McPherson: End the Public School Monopoly

New Hampshire students are being cheated by a public school monopoly, and their parents have to pay for it.

The Concord Monitor recently reported that only sixty-six percent of 11th graders "scored proficient" in English last year. Just forty-four percent were proficient in math. That's a tragedy.

Only forty-five percent of eighth graders are proficient in math, and only fifty-eight percent are considered proficient in English. Third graders were tested, and those results are bleak as well. Failure haunts the system.

Whatever it is kids are learning in schools these days, it has more to do with making them into "good citizens of the world" than providing them with the skills they need for college, or life. Johnny can't read or make change, but he sure knows an awful lot about "climate justice" – whatever the hell that is.

Parents, and all taxpayers are on the hook for billions of dollars to build and staff schools. They pay for the promise of "quality education," yet have no meaningful claim on where or how that is provided. Meanwhile schools are churning out ignorance.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Fortunately, a bold proposal before the state legislature could move us in a better direction. SB193 passed through the Senate in March, and now awaits a vote in the House. This bill, if signed into law, would create Education Freedom Savings Accounts, sort-of like a school voucher program, but really scholarships for individual students. EFSAs would receive a tax-free injection of public funding from the state, about $3,300, which parents could then use to pay for tutors, textbooks, transportation, homeschooling, online courses, computer hardware and software, and/or to send their child to a private school, a charter school, or a public school in another district.

As the Union-Leader opined, "It would turn students into customers, and let schools compete for their business." Well, it's a start anyway.

Students shouldn't be sentenced to twelve years in a one-size-fits-all regime that cannot provide them with the basic academic skills they need to succeed. And parents shouldn't be compelled by law to fund schools that cannot or will not help their children. Let's support SB193 and put the monopoly on notice.

[This is a revised version of an earlier post. I felt the previous version lacked focus, and edited it accordingly. SM.]