BCT Editorial – 2/6/07

This page was last updated on February 7, 2007.

No quick fix; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 6, 2007.

Rather than do a point-by-point critique, I’ll make only a few comments.

First, I’m not sure I understand the purpose of turning management of public schools to private managers. Frequent readers of my critiques may be surprised to read that. Here’s my thinking. Public schools are a monopoly in practice if not in the strict sense of the word. After all, how many parents can afford to pay private school tuition on top of property taxes? The fact that a private company manages a public school doesn’t change that situation.

Rather than mess around with competition among management companies to run public schools, the competition should be among the schools. That’s accomplished via charter schools and school vouchers.

Here are the relevant sections of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Article III, Section 14 says, “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”

Article III, Section 15 says, “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.”

Article III, Section 30 says, “No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth, other than normal schools established by law for the professional training of teachers for the public schools of the State, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House.”

Note there’s no requirement for the commonwealth or local government to operate schools and Article III, Section 30 clearly states the General Assembly can approve tax dollars going to an “educational institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth.”

Regarding vouchers being used to send students to church-run schools, that’s a problem. I’m no lawyer, but I believe Article III, Section 15 would have to be repealed or amended. That’s quite a hurdle. It’s also a shame since a survey I did of local Catholic schools a couple of years found their tuition was considerably less than public schools were spending per student. A possible workaround could be tax credits.