Fund the Children, Not the Schools | 5 Minute Video — Transcript

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1. 0:01Fund the children, not the schools.
2. 0:04If ever an idea’s time has come, it’s this one.
3. 0:07What does it mean?
4. 0:09It means parents decide where to  send their children to school,
5. 0:12not the government.
6. 0:14A radical idea?
7. 0:16Hardly.
8. 0:17The federal government already gives money to  college students in the form of Pell Grants.
9. 0:21The student decides which college he or  she wants to go to, not the government.
10. 0:26The same is true with the GI Bill.  The veteran decides which school he
11. 0:30wants to give his scholarship  money to, not the government.
12. 0:34Taxpayer-funded pre-K programs such  as Head Start follow the same model.
13. 0:38Parents decide—not the government—which  pre-school they want their child to attend.
14. 0:44We don’t force low-income families to spend their  food stamp dollars at government-run grocery
15. 0:49stores. They can go anywhere they want: Walmart,  Target, Safeway, or any other similar store.
16. 0:56The time has come to apply the same  logic to K through 12 education.
17. 1:00It’s hard to believe that we  haven’t done it before now.
18. 1:02Fund the children, not the schools.
19. 1:05The money is there.
20. 1:07Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates  that public schools spent about $16,000 per
21. 1:12student in 2019. For some perspective,  data from Private School Review shows
22. 1:17that the average private school tuition  is about $12,000 per student each year.
23. 1:22So, why is K through 12 education the outlier?  As we have seen, in virtually every other area of
24. 1:28life, people choose how to spend their money—even  when the money comes from the government.
25. 1:32But for some reason, parents aren’t allowed to  decide the best K through 12 school for their
26. 1:36children. Choice is the norm for pre-K and  higher education. Why not for K through 12?
27. 1:43Well, there is a reason: It threatens a  special interest. A very powerful one.
28. 1:48The teachers’ unions.
29. 1:49The unions argue that giving educational funds  to parents “steals money” from public schools.
30. 1:54But where did the idea come from that the funding
31. 1:56“belongs” to the public  schools in the first place?
32. 1:59That’s right: the teachers’ unions.
33. 2:01The truth is the opposite:
34. 2:03public schools “steal” money from families.  School choice initiatives just return the money
35. 2:07to the hands of the intended beneficiaries  of the funding—students and their parents.
36. 2:12Allowing families to choose their grocery  store doesn’t “steal” money from Safeway.
37. 2:17Allowing families to choose their school  doesn’t “steal” money from public schools.
38. 2:21Ironically, the argument by public  school advocates that school choice
39. 2:25would “defund” public schools is an  admission of failure. Given a choice,
40. 2:30a vast number of Americans would prefer almost  any other school to their local public school.
41. 2:36But right now, there are few options for  parents to express that dissatisfaction.
42. 2:40Homeschooling is an option, but many parents  believe—rightly or wrongly—that they can’t do it.
43. 2:45A private school can be another option,  but it may not be financially feasible.
44. 2:50This gives the unions tremendous leverage. We saw
45. 2:52how they use that leverage  during the Covid crisis.
46. 2:55After a school year of lockdowns, most private  schools fought to return to in-person learning.
47. 3:00The teachers’ unions did the opposite:  they fought to stay out of the classroom.
48. 3:04If parents had the power to say, “Bye-bye, I’m  taking my child’s education dollars elsewhere,”
49. 3:09the situation would have been much  different. The teachers’ unions know this,
50. 3:13which is why they scream bloody murder every  time the word “choice” is even mentioned.
51. 3:18Here’s the irony—you might even say tragedy. When
52. 3:21faced with competition, public  schools do, in fact, up their game.
53. 3:25Twenty-five of 27 studies—and the latest  peer-reviewed meta-analysis on the topic—find
54. 3:31that private school choice competition  leads to better outcomes in public schools.
55. 3:36For example, a study published in May 2021 reveals  that increased competition from expanding private
56. 3:42school choice in Florida improved academic and  behavioral outcomes in nearby public schools.
57. 3:48This is not advanced calculus. In every  area of life and commerce, competition
58. 3:52invariably leads to a better product. Satisfied  customers return. Unsatisfied customers do not.
59. 3:59One silver lining of the Covid crisis  is that families have seen the light—the
60. 4:03light being the need for choice.
61. 4:05A recent nationwide survey from RealClear  Opinion Research found a 10-percentage point jump
62. 4:10in support for school choice—from 64%  support in April 2020 to 74% in June 2021.
63. 4:18It’s worth noting that support increased  11% among Democrats—59% to 70%.
64. 4:26How many public policy ideas  have this level of support?
65. 4:29And here’s one more irony, the teachers’  unions get a big share of the credit. They
66. 4:34overplayed their hand. In doing so, they  have awakened a sleeping giant: parents.
67. 4:39There’s no turning back now.
68. 4:42Parents are demanding more. And  they deserve more. So do the kids.
69. 4:46Fund the children, not the schools.
70. 4:49I’m Corey DeAngelis, national director of  research at the American Federation for Children,
71. 4:54for Prager University.