UL editorial on public schooling

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=On+public+education%3a+Cutting+out+the+middle+man&articleId=0ca7cd12-4098-4427-b375-e6a0a9f6a8b6

On public education: Cutting out the middle man

WHAT IS THE point of having a public school system? The question is trickier than it sounds.

The point, of course, is to ensure that all citizens, regardless of income, have enough education to function as adult citizens of our republic. The point is not for the state to operate schools, but for the state to provide for an education for all citizens.

That is why New Hampshire allows public schools to tuition their students out to private schools. It's not important that the children are educated by the government, but that there is some collective source of funding to provide for everyone's education.

Enter the debate over public kindergarten. The state Senate has passed a plan for funding public kindergarten in the few remaining school districts that don't provide it. But the House is considering an alternative that would allow these districts to contract with private kindergartens instead of building their own public kindergartens.

This is a terrific idea. And it raises another question.

If school districts are allowed to tuition their students to private schools and contract with private kindergartens, then why are parents still forbidden from doing that contracting themselves?

It is already established precedent in New Hampshire that public funding of privately provided education is OK. Why not cut out the middle man -- the local public school district -- and finally empower parents to decide what school best fits their children's needs?

We as a society have agreed that government should fund education, but there is no good reason for government to provide it.

[Jacobus]

We as a society have agreed that government should fund education

I must have missed that memo.

[Vitruvian]

I must have missed that memo.

Me too.  Gmail's spam filter must be doing its job.

[David]

I must have missed that memo.

Me too.  Gmail's spam filter must be doing its job.

[J’raxis 270145]

We as a society have agreed that government should fund education

I must have missed that memo.

Part I, Article III of the New Hampshire Constitution establishes the "social contract":—

[Art.] 3. [Society, its Organization and Purposes.] When men enter into a state of society, they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society, in order to ensure the protection of others; and, without such an equivalent, the surrender is void.

What? Don't y'all remember signing that contract?