School boards should be elected by a vote of the parents and not anyone else's vote. If we as a society really believe in education as a priority, we ought to enable and encourage parents to fully exercise this responsibility. I support the concept of a Student Achievement Grant, which would pay public funds to educators, education facilities and home schools for superior academic achievement. Such grants would be paid regardless of the place where the learning occurs, be it public, private, parochial, corporate or home schools. The public system would set the academic criteria for each grade level and create a student test to demonstrate achievement.
Any student can take any grade level test at any time.
If they pass, they get the full amount of the per-student state funding. But it only pays for results, not promises. It requires the public system to disclose its criteria for grade advancement, eliminating social promotion and allowing comparison between all forms of educational services, home schooling and self-teaching included. The public criteria will apply to all test-takers, so payment would be made to private students based on the completion of the official government criteria. If small class sizes are ideal, and I believe they are, then certainly small school districts are as well.