Key Points
  • Citizens, legislators, and regulators should separate the concept of public education from the monopolistic delivery system and embrace 21st-century methods of connecting students with learning experiences.

An excellent education has long been recognized as key to the American Dream. Unfortunately, the current monopolistic and expensive K-12 education system is failing students leaving them unprepared for college, careers or life. Similarly, higher education is leaving students with higher debt burdens and fewer career guarantees than ever before.

Over the last 30 years, public education expenditures have increased dramatically reaching more than $600 billion today. Unfortunately, the increase in expenditures has not created better education outcomes. Instead of throwing more money at the problem, it’s time to let parents take back control over their children’s education by allowing them to apply competitive pressure to schools and educational providers. Innovative, parent-empowering choices such as charter schools, voucher programs, tax credit scholarships, homeschool and education savings accounts allow each child the opportunity to reach his or her potential. In higher education, greater transparency is needed to ensure that students and parents know what they are paying for, and with what prospects they are likely to graduate.

Instead of endless top-down mandates, these revolutionary inroads into the education system are coming from the states. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books allowing charter schools to operate, while half the states have some form of private school choice program. The states should continue to expand parent choice and push educational institutions to compete with each other to provide the best product, just like providers of any other service.

Committees

Community Development

Communities have different needs when it comes to parks, historic preservation, tourism, zoning/land use and regulation. The ACCE Community Development …