The Libertarian Party of Vermont notes with concern the appalling condition of public education in our state, and the inordinately high taxes necessary to subsidize it. The Party believes that government regulation of education in Vermont has given us a lethargic, expensive, ineffective, and inadequate school system . By now it should be obvious that government schools lead to an unhealthful bureaucratization and politicization of the educational environment, with a concomitant compromise in quality and a general lowering of standards. Furthermore, any serious examination of history reveals that government enterprises inevitably decline in quality as government centralization increases . For this reason we generally favor measures more consistent with state rather than national government, and more consistent with local rather than state government.
Education is no exception.
The Vermont Libertarian Party opposes all efforts to centralize any component of public education in our state , be it in the area of funding, of overall management, or of standards. We are aware, as the Vermont Supreme Court has recognized, that educational quality may be uneven throughout the state, with some areas enjoying a distinctly better educational environment than others. We firmly believe, however, that greater centralization of any part of the educational effort will eventually make all Vermont education equally bad everywhere . Instead of resorting to centralization to improve educational opportunities, we much prefer a decentralized environment that would grant an array of choices to the educational consumer. To this end our Party supports , for now, current proposals for vouchers or tax credits to enable parents to select the schools they desire for their children, that are consistent with their ideals, their faiths, and the academic emphasis that they deem best.