Before we dive into this special report on education in Georgia, we would like to extend our thanks to US Congressman Phil Gingrey, the first GA Congressman to sign our No Climate Tax Pledge. The pledge covers Cap and Trade type legislation. 

For the brightest and best thinking on a range of issues that affect our prosperity, from energy to education, register today for our Defending the American Dream Summit in Washington, DC, Oct 10 & 11.  

School Choice 

Public school, charter school, private school, or home school; how’s a parent to know which school is best for their children? Economics have made the choice for many parents in the past, who couldn’t afford to send their children to private school or couldn’t afford to stay home and teach their children themselves. But there’s a growing discontent with public schools, sometimes referred to as “government schools.” While public schools are the backbone of American education, wealthier parents have always had educational options. Poor and even middle class parents have seen their children trapped, sometimes in failing schools, sometimes in good schools that just didn’t meet their particular needs. What’s the solution?  

Across political, racial, and economic lines, there’s a strong and growing preference in Georgia for an idea known as school choice. A majority of school teachers even support school choice. With this option, parents would be allocated money (in voucher form) and could pay to send their child to any school that would accept them. They could stick with their local public school, choose another public school, choose from a variety of private schools, or home school. School choice (GA Senate Bill 10) is available now in Georgia for special needs children, with encouraging results.  

GA Public Policy Foundation recently hosted a School Choice forum, featuring State Senator Eric Johnson. He is leading efforts in Georgia to make school choice a reality. Senator Johnson explained what had been done in the educational arena and laid out a plan to move Georgia toward school choice, beginning with students in chronically failing schools. In conclusion, he stated, “This is the issue facing Georgia. We can’t fix traffic if our children cannot do the math needed to be an engineer. We cannot create alternative fuels if they don’t understand chemistry or physics. If we offer every parent the freedom to choose the best school and allow the funding to follow each child to their chosen school, Georgia will skyrocket to the top of every educational measurement. We are at a crossroads. Advances in technology, science, medicine and engineering offer Georgia citizens a future of prosperity and a better quality of life. But, to reap these rewards, we must tackle education reform.”

One program in development now is a GA income tax credit that matches donations to Student Scholarship Organizations. Made possible by GA House bill 1133, the Tuition Tax Credit program allows up to $50 million in donations to be funneled into scholarships for public school students to attend private schools. The dollar for dollar tax credits are allowed for individuals, partnerships, and corporations with preapproval.

What’s good about school choice? Competition. Just like a rising tide raises all boats, competition will raise the standards in all of our schools. As long as a person, business, or public entity gets the same reward no matter what their performance, there’s no incentive to improve. Look at telephones, automobiles, and computers – these companies study the innovation of their competitors, adjust to stay afloat, and we get a better product – often at a better price. It’s time we got both for our education dollars.  

What’s at stake? On a macro scale, our economic standing in the world; micro scale, our individual children’s future success in life. Public school bureaucrats and politicians have  used the old saw “It’s for the children” so often when trying to extract more money for the current system that it’s become a mockery. Most of us know the dismal statistics about the lifetime success of dropouts and others who fall between the cracks in the system, and we certainly want success for our children and others' children, but would you voluntarily invest your money in anything with the dubious success record of our public schools? Through our federal, state, and local taxes, we’ve already thrown a fortune into the public school system, without gaining the desired effect. In Georgia, we have the highest paid teachers in the Southeast and spend more per student, but we continue to scrape the bottom of national statistics on graduation rates and test scores. It’s downright embarrassing when you hear a jubilant report that GA has now climbed to 3rd from the bottom. And national statistics aren’t so great either; while many other countries consistently outscore US students on academic areas important to industry, like math and science, we continue to do the same things and get the same results. The global economy is harshly competitive – today’s winner can easily become tomorrow’s loser. 

Are public schools all bad? Certainly not. Many public systems, individual schools, and teachers have provided an excellent education for their students, often without optimal funding or appreciation. They are to be commended, having been hamstrung in their mission by bureaucratic power trips, lawsuits, government mandated rules, and, yes, ignorant, uninvolved parents. Because the value of education is learned at home and requires the support of the family, especially the parents, maybe we should empower, and thereby involve, the parents in education decisions. And tell the bureaucrats, lawyers, and politicians to back off.  

Will school choice hurt public schools? Bring school choice up in a roomful of education bureaucrats and you’ll get the idea that the sky is falling. They’ll tell horror stories of failed private schools and home schools, and predict dire outcomes for public schools. But school choice may, in fact, be the best thing that ever happens to public schools. Competition, increased parental involvement, less school overcrowding, higher student to teacher ratios, innovative thinking - that’s not all bad. Read about Sweden’s education experiment here.  

What if parents make bad choices? Sometimes parents do, and often government officials do; it’s human nature. But parents are usually more adept at adjusting quickly. After all, their children’s success is in the balance.