From: lhughes@b11.b11.ingr.com (Lawrence Hughes)
Subject: Libertarian view on Educational Vouchers
Organization: Intergraph Corp. Huntsville, AL
Distribution: hsv
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 19:15:44 GMT

For anyone that is interested... here is the Libertarian position on education
and tax vouchers. This is from "Libertarianism in One Lesson" by David Bergland
who has been the Libertarian VP candidate twice, and Presidential candidate
once. He has also been national chairman of the LP from '77 to '81. This is
pretty close to being "party line". I got this book from the National LP HQ
last time I sent in my dues. These are direct quotes, without permission. I
mostly agree with them, except for possibly allowing "vouchers" instead of 
only direct tax credits.

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COERCION IS THE BASIS OF STATE RUN EDUCATION

Libertarians seek to remove coercion as the basis for human relationships.
Human relationships in government schools are loaded with coercion. First we
have compulsory attendance laws. Second, we have compulsory financing through
taxation. The existence of these two laws establish a protected monopoly
service business. Therefore the public schools are terribly inefficient and
expensive and not much concerned for the desires or welfare of the consumers.
Third we have coercion regarding the subjects to be taught. Current textbooks
tend to be a hodgepodge of bland materials which are the result of textbook
editors and school authorities trying to satisfy, or not offend, a variety
of interest groups. Fourth we have coercion regarding who can teach. In many
states, parents who prefer to teach their children at home are harassed by
state school authorities. State school authorities seem lass interested in
educational opportunity and quality than in establishing their power to control
the mental development of the young to the exclusion of the parents.

GOALS OF STATE SCHOOLS

Before state schooling begain in this country, literacy rates were quite high.
The nineteenth century advocates of state schooling were quite clear in 
arguing that the children were not self-owners, but rather the property of the
state. They contended that the function of the schools was to indoctrinate the
children so that they would be patriotic, unquestioning, obedient citizens
whose first loyalty was to the government, and that the primary obstacle to
the achievment of these purposes was the interference of the students' parents
and family.

SEPARATION OF EDUCATION AND STATE

There is no proper role for government in education. One of the most valuable
contributions to a peaceful and free society was made by the founders of this
country when, in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, they established
the priciple of separation of church and state. They were aware of centuries of
relgious war and persecution that resulted from attempts to establish state
religions and to suppress dissenting views. *The right to freedom in the are
of intellectual development and personal philosophy is fully as important as
freedom of religion, and for the same reasons!* Thus, there should be a
separation of education and state just as there is a separation of church
and state.

What are the results of govenment operated schools? In the last three decades,
on average across the nation, the cost of oeprating government schools has
increased nearly 1000 percent, while enrollments declined, class sizes became
smaller, student performance declined and violence and drug use increased.
Obviously, throwing more tax dollars at this failed system hasn't worked.

Across the nation, the average cost per student per year is about $5000. In
private schools, the average cost per student is about half that and private
schools do a better job of educating.

TAX CREDITS WILL BRING COMPETITION TO EDUCATION

As an *interim* [emphasis mine - LEH] measure (so long as the federal income
tax exists), libertarians advocate tax credits for anyone who pays for the
education of any student. Educational tax credits will improve education by
introducing  competition into the educational marketplace. A tax credit 
against federal income tax means a dollar reduction in tax liability for
every dollar paid for education. The author specifically proposes a $2500 per
year, per student, tax credit for any person or any company who pays for the
education of any student, or any number of students, at any school, public or
private. The tax credit would not be limited to parents. Any wealthy individual
or corporation could provide "scholarships" to as many students as they want,
and reduce their taxes by the amount of the scholarships. The tax credit should
be available for parents who teach their children at home as well.

At first, we would expect to see a substantial move away from government
schools and toward private educational alternatives. The government schools
would have to respond by becoming more efficient, cutting their costs, and by
being more responsive to the desires of the consumers of educational services,
the parents and the students. This is as it should be.  In an open, competitive
market place, only those who do the best job of satisfying consumer demand
will survive. Open educational competition would also mean a great variety
in subjects, systems and methods to meet the desires and requests of widely
varied parents and students. The best teachers would be in great demand and
their earnings would increase [a prospect that horrifies the NEA, that champion
on egalitarian mediocrity - LEH].

Libertarians have been advocating educational tax credits, or the similar
education "voucher" system, for many years. Now mainstream politicians are
picking up on this idea, calling for a "choice" in education. Many school
districts are experimenting by allowing students to attend any public school
rather than being limited to the school closest to their home. The Wisconsin
legislature has adopted a voucher system which allows the student to decide
which school to attend, and that school gets the tax money for that student.

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Comments by LEH

1. Note that this is intended only as an INTERIM solution. It is better than
   the hideous failure we currently have. The ideal solution is to get the
   government completely out of education, as soon as possible.

2. This approach assumes that there will not be (new?) government regulation
   of schools, including who can teach, and what is taught, at least in the
   private schools. Many current proposals are really clever ways to extend
   these controls to private schools so that public ones will not have to
   "clean up their acts" in order to remain competitive.

3. This approach goes beyond most current proposals in several important ways:
   a) the credit is subtracted from actual taxes OWED, not against income.
   b) the credit is available to anyone (or any entity) that funds students
   c) public schools must compete on a fair basis (no coercion) with private

4. It also assumes that the government will not be allowed to immediately raise
   income taxes to offset any "loss" of current income that would normally
   have been spent on public education. If they do this, then the whole scheme
   becomes just more "income redistribution". It isn't clear from this proposal
   exactly what should be done with local educational funding sources, such as
   property taxes.

5. It still does not address the main problem with public schools, which is
   that they are primarily concerned with "socializing" and "propagandizing"
   the children in the public schools. Many parents will not realize what is
   being done to their children in lieu of educating them, and will allow 
   their children to continue going to these indoctrination mills, at the
   expense of their educations. We really need to get rid of all public
   schools, and government (or other pressure group) control over course
   content, and teacher and textbook selection. The "tax credit" scheme will
   only widen the cultural gap between the "haves" and "have nots". Kids that
   go only to the public schools will be at a distinct disadvantage (except
   perhaps to work in the public sector, which they will be well prepared for).

6. What about folks that don't pay enough federal income tax to even cover
   their own children's education? Make 'em cough up the difference. This
   will help rectify the horribly unfair and counterproductive "progressive"
   tax schemes to a very small extent. If they aren't willing (or able in
   special cases) to work hard enough to cover the difference, there should
   be some limited, adequate, but not guaranteed to be on par with private
   schools, "free" education available to any citizen, perhaps up to 8th grade 
   level. Illegal immigrants should be told to take a hike (back to their
   own country, if possible).

Larry Hughes - b11!lhughes