Education Is Vital To the Prosperity and Well-being of Every Citizen.

When politicians promise Freedom of Choice, do they actually mean it?

“Declare public schools an essential service”.

This was the advice offered by my wife, a former public school teacher and principal, regarding what to do to “fix” Ontario’s controversial public Education system. She knows that labour unions exert far too much adversarial and counterproductive influence on the delivery of government-funded education. As an ‘essential service’, strikes and work-to-rule campaigns would end.  Unions could no longer impede the delivery of “public education”.

Competition and Accountability in Education.

As a Less Government Libertarian, I like my wife’s suggestion as

a good first and immediate action to take, but I believe that a complete transformation the entire Education sector is needed to provide un-constrained Freedom Of Choice for every adult and child who seeks professional education services. Competition is the best and only way to deliver a truly diverse range of such services to everyone.

Monopolies are expensive, inflexible and excessively controlling.

“Governments hold the monopoly on force”. The source of all government monopolies is legislation which has been created and approved by past elected politicians. This legislation and associated ‘enforcement’ regulations serve to constrain any and all would-be competitors to government monopoly. In the Education sector, for example, excessive restrictions and regulations are barriers placed on the tiny market share of non-government Education service providers. Concurrently, politicians and tax-funded public officials continue to enforce and extend their monopoly powers to deter others.

Of course, there are many stakeholders who are employed by such institutions and enterprises that benefit from those monopoly powers. These include, but are not limited to: tax-funded School Boards and the schools they oversee;  the leaders and members of unions that deliver  “monopoly labour” to those institutions and enterprises.

Choice means Choice - NOT COMPROMISES!

The Libertarian Non-Government Options model offers genuine choice for everyone. It will deliver the same benefits of competition in the Education sector are we all experience every day from local businesses.

The concept is simple and very achievable in today’s Digital Economy, but it will surely be met with fierce resistance from unions and the other privileged beneficiaries of the government monopoly model.

FAIRNESS and CHOICE are compatible principles.

Freedom of Choice must be applied to everyone equally in any government that claims to be “democratic”, and this must apply to Education services. Here is how the Education Non-Government Options model will work to maximize Freedom Of Choice for every citizen in a competitive market driven by consumer choice and their willingness to pay:

• Choice #1:  Opt-In to support government schools. Pay your share of tax payments that are required to operate government schools.

• Choice #2:  Opt-Out to pay no taxes for government schools. Apply the tax savings to support the non-government schools of parents/students choice.

Any citizen is free to Opt-Out but this will likely be most attractive to the parents, grandparents, aunts and include whom wish to apply their tax savings to help a child attend a non-government school.

Supply and Demand will create diverse options

The simple economic law of ‘supply and demand’ predicts a thriving growth market for non-government schooling options.  Education entrepreneurs will surely establish a wide range of options that will meet the diverse needs and interests of Ontario’s students.

Non-government schools exist today.

Yes, we already have examples of alternative schooling options, but government policies contain them to small fractions of the Education sector. Let’s review some of them.

Private schools are a well-known option for parents who can afford them. My brother, for example, sends his only child to one which provides her a richer educational and extra-curricula experience than is available in public schools. He complains often about having to pay taxes to fund the government schools that he does not use; he should have the ability to Opt-Out.

How many other parents would have chosen private schools if they too could Opt-Out of tax obligations? Also, what if grandparents, aunts and uncles could also Opt-Out of paying taxes towards government schools and allocate those savings towards helping to fund the private school education of their grandkid, nieces and nephews?

The Montessori method of education is popular with many parents of young children. It is a system that seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods. It was developed by physician Maria Montessori in the early twentieth century based on scientific research. The system emphasizes independence and it views children as naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a sufficiently supportive and well-prepared learning environment. The underlying philosophy discourages some conventional measures of achievement, such as grades and tests. (Source: Wikipedia)

What if the choice to Opt-Out of government school taxes also existed to free up money to pay for the Montessori schools?

Charter Schools available in Alberta. A charter school is a public school that functions semiautonomously. Its charter is a document that declares the school's special purpose and rules of operation. Since a charter school is publicly funded, it is not permitted to select its students or charge tuition fees. It is required to teach the standard curriculum, to have a board of governors, and to be accountable to the agency that granted its charter. Alberta is the only Canadian province to offer charter schools. (Source: the Canadian Encyclopedia)

What if Ontario introduced charter schools to operate within the government school system but on a voucher model? Parents could Opt-In to support a government charter school and designate that their Education tax follow the student as a voucher payment to the charter school of their choice.  This “follow the student” option offers parents the assurance that their taxes will be applied to a specific purpose and not towards unknown and unrelated government expenditures.

Home Schooling is on the rise. An increasing number of parents are concerned about the “progressive” policies that are infiltrating public schools such as “woke” ideas about gender and critical race theory. In addition, labour unions have always been active in public schools and are inject unwanted workplace practices and politics that serve  their interests over those of students and parents. Home schooling offers an exit door from these schools.

The Ministry of Education has the general Ontario curriculum on their website for Elementary and Secondary as well as French Language Education. Parents can closely or loosely follow this curriculum. Some parents do this so their children will stay at the same level as their classmates in the case they have to be re-integrated into the public system. Other parents choose other methods of homeschooling that have nothing to do with the Ministry of Education’s planned curriculum. These are all perfectly legal for parents to do. If there was a point in time that a parent has no choice but to place a child back in public school, the school would simply administer a placement test to verify learning levels. Here’s a useful link. (Source: OntarioHomeSchool dot org)

Freedom Of Choice serves citizens best!

Clearly, the Non-Government Opinions model is a viable and desirable way to meet the Education needs of every student if only we eliminate government monopoly control and micro-management (see link)

Of course, it’s a complex topic to consider from an implementation point of view but we have many examples in the greater Economy that prove that complexity can be overcome by human creativity, critical thinking, technology and perseverance in pursuit of customer satisfaction.

If humans can put a man on the moon and build a world-wide Internet, we can certainly bring Freedom of Choice to our citizens in areas as important as Education.

https://tnc.news/2022/05/08/levy-toronto-school-board-bringing-in-quota-system-for-specialized-schools/

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