There is a growing chasm between our two political parties when it comes to parents and public (government) schools.
The Democratic party believes parents' role is to shut up and pay their school taxes while sending their children to the local public school where "educrats" will take care of the rest.
"Choice" might be mandatory for women considering the execution of their unborn child.
And "choice" is a given for confused children who are considering rejecting the sex-coded into their DNA. But parental "choice" regarding education is absolutely verboten; that's according to the all-powerful, "expert," overbearing education bureaucrats .
But, there's hope.
It's gradually dawning on Republicans that this "take-it-or-leave–it" attitude might be a powerful issue for parents who think they deserve a role in determining the course of their children’s education.
State Sen. Del Marsh, R-Ala., 12th Dist., has been paying attention.
The Alabama Daily News reports on his new bill designed to deliver school choice to all parents in Alabama by the 2024–2025 school year.
Currently, if parents decide to opt-out of sending their children to public school indoctrination centers the choice does not extend to their tax dollars.
Public schools, whether successful, or more likely unsuccessful, get every last dime the tax code says is coming to the school.
That means parents choosing private school or homeschool options for their children have the privilege of paying the cost for two educations: The mandatory public school and the option they’ve chosen for their children.
Sen. Marsh’s bill, the Parent’s Choice Act, removes some of that financial burden. " . . . parents can retain their portion of education tax dollars to spend on alternative schooling for their children, including private school or homeschool."
Here are the details: "If it becomes law and is fully implemented by the 2024-25 school year, the bill would provide state funding — now about $6,500 — to any K-12 students, including those students in public school, private school and homeschool, no matter their financial status."
"These are state dollars and those dollars should be available to parents to decide what is best for their children," Marsh explained.
The bill will have an immediate, positive impact on parents. "Marsh said there are about 60,000 students currently in private schools and another about 10,000 learning at home."
Marsh knows well that he'll face opposition from government education consortiums and teacher union cartels. Last year the public school lobby went after his bill to allow a student from outside a school system to enroll in a different system after paying a fee.
Even this small, expensive, bit of competition was too much for "Education, Inc."
Tragically, his bill never came to a vote.
After that Marsh decided, "If I’m going to have to put up with all this, let’s just go for all of it." Hence this year’s choice bill.
"As you look in the future at the different way we’re going to have to educate kids and options, it’s time to move to a parent’s choice model."
In fact, last year 22 states either created or expanded parental education options, according to the American Federation for Children.
All we can say is it’s about time.
For far too long, Alabama’s public schools have had a reputation for low quality.
The state can begin to turn that around by giving parents a genuine choice in how their education dollars are spent and at the same time introducing public schools to genuine competition for those same dollars.
May the best systems win.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.