Mark A. Nadler Those who defend our current, single supplier, K-12 public educational system against school choice and private schooling often do so on the grounds that public money should only go to public schools. Here, however, I want to present an explanation of public education that breaks all links between public money and public ownership and control of schools. The notion that public educational dollars should only go to public schools misunderstands where the public component in education lies by confusing public education with publicly supplied schooling. In fact, the public element in education is simply the benefits from education that accrue to us all when an individual becomes educated.
Private benefits are things that the individual directly involved in the act of learning receives.
In the case of K-12 education, this is normally perceived to be an increased capacity to earn income over a lifetime. Public benefits from learning are things that go to the wider society. For example, the more education a child obtains the more likely they will grow-up to be better informed citiz ens. This makes us all better-off. This flow of educational benefits to society poses a special problem for those who want to privatize schooling.