School Funding

My paternal grand father J.H. Roberts got his schooling in Gonzalez, Texas where he finished eighth grade in 1885. In those days eighth grade was as far as most people went. It was eight years more formal education than J.H.'s father got and it made him literate and numerate enough to become successful in the lumber business. My dad used to tell me J.H. could walk through a forty acre tract and calculate in his head how much timber was on it and how much it was worth. He would be annoyed with my dad when he couldn't do it. 

J.H. had a knack that was impossible for his father. He recognized the importance his early schooling played in that and sent all his own children to college. That is a familiar American family story and one that in no small way accounts for the unprecedented prosperity we enjoyed in the twentieth century.

I thought about J.H. last week when I read that half of New York City high school graduates do not have the basic reading, writing, and math skills they need to do college level work. That means to me they also lack the skills they need to join the work force and enjoy the middle class careers that at a minimum any American should be entitled to. 

We've been talking about this for a long time. I remember seeing headlines from the 1960's "Why Can't Johnny Read?" It seems to me matters have only gotten worse. We pretty much agree on the value of primary education to society. That's why we have school taxes. Everybody pays them. In Texas if you own your home you pay them directly. If you rent your landlord pays them. Few would dispute the justice in a publicly funded education for every child.

But would somebody explain to me why the government has to run all the schools, or why government run schools should have a monopoly on public funding? What if we contracted them out? That's essentially what we do with charter schools. Many of them seem to be doing quite well. What if we had more magnet schools competing for students rather than having children strictly assigned by zip code? According to some surveys two Dallas magnets rank among the best public high schools in the nation.

And what in heaven's name is wrong with sending a child to a private school, parochial or not, at public expense? If she gets an education don't we get our money's worth? Every voucher or tax credit program I know about costs less than we would spend in a public school. We can insist on the same testing and accreditation we use for public schools. Parents should be a reliable check on the quality of any school, public or private.

When Lynne and I  moved to Plano the reputation of the schools was a driving factor in our choice of neighborhoods. Not every parent has that option. But no child should be condemned to a failing school just because of where he lives. Every parent should have some say in the matter. Some would say the answer is to fix the school and so we should. We've been saying that for many years, spending enormous sums with mediocre results, or no results at all. That doesn't mean we should give up on them but what about the children who are in them today? If we can give at least some of them better opportunities shouldn't we do that?

We will not be a just society until every child has the kinds of opportunities J.H. Roberts grew up with. Too many of today's children don't have them. We need to do something about that.