Well, I am probably in jpnpb’s camp on this one. I’d rather pay for other people’s kids to be well educated than to have them grow up with their knuckles scraping the ground.
But:
1. Anyone who has a middle class income or more should pay for their own kids, in full, 100%. Grade the % down as the parents get poorer.
2. There should be a strict limit on all public school spending on items other than teachers’ pay. Get rid of most of the school district employees, and counselors, and other overhead. If you don’t like that, then pay your own d*^& money to send your kids to a school with all the overhead.
3. Teachers should generally get more pay, and be subject to tough student-based performance standards that eliminate 5% or so of all teachers from the profession per year for lack of suitability/capability. In other words, make teaching a higher status/pay profession than it is, with performance requirements to match.
4. Add the forces of real competition to teaching, allowing schools not run by the local govt to set up shop if they can produce better results for the same cost or less.
I know, none of this will happen, but I feel better now.
