Just when I thought the economic recovery was pretty much agreed upon, our headlines talk about cutting up to 1,000 jobs from the Forsyth County School System (sorry to have to link you to our terrible newspaper website). Maybe it’s time to privatize K-12 education if the public system continues to be so mis-managed.
At least I am assuming it is a management problem. If you looked at the WS/FC school system as though it were a corporation like, say Forsyth Medical Center, they are similar: large operating budget (100’s of million) and large staff (thousands). Yet the latter is hiring and keeping well-paid employees, works with the latest technology and plenty of resources, and has a competitive end-product and service: medical care. The school system has under-paid, stressed employees, making do with limited resources and is under-producing its end-product: educated students.
I believe that is because hospitals are run like a business–which they are—and schools are run like government agencies—also which they are. If schools were run like a business and they were under-performing in math and science, their math and science teachers would have a higher pay-scale so they could attract better teachers. That’s not the case. They make the same as an English teacher, so the good math and science graduates don’t go in to teaching when there are better paying jobs for them elsewhere. English majors can’t get a job anyway so why not teach? Since the school system is run like a government agency, when it under-performs and cannot provide a competitive product, it simply begs for more money. If a corporation was under-performing and the CEO asked for more money, I’m sure the board and shareholders would first rather look at over-hauling management and replacing the CEO. That is not the cry in public schools. It’s “more money!”
When I had a school age child, I was a low-income worker and my private school choices were Summit School or Forsyth County Day (go to those sites for pictures of rich white kids). Sorry, no can do. So, wouldn’t that be an argument against privatization? As it stands now, yes. But with a public option available, a community can only support these “boutique” schools now. However if K-12 education were turned over to the free-market, private schools would compete for the middle-class and lower income children in a way they don’t do now. For the abject poor, there could be a Medicaid equivalent in education. Not-for-profit private schools, just like hospitals, would accept them to keep their tax status.
What about the American promise of education for all? Hey, it can still be compulsory, but if it is not working, the promise is not fulfilled just because it is public.
