Myth Busters:
Education Freedom Myths and Facts
Claim:
“EDUCATION FREEDOM DEFUNDS PUBLIC SCHOOLS!”
Reality:
- The money doesn’t belong to the government schools. Education funding is meant for educating children, not for propping up and protecting a particular institution. We should fund students, not systems.
- Why would giving families a choice “defund” public schools?
- There are only two answers to this rhetorical question, both of which only make the argument for Education Freedom more compelling.
- Families aren’t happy with their residentially assigned government school (which is a great argument for allowing those families to choose rather than trapping their kids in schools that aren’t meeting their needs).
- The private school chosen by the parent isn’t actually better than their residentially assigned government school (which is a paternalistic argument that implies families don’t know what’s best for their own kids. The reality is parents know and care more about their children’s needs than bureaucrats sitting in offices hundreds of miles away).
- There are only two answers to this rhetorical question, both of which only make the argument for Education Freedom more compelling.
- Allowing families to choose their grocery store doesn’t “defund” HEB. Allowing families to choose their schools doesn’t “defund” government schools. Education Freedom doesn’t defund public schools. If anything, public schools defund families. Education Freedom initiatives just return the money to the rightful owners – or at least the intended beneficiaries of the funding.
- Education Freedom doesn’t defund public schools. If anything, public schools defund themselves when they fail to meet the needs of families year after year.
- If public schools are doing a great job then they shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
- U.S. public schools spent over $16,000 per student in 2020 according to the Census Bureau. Education Freedom proposals such as education savings accounts would only allow the state portion, less than half of the total funding per student, to follow the child. Public schools get to keep thousands of dollars for students they no longer educate. In other words, public schools would end up with more money per student. Just imagine if Safeway were able to keep your grocery funding even after you started shopping at Trader Joe’s. That would be a great deal for Safeway. EDUCATION FREEDOM is similarly a great deal for public schools.