Dear editor:
The American system of free-market excellence has three main components: Low barriers to entry, unfettered competition and the freedom of consumers to “vote with their dollar.” All of these essential attributes are absent in Wyoming’s K-12 education system. Students and parents are suffering under this out-dated education monopoly.
The “Education Freedom” bills being debated in Cheyenne would restore these positive attributes of the free market and improve the quality of education in Wyoming. Here’s why.
Education is a valuable commodity, just like food and fuel. Can you imagine the lousy quality and high prices we’d get if there was a Soviet-style, central board of pricing and control? Our groceries and gas would be expensive and of low-quality; just like in the former USSR.
Only free-market competition produces excellence. And it applies to bananas, bacon and education. The Free Market Works!
Centralized control sets-up barriers for entry and eliminates competition. Consumers of the product called “education” cannot make the best choices for their child because the money is extracted from them, thru taxation. Parents wanting a better education for their children, have to “pay double” to exercise their right to choose an alternate school.
Today in Wyoming we have an education monopoly that forces compliance and produces an inferior quality of education. The three pillars of the free-market are obliterated.
Forced-taxation produces a high barrier for charter and other alternative schools to enter the market. Free-market competition is thus restricted. And parents have a hard time “voting with their dollars” because government confiscates the money and only allows it to be used in “government schools.”
That has to change. The education monopoly in Wyoming is preventing competition and choice. America ranks 38th in the world in education, yet we pay more per child than any other country.
Free-market competition will revive our education system by giving parents the freedom to choose the best school for their child’s needs. Just attach the money to the child and let the free-market work.
Free market competition always produces the highest quality at the best price. That applies to teachers as well. The best won’t be stuck in a “government-run” pay-scale; they’ll be free to command higher pay in a competitive market.
Charter schools will pay higher salaries for good teachers. Students will get a better education, tailored to their individual needs. Parents get more choice and good teachers will be paid better. Everybody wins when the free-market is restored!
Separation of School and State is an idea whose time has come. All centralized, socialist systems have failed everywhere they have ever been tried. Let’s pass School Freedom into law and teach our children well. Let freedom ring.
Dennis Fox, Ranchester
