Rights and Responsibilities in Educating Children 

Every four years I make it a point to watch the speeches of the Presidential and VP nominees of both parties at their respective conventions.  I like to do this since it is the longest speech I will hear of either parties candidates all election.  The media gives me three-second sound bites from that point on! J  I like to hear each candidate explain their vision for the US and rationale for their seeking the office. 

Being in the education field, I listen carefully to the candidates comments on education.  This election both candidates acknowledge that US education is in trouble.  McCain said we are operating with an old model, a 1950’s model.  He stated that the US needs to change our approach to a model that addresses the issues and relevance of the new millennium.  Obama on the other hand said the problem was a lack of funding and that increased funding would produce better results.

I see the problems in education going deeper than either of these explanations.  Funding and models of education are problem areas, but not the root.  If we want to change education we have to address the root issues.  Then we can deal with the details.

First root problem in education I see is that we have taken educational decisions away from the people who should be responsible for the decision.  Biblically and in principle, parents have the primary responsibility for their children’s education.  They have the relationship and motivation to see their children grow and develop and learn.  You will notice that at the college level we have none of the hand-wringing and complaints about education that we do in the primary and secondary levels.  I believe this is because the decision of whether, where, and why to go to school is in the hands of the people responsible for that decision.

When I taught government I used to point out that rights are tied to responsibilities.  A right to life has with it the responsibility to protect that right for other people.  Parents have a right to decide their children’s’ education.  When you take away peoples responsibilities you take away their rights.  We have forfeited our rights related to education and that is at the core of the problem in US education.

Why would a government want to take on your responsibility?  My cynical side believes it is so the government gets to decide what to teach and they get to control the purse strings.  Look at the anger over tax credits and the false claim of the loss of money in education.  The education establishment does not want anyone else getting money to educate.  You can also look at the battles being played out related to sex education and who decides what to teach.  Again, at the college level this is not a problem.  People decide what they will pay and if they do not like what the college is teaching they do not go and go where what is taught is in keeping with their values and beliefs.

More to come on this…

Welcome to the start of the 2008-2009 school year.  I look forward to sharing with you this coming year on the topics related to education.  The year has gotten off with a bang.  I do not know if you saw the recent editorial in the Tucson Citizen about Public schools and vouchers and tax credits.  The editorial called for an end to tax credits because now that desegregation has been set aside the public schools are now truly competitive.  You can read the editorial at this site:  http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/93504.php

Besides the interesting idea that it was desegregation law that made public schools less than competitive the disturbing point they made was that tax credits are taking money away from public education.  This is flatly wrong!  It is disingenuous and misleading.  As you can tell it made me mad!  The tax credit law has not taken a cent away from state spending on education.  State education spending has grown each year under the tax credit law.  To imply that public school students are somehow being deprived because of this program is dishonest.  In truth thousands of Arizona families are able to send their children to the schools of their choice because of the tax credit program.

In fact tax credits are actually helping public education in Arizona.  This program is saving the schools money and allowing for a higher per student expenditure for students in the public system.  The Goldwater Institute reported this in a policy paper they submitted a few years ago.  You can read it at this site: http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=18

Here at Desert more than 1/2 of our families benefit from the tax credit legislation.  Many of these families would not be able to send their children to this school without the presence of this scholarship money.  Tax credits have increased the economic diversity of our school family by allowing lower income families to attend DCS. 

It was interesting that the editorial also said tax credits were in violation of the state constitution.  That is completely untrue! The tax credit law has twice been ruled constitutional by the State Supreme Court and once by the US Supreme Court.  The judiciary says it is in line with the state and federal constitution.  One can be of the opinion that it should not be constitutional but that is different than saying it is unconstitutional.

There is a battle brewing over education.  The state monopoly continues to try to remove any competitors in the arena of education.  Let us all continue to expose the untruths being used to attach educational choice.  Here, by the way, is an interesting article to read on the history of US education:  http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v30n4/cpr30n4-1.pdf

You will not hear these things in the discussion on public education!