Education reform proposal

The Founders of our nation did not mention the word education once in the entire constitution.  It wasn’t that they did not believe in education, to the contrary, they believed it to be vitally important and the only way our nation would continue to thrive in the future.   They did not mention it because they wanted the people not to have to deal with any government dictates, and to have the total freedom necessary to determine the best method of education for their own children.  

They certainly did not want the government to control the education process, as this was a sure pathway to government indoctrination and tyranny.  We can see from today they were absolutely correct.  As they acknowledged freedom of religion, they also acknowledged freedom of education.  

The results from the top performing education systems in the world (Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong), all seem to point in that direction as well.  

All of these systems raise the eligibility requirements to become a teacher to an extremely high level, and teachers are treated as true professionals on par with physicians and dentists, with complete autonomy, teacher collaboration to find the best teaching methods, continuing teacher education, complete public trust, and increased status and pay.  They are given complete leeway to determine the best methods to teach the children under their auspices and are also responsible for virtually everything related to the classroom without external testing or monitoring.  There is no teacher’s union or administrative requirements other than the school principal.   In essence, there is virtually no government control of education.  Parents can choose the school of their choice, and each school has virtually the same resources available, making educational opportunity equal across all social and economic levels.  

While the best systems have various methods of funding, they have completely gotten away from government intrusion and control.  Our educational system is heading in the opposite direction, and the results show.  

Though these systems all seem to exist in smaller populations, and funding is generally done through government funding mechanisms, I would like to propose a possible method we could use to accomplish the mechanics of the best systems, but with a funding method more in line with what the Founders had in mind.  

First, a few facts gleaned from U.S. government  and educational sites:

1. The U.S. (Federal, State and Local) governments together as of 2011 spend $916 billion on education funding, or $11,000 per child in public schools.
2. The U.S. governments (all levels), spends and collect taxes equal to $8,000 per household on education. 
3. The average household income is $50,000 / year.
4. There are 115 million households in the U.S. according to the Census Bureau, of which 20 million have one child, 77 million have no children, and 18 million have more than one child. 
5. Average private school tuition in the U.S. = $8,500 / year. 
6. Private school students score significantly higher on the ACT tests than public school students, (which explains why the ruling class all send their kids to private schools). 

The funding proposal is as follows:

1. Privatize ALL the schools.  Eliminate all Federal taxes dedicated to education, State sales, income and other taxes spent for education, (which accounts for the largest percentage of the state budget by a large margin),  and Local (think property tax) spending and taxation for education.  This saves each average household approx.. $8,000 / year. 
2. Each employee would have 10% of paycheck taken out  and placed into an educational savings account (ESA) invested in a basket of safe alternatives to grow tax deferred.  (If average household income = $50,000, then this would be $5,000 / year).
3. For the 20 million households with 1 child, they would save $8,000 on taxes, spend $8,500 on tuition, (almost a wash).  They would use their ESA funds for the balance, for any other extraneous expenses, and to keep it growing to fund a college education.  
4. For the 77 million with no children, they would save the $8,000 in taxes, but would have only 20% of their ESA funds deposited into their ESA account.  They could use this for their own education, or transfer it to a another family member or any other beneficiary for them to use for their education.  The other 80% of their paycheck withdrawal would be deposited into a state education fund to be used to supplement the poor (those without a paycheck), and the 18 million households with more that one child.   Though this may seem a bit unfair at first, they are saving $8,000 in taxes, and losing $4,000 in paycheck withdrawal, so they still come out ahead $4,000.  
5. For the 18 million households with more than one child, they would use their tax savings ($8,000) plus their ESA contribution ($5,000), first, then would be given a voucher from the state education fund to make up the difference.  
6. The poor (without a paycheck, which with the right systems (i.e. private charities and churches), would only be a temporary situation (we will save that for another discussion)), would use the state education fund entirely.  
7. Note that the paycheck deduction is based on a percentage.  Obviously those who make a lot more than $50,000 per year would be paying a lot more into the state education fund.  Since the state is no longer spending $11,000 per year to educate each child in a public school system, there may wind up being a surplus in the education fund.  If that occurs, adjustments (reductions) can be made in the percentage of paycheck withdrawal, but  I believe the percentage should be kept the same for all income levels. 

Each parent, no matter what socio-economic status they are in, chooses which school to send their child to based on the curriculum taught, the methods used, and the results obtained.   This levels the playing field and gives all children regardless of circumstance an equal opportunity for a quality education.  

Once the funding has been established, the elimination of union and government interference and intrusion into the educational system via the privatization of all the schools will create  a free enterprise environment which will encourage competition to give the parents the best education for their children and excellence from both the teachers and the schools.   Since they now have a choice as to where their children go to school,  parents will begin to demand their teachers be extremely well qualified, much as they do with their pediatrician or dentist, raising the bar on entrance into the teaching profession.   Without government intrusion, the privatized school, in order to reduce costs and become more efficient, will cut all the administrative fat, utilizing only a principal to manage the business of the school,  and transferring those savings into giving the teachers the resources they need.    As in the medical profession, the teachers will have total autonomy to find the best methods for their students, attending state and national conventions and meetings to exchange ideas they can take back to their classrooms in an effort to constantly improve the quality of their product and the satisfaction of the parents and students.  

I believe, as the Founders probably did, that a completely free market is the best method to achieve the highest quality education for all of the children in the U. S. A.