Fund the Children, Not the Schools | 5 Minute Video

Why is it that parents have so little control over where their children go to school? Unless you homeschool or send your child to a private school, you’re at the mercy of the government and the Teachers Unions. That needs to change. Corey DeAngelis, National Director of Research at the American Federation for Children, explains why.

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Script:

Fund the children, not the schools. 

If ever an idea’s time has come, it’s this one. 

What does it mean?

It means parents decide where to send their children to school, not the government. 

A radical idea? 

Hardly. 

The federal government already gives money to college students in the form of Pell Grants. The student decides which college he or she wants to go to, not the government. 

The same is true with the GI Bill. The veteran decides which school he wants to give his scholarship money to, not the government.

Taxpayer-funded pre-K programs such as Head Start follow the same model. Parents decide—not the government—which pre-school they want their child to attend. 

We don’t force low-income families to spend their food stamp dollars at government-run grocery stores. They can go anywhere they want: Walmart, Target, Safeway, or any other similar store. 

The time has come to apply the same logic to K through 12 education. It’s hard to believe that we haven’t done it before now.  

Fund the children, not the schools. 

The money is there. 

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that public schools spent about $16,000 per student in 2019. For some perspective, data from Private School Review shows that the average private school tuition is about $12,000 per student each year.

So, why is K through 12 education the outlier? As we have seen, in virtually every other area of life, people choose how to spend their money—even when the money comes from the government. 

But for some reason, parents aren’t allowed to decide the best K through 12 school for their children. Choice is the norm for pre-K and higher education. Why not for K through 12?

Well, there is a reason: It threatens a special interest. A very powerful one. 

The teachers’ unions. 

The unions argue that giving educational funds to parents “steals money” from public schools. 

But where did the idea come from that the funding “belongs” to the public schools in the first place?

That’s right: the teachers’ unions. 

The truth is the opposite: public schools “steal” money from families. School choice initiatives just return the money to the hands of the intended beneficiaries of the funding—students and their parents.

Allowing families to choose their grocery store doesn’t “steal” money from Safeway. Allowing families to choose their school doesn’t “steal” money from public schools.

Ironically, the argument by public school advocates that school choice would “defund” public schools is an admission of failure. Given a choice, a vast number of Americans would prefer almost any other school to their local public school.

But right now, there are few options for parents to express that dissatisfaction. Homeschooling is an option, but many parents believe—rightly or wrongly—that they can’t do it. A private school can be another option, but it may not be financially feasible.

This gives the unions tremendous leverage. We saw how they use that leverage during the Covid crisis.

After a school year of lockdowns, most private schools fought to return to in-person learning. The teachers’ unions did the opposite: they fought to stay out of the classroom.  

If parents had the power to say, “Bye-bye, I’m taking my child’s education dollars elsewhere,” the situation would have been much different. The teachers’ unions know this, which is why they scream bloody murder every time the word “choice” is even mentioned.

Here’s the irony—you might even say tragedy. When faced with competition, public schools do, in fact, up their game. 

Twenty-five of 27 studies—and the latest peer-reviewed meta-analysis on the topic—find that private school choice competition leads to better outcomes in public schools. 

[jns]

I'm an educator in Public Schools. I was also a union member for 10 years. I've learned that the Union doesn't have the interest of students. They want power. And they're willing to keep that power by any means necessary. Reminds me of career politicians in DC... therefore, YES, let the parents choose and make schools more competitive. Any educator that works hard and cares for students should be able to sing this song with me.

[diggingattycho]

My mother was a teacher(now retired) at one point she was heavily involved in her union. One time at lunch we somehow got her on her union spiel. Both my wife and I sat there stunned, she went on and on about jobs, collective bargaining, etc. But the one thing that stunned both of us. Not a single mention of students.

[iamchillydogg]

All schooling should be private. End property taxes and use that money for a private school.

[TheErik]

In 1979, my mother just started lying to the school district about where we lived so we could attend the school she wanted us to go to.
God bless her eternal soul, I love that woman!!!

[katieh]

I decided to homeschool my kid for next year because when I started registration for public school, it prompted a screen asking for her gender and then it went to gender identity crap. Oh, did I mention my daughter is going into I am scared of failure but I know that this is the right thing to do for my child with the way things are at public schools.

[ryanhunsader]

Great to see Corey getting noticed. He’s been working his tail off on this issue for a while now. Corey rocks!

[freedomcat]

My mom volunteered at Fort Wayne Public Schools to be able to walk me home at the end of the day and she noticed that the teachers sent their kids to private schools. Free Market for Schools is best!

