Over at Cato.org, Andrew Coulson has a podcast from August 7th on Education Markets Versus Monopolies.
Coulson shows how even a small direct parental contribution in education, say 10-15% by cost, produces a significant increase in schools’ performance. (The irony is that parents and non-parents both pay a significant amount to public schools now, but without the kind of choice that should come with a significant contribution.)
Coupled with my earlier post on Coulson’s contention that public education was analogous to an expensive, old Chevy Impala, these will form the basis of three questions that I will use to consider education in our schools later this month:
(1) Are we performing better for what we spend and commit, across many years?
(2) How can markets or market-like free choices improve education?
(3) How can markets or market-like free choices improve education in our small school district?
I will revisit other topics that I have addressed for our schools, but these broad questions will guide my inquiry.