Hey John,

On education, it's my belief that this term also has (at least) two definitions.

1. The verb, an action where a student acquires ever increasing knowledge and skills by diciplined immersion in useful information.

2. The noun, a burdensome government bureaucracy, monopolistic in nature and totally controlled by labor unions. This huge system consumes vast sums of taxpayer money and has very little actual interest in the success of students but rather in protecting union "jobs" and promoting mediocre performance by protecting the incompetent.

When we talk about funding education, we need to determine which type we are talking about.

In my home town here in the woods, we have 435 elementary students.

We have 10 teachers making over $50,000 per year.

Considering we have only a general store as our "business district" and no other significant sources of employment, and that the median income in this state is around $24,000, something is very out of balance.

Also consider that a school year does not last 12 months.

In this state, most of that stuff is top secret and I can see why.

If you can accept that home schoolers can cover K-12 education costs for about $250 and that we spend around $4500 per year per student for "education", we're talking babysitting.

I'm not saying many people could muster homeschooling, but the current spelling bee champion and geography bee (I think) champion were home schooled.

American public school students score among the worst in the world. Why is that even remotely acceptable?

My point is that the one-size-fits-all education approach by the government schools doesn't really challenge the individual student

There should be a format somewhere between private schools and home schooling which would allow parents the choice, responsibility and duty of educating their children in the exact way they see fit.

I do believe students should be funded by the state since to do otherwise based on property taxes has created "rich and poor" school districts.

Given that you can't fire incompetent teachers (labor union) guess where they are sent, the poor districts.

Any doubt why the poor stay poor? They're getting screwed by the "education" monopoly.

If the education industry were allowed to proliferate, specialists (just like the medical community) of all types could excel in any imaginable area (gifted, slow learners, faith based, military, behavioral problems etc.)

All kids could be directed to the successful school of the parents' choice and the bad teachers could then work at McDonlads.

Whatever the answer, "education" reform needs to happen loosening the grip of organized labor/crime on the taxpayer.

Having seen your FLSC (a total democrat partisan entity) in action, I can see why they ruled the way they did on the Constitutionality of vouchers.

Regards,

mav