[davec]

I was a teacher for two years. During that time, the teachers union would give out Left-leaning NEA articles. When it came to local election time or issues, they would always recommend contacting Left politicians. When it came to "D" & "F" students, the schools wanted us to socially promote those students. It really was not about the students.

[mamc]

We really do need to get our children into greater education programs, all of them!

[alaningerson]

I left the public school system after 10 years. I attempted to fight the abuse, waste and idiocy the entire time. Most of the people working for the school system have never had a "real" job. One that requires continued performance for a wage increase. These people would never make it in a real corporate type job. The financial waste in the corrupt system is staggering and no one ever gets terminated for the abuse, even after many failed policies and practices. Horrible system!

[jrclem]

About 35 years ago I taught school for five years. I am so glad that things didn't work for me and I made a career elsewhere. I saw so much waste, hypocrisy, and other b.s. that it was not the place for me. I would have never lasted twenty-five years to retirement. In our state people paid an extra $50 for car tags that say "Support Our Schools." I tell people not to do that. We have three different school systems within a 15 mile radius and each has a central office overflowing with people making $75, 000 a year doing next to nothing. If you want to give to the schools, call your local school ask to speak to a good teacher and ask what he/she could use that you are willing to buy and then take it to the school directly cutting out the middle man. I know some churches that do that and that way it helps the kids not some beurcrat.

[GoodSchooling]

Americans already have school choice. It is legal in every state to homeschool or use a private school. The concept of “school choice” was started by the Dept of Ed in the 80’s to try to get ALL forms of education under government control. Government money ALWAYS COMES WITH STRINGS. Vouchers will always give the government a foot in the door to say, “Well, if you’re gonna use OUR money, then we need to have a say in how it’s used.” We already see this in states where homeschoolers are given money to put toward educational activities or materials - they aren’t usually allowed to use them for anything religious.

Parents often think they can’t afford to homeschool because they think homeschool needs to look like public school. This is 100% false. You’d be shocked at how little money it takes to give your kids a really great education. The key, however, is in realizing that the education they’re getting in public schools is not the standard you should be trying to meet. This is why it’s so incredibly important for parents to deschool themselves!

[Silly-Little-Mama]

Love Corey DeAngelis! His info played a part in persuading me to pull my oldest out of school in 2018. My younger two have never gone. The education system is very, very broken. Glad we are not part of it anymore.

[shawnmccarty]

Thank you, our children are in big trouble. We need to save them. Keep up the good work!

[CowboyTay]

Why I don't disagree with this, there is a lot of school choice legislation out there that is more harmful than helpful. Many programs want to create accounts to place the "school funding" in and then pay it directly to the school of your choice, however, they also have to be approved schools which allows your state government the ability to set restrictions as to what schools you can choose. Also, by paying the funds directly to a private school, that school now has state and federal, co-mingled funds in it, and as such can be held to the same governmental guidelines as public schools. Once one student introduces public funds into your private school or homeschool co-op, the government is in. Don't be fooled by this!

The best way to do this is to give the money directly to the parents who then pay the money to the school of their choice. This creates an arm's length transaction and keeps the government out of private education. It can be done a multitude of ways but I like the idea of doing it through your state tax commission. Seems to be the cleanest approach.

[paulathompson]

This is how the schools in Colorado work. I won't pretend that we have the best schools, but the competiton to keep kids does help improve the quality of education. We can choice into any school, anywhere we would like. In district families do get first priority when there are openings, and when our district got a little too comfortable with a good reputation, they didn't try as hard and families started going to other districts and that was a wake up call to step it up again. And should you homeschool, money goes right to the parents to pay for it. I'm guessing this was all set up back when we were a more right leaning state, many years before Denver went liberal.

[sospoonee]

This is a great topic to discuss right after we've abolished the Department of Education.

[nikolaj]

The US could literally have free education and healthcare for all

[darthmaul]

“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” -Diogenes.

[dmsullivan]

One of many reasons I am not a union member. I've taught in private and public, and sent my own kids through both private and public. It always bugs me that I'm saving the state tens of thousands of dollars while paying for private school, and I recieve no compensation. I did a research paper during my graduate on school vouchers and the above is all correct, there are alot of misnomers out there on this topic. What you never hear, is that the Catholic Church started educating all children for free before the government was ever involved. The Church felt that it was a God given, basic human right to be educated. A few years later, with the land grant, the government also decided that all children should be educated. Here's the kicker, so called "public education" began as a voucher system, utilizing in part the private system already in place. The founders of "public education" never intended for the education of children to be left soley in control of the state!