Public education is one of the most important investments in society. It is the ultimate investment in progress and economic equalizer. The equal access for all to education gives to betterment and is the foremost empowerment of economic mobility.
Public education, however, is publicly funded and you should have much more say in what is happening in the education system. A voucher system gives parents, more specifically, a more direct say in the education system vs a general election where those who do not have kids vote on the education system via policies as well. It’s a fair compromise.
A voucher system is funding that follows the student. Instead of getting a school assigned to attend, parents and students can choose which school they want to attend. It can bring more school choices to the ‘marketplace’ and compete based on quality education, offering, setting, etc.
The voucher system is nothing new and first been utilized over one hundred years ago. It probably hit peak ‘publicity’ when the economist Milton Friedman came out in its favour and was part of his television series Free to Choose and a book under the same name.
Many places, including Canada, have a modified voucher system that provides capitated grants; operating grants based on enrolment which follows the student into a school of their choosing be it public or charter as long as it’s accredited.
I’m not interested in the voucher system from the free market benefit assumption that it could be cheaper aka more efficient to provide education. Maybe it could. I am more interested in making the education system accountable and being able to pivot much faster than how it is operating now. There is also more room to develop specialties.
There is no shortage of recent news of what has been happening and the ideological pushes within our public school system. Be it the materials handed out to kids, indoctrinating and berating kids because of their religion, or the case of principal Richard Bilkszto. There seems to be no accountability, no changes, and with a direction that is alarming for many. Those parents (and students) shouldn't need to be supporting an environment if they don’t want to be part of it. Or taking part in.
My worry is that we don’t pivot, build and innovate on top of the current core curriculum fast enough. The allowance to bring subjects and education into schooling is also too slow and too many people are involved. Technology and skill demand in the marketplace are evolving much faster than the education system, and we are leaving too many kids behind.
There is an opportunity to skew schooling towards more emphasis on professional outcomes. Some schools offer more trades-related classes, some more towards healthcare, robotics, computer science, etc. There is the opportunity to add specialty schools within the education system based on parent and student demand.
The risk is that some schools will charge extra fees on top like some private/charter schools currently do as it is, and in doing so it will create education-level segregation by income. The exposure to ‘more’ within different schools is happening as it is but could be amplified easier within the voucher system. However, it can also give a much larger exposure to better education to a larger nominal number of students.
The opportunity is that we can shrink class sizes much faster while being publicly funded using the private market. Schools don’t have to be 2000 students, or 500 or even 100. There could be micro-schools that hyper-focus on subjects and stick with their niches and the setting that they want. That includes the opportunity for smaller schools that focused on those who the current education system leaves behind and doesn’t address their needs.
This allows for the rethinking of what physical school places look like. Instead of needing massive amounts of land for schools that hold 1500+ students, we can let schools choose how they want their spaces to look. Parents will choose those schools if they want. More schools can be put in more areas. Schools can cooperate and build relationships with labs, industry, etc to enhance their programs. Naturally, that will drop class sizes in the public school system and better the teaching environment much more efficiently; enriching and solving multiple issues at once.
With a more efficient school system, we can free up more capital to give low-income families more money for education and educational support. We can do it directly with a voucher system by giving more to low-income families with the families addressing their kids’ needs and allowing them to participate in an education that was deemed private before.
There is a possibility to break the shackles and look at a more accountable, performing, and inclusive to opportunities education system. It’s worth a look. Our kids are worth it.