Dear Editor:
RE:’Education broken,’ May 22.
I read with interest Rebekah Jamieson’s letter and I do concur with a couple of points she makes: “challenging time to be a student” and “education funding formula is flawed.”
However, I do take objection to a very sick equation that permeates every short-sighted request for government resources. That equation is: more money = better outcome. Without some form of practical accountability, the equation is a recipe for horrible mismanagement leading to bankruptcy.
The provincial government allots a given amount of money for each student attending school. Why not propose allowing the parents of those children to choose how that money will be allotted?
Let’s say for argument’s sake each child is allotted $15,000 per year. Assuming there are two children in a given household, that would entitle the parents to $30,000 per year to assign towards their children’s education.
The parents would be free to choose where those resources would be used, whether towards public education, payment towards private schooling, or on successful completion of each grade standard, payment towards pod or home schooling.
Our current system is not working. We are seeing high levels of indoctrination in our children. We are seeing our children being pushed forward with substandard skill sets, and we are seeing parents becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of response to their expectations of a good basic education for their children.
On the other side, we are seeing teachers consistently on the Sunshine List, board administrators making well in excess of $200,000 per annum, and boards arrogant enough to lock out or shut down any outspoken opposition.
For the sake of our children, it is high time to bring competition to our education system.
Wayne Baker,
Wellington North