Voucher Education

While I agree that the status of public education is appalling, your implication that poorly performing public schools need be closed is nonsensical. Schools perform poorly because of poor funding, and subsequently, less funding is given to poorly performing schools through taxes and grants. Does that seem like a plan for success? No! And let me paint a picture to show you why. It is a well-known fact that the vast majority of a school's income is derived from property taxes collected from the surrounding area. The issue here is that often times school boards purchase property in poor areas because the land is cheap and then erect massive schools that cannot possibly be supported by the poor households that surround them. Then the slippery slope begins. These under funded schools perform poorly on standardized tests because they cannot support their respective school population on their current income and good teachers are let go because their jobs are evaluated based on their student's performance on these tests. The government also uses these tests to decide what schools are afforded federal assistance, and funding is often yielded to schools that perform well. Then the bad schools are put on hiring freezes because they get no help from the Federal Government and as a result they limp along with 30-40 kids in each class. My home state of Florida tried to rectify this by passing an amendment to the state's constitution in 2002 limiting class sizes to 18 for classes from pre-K to 3rd grade, 22 from 4th to 8th, and 25 from 8th grade to graduation. Upon first glance, this seems like a great idea except for the fact that teachers now have to take pay cuts to supplement the additional hiring and because they are government employees they cannot strike because it's grounds for immediate termination. Unhappy teachers are unmotivated teachers and unmotivated teachers suck! So now, depending on which state you live in, you have the choice of being paid more and having standing room only in your room or getting paid less and having proper class sizes. Keep in mind that whether you go with the former or the latter, the pay doesn't come close to properly compensating you for the hours put in. It's a vicious cycle and I don't think that bulldozing the under-performing schools and allowing parents to choose where their kids go will make things any better. The parents will all choose the "good schools." These schools will then be hampered by overpopulation and the fact that their new students, who have suffered from a poor education since kindergarten, delay the learning process of kids who have been properly educated. Parents of the properly educated students are then put in the same position that those who wanted out of the bad schools were in. If your plan ever comes to fruition the only result will be the spread of bad education. A possible solution would be to privatize School Boards into Not-For-Profit Organizations. I agree with your deduction that private schools are far more efficient then their public counterparts. So why not give competent businessmen (and women) an opportunity to execute a proper business plan? Obviously the election of individuals is not working out. The majority of people never properly evaluate candidates of any position other than President or American Idol Winner and this willingness to fall into the wave of bias political advertisement makes citizens incapable of making a sound decision. And honestly, the proposed candidates usually aren't worthy of the position to begin with because the people with the money to run for office can usually afford to live in a good school district. I agree that there is a problem, but your solution is the answer!