for learning, more on-the-job training, expansion of all-year, evening, and weekend schools, greater attendance at residential schools, greater use of “learning technicians” and “learning facilitators” (and less use of “certified” teachers), less time-based learning and more accelerated learning, learning by individual contract, and who knows what else. No one can predict what freedom would produce.
Here Come Da Feds
Not too long ago there was a building in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Office of Education. Actually, it was quite nice. It had a great library and conducted a number of worthwhile studies; but, thankfully, it had no power over the public schools. Then came federal “aid” to education in the form of special education, Title 1, NDEA, No-Child-Left-Behind, etc. The U.S. Congress now sees nothing wrong with passing unconstitutional laws that that the states are required to pay for. For example, the federal government pays only about 10% of special education costs, but retains 100% power over the programs in the local school districts. The worst mistake that can be made in K-!2 education (unless you are a member of The Education Establishment) is to seek federal “aid.” – unless it’s in the form of a federal no-strings-attached income tax refund for private education.
The Bottom Line
With monopolies, the worst place to seek help for improvement is within the monopoly itself. If K-12 education is to be improved, seeking advice and direction from unionized teachers and their conjoined administrators, school board members, state officials, and politicians is pointless. They will simply provide more of the same. The Education Establishment has not changed and will not change left to its own devices because in fact it is incapable of change. Change will come only by an Escape to Learning.
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