Is public education broken? That depends on whether you think the goal was to redirect private resources to create knowledgeable citizens capable of self-education and self-rule. That was never its purpose, though we must confess that at least a few of the kiddies walked out the other end at least able to read and think for themselves—the most dangerous citizen of all.
Dangerous to whom? The system that controls public education. A cabal of special interests for whom public education is a laundromat that enriches itself with an increasingly absurd sum of tax dollars to churn out worker drones with the intellectual agility of a small soap dish.
There will always be exceptions, but the system has been in a downward spiral for decades, and I’m not sure which is more offensive—the defense of systemic failure or the militant objection to anyone who wants to fix it.
The Cost of Public Schools Robs Everyone
Public Education has one of the lowest ROIs of any municipal service; as such, it robs every other town or city department of necessary resources. We can’t afford to rebuild one of our local fire stations because the schools consume millions of dollars to graduate kids who can’t read at grade level. But for a third of that cost, we could teach them to read and do math at grade level, upgrade other municipal facilities, pay for more town employees, and save money.
Money tossed down the public ed hole ends up in the hands of majority partisan interests whose political agenda is to keep you from upsetting their grift.
Parents watch many thousands slip through their fingers for what amounts to poor service, lousy product, and bullying if they dare to seek change or propose improvements.
Students exchange time they could have used to attain an actual education for a mental health crisis, followed by paying almost equally obscene sums to colleges to achieve basic skills before they can even begin to pursue a degree that, ironically, is also mostly useless.
And that isn’t the worst of it.
Parents, educators, hell, anyone who thinks we can do better for less, and save those schools, meets resistance at every step. In Kennington, locals proposed a warrant article last spring authorizing a citizen task force. It would cost taxpayers nothing, with the goal of looking for cost savings through efficiencies in the school system (Part of SAU 16).
Both the town selectman and the school board voted not to endorse it. They worked (with teachers’ unions and other members of the Public Education Industrial complex cabal to get the warrant article voted down, which it was.
Clowns to the Left of Me
I’m not sure you need more proof that it is precisely what was required, and the citizens who started the warrant did it anyway. There is no law against it. They didn’t need permission to do it. They asked out of courtesy, and the people in love with over-priced failed schools showed their hand. But the war against them didn’t end there.
The Community Church newsletter refused to print the results. Kensington Connects’ social media Facebook refused to share it because it was too POLITICAL. Not one single local Seacoast paper would cover their story, nor would the Kensington school board address the presentation.
The Kensington Selectmen were no help either.
No one else in elected authority wanted anything to do with a right-sizing proposal that would have zero effect on curriculum.
We quite clearly cannot argue academics, costs per student, physical footprints, curriculum, staffing, priorities, and any number of other matters, because the institutions that profit at the expense of taxpayers and students don’t care. And if they can be made to hear that they do not, then do anything substantive and, in all cases, demand more money to reinforce declining results.
That has to end. Locals need to take action, and Tuesday’s municipal elections are a warning. Pro-learning taxpayer advocates need to drive turnout to replace local elected officials. They then need to support them once in office and back them up.
You are dumping money down a hole that empowers enemies of learning, harms children’s mental health, and education future. Resources that don’t just belong to you but that you could put to almost any other purpose and produce a more productive result.
But it begins with you seeing the problem, taking action to make a change, and being brave enough to stand up for it, even when the entire system is against you. Stop funding “schools” and start funding learning.
If you don’t have a taxpayer advocate or local education group in your town start one. Education spending is a huge target and there are plenty of groups and resources to help you educate local taxpayers.
Here is the Right-Sizing Presentation.
Correction: An earlier version suggested that the presentation was rejected in East Kingston, but it was never actually given there. The story has been updated.
