In stark contrast to the private sector, productivity has been falling in public schools. For example, here is a teacher who only worked part time on teaching. Taxpayers nonetheless are still paying her for full time teaching (thanks, taxpayers). Maybe we should think of it as providing her with unemployment compensation since she has, at least temporarily, lost her real full time job.

Posted by Harry Messenheimer

Lingle-Aiona Initiatives 2008, recently published in the Honolulu Advertiser are available on-line using this link. This post relates to education, one of 14 initiative areas contained in the document. Some initiatives are recycled or continued from prior years. Stay tuned to see how the bills/initiatives progress.

Education – GOV-04(08)/HB3118/SB3040 amending the state constitution to allow for county voters to decide whether or not to establish local school boards, starting with a pilot program on one or more neighbor islands; GOV-01(08) HB3116/SB3038 gives the Charter School Review Panel the authority to removes statutory cap on number of charter schools, requires charter school funding in state budget, and increases authority of the panel, allows the governor to appoint members to the same panel, and adds a member with a finance background to the panel.

If unrestricted federal education grants are kosher for college students, why not for grades K-12 too? That’s the question President Bush is asking with his proposal to create Pell Grants for Kids, a program to offer $300 million in scholarships that low-income students could use to attend the school of their choice, says the Wall Street Journal.

Pell grants for college are among the most popular ways to spend money in Washington. Over the past seven years, members from both sides of the aisle have lined up to expand the number and size of these grants that students can use to attend the college or university of their choice, public or private:

Last year, 5.3 million students received a total of $14 billion in Pell grants, up from 4.3 million students receiving $8.8 billion at the start of the Bush Presidency. However, what no one wants to admit is that Pell grants are essentially “vouchers,” with the decision about where to spend the money in the hands of parents and students, says the Journal:

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Review by Jillian Metz

Herbert Walberg’s latest book, School Choice: The Findings, is a great weapon to have in a debate on school choice. Walberg provides readers with empirical ammunition to fight for school choice by presenting scientific studies and statistics that show the power of school choice and its positive impact on America’s youth.

Walberg explores several analyses of charter schools, vouchers, and the effects of private schools. He further investigates the downward spiral of the nation’s public schools and compares the United States to other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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As people obtain more schooling, they are more likely to consider self-employment.   That’s one main result of a new study from Chad Moutray of the US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.   Moutray examined how various factors impact one’s decision to pursue entrepreneurship as a career option.  Additional education has a strong effect, as heads of households with college degrees are 4.4% more likely to start a business when compared to the overall working population.   Military experience has an even more pronounced impact; veterans 9.4% to 11% more likely to start businesses than the general population.  The research also indicates that self-employed heads of households are more likely to be older, married, white, military veterans, Internet savvy, and rural.

To access the December 2007 US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy working paper, Educational Attainment and Other Characteristics of the Self-Employed:  An Examination using Data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, by Chad Moutray.

A classic bit from Orwell’s 1984… a Goering quote (“If the Führer wants it, two and two make five!”)… a slogan from Stalin’s USSR… a Hawaii child’s answer to “what is 2+2?”…

OK, that last item may be a bit of an exaggeration, but according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, our Island keiki are still not doing too well in math, or even English for that matter. Why is this, and what can be done about it? In a recent GRIH Fresh Perspective, Kenli Schoolland tries to shed some light on the problem and offer a solution:

“Isn’t it rather pathetic that a majority (56 percent) of 8th grade Hawaii students have ‘below basic’ knowledge of Science? Mathematics and Reading are only slightly better, with more than 40 percent of Hawaii students in the ‘below basic’ knowledge category in those subjects. Hawaii consistently ranks in the lowest five states in the nation for the quality of education. How can this be when the government in 2002-2003 was spending $1,489,092,000 on education?… The government spent an average of $8,100 per student in 2002-2003 (most likely that amount has grown in recent years). That is sufficient for tuition in quite a few private schools in Hawaii. For example, according to a recent article on private school tuition costs in the Star Bulletin, $8,100 could cover the tuition for Sacred Hearts and Damien. Undoubtedly the quality of education in those schools are much higher than in government institutions.Wouldn’t it be best for people to keep that money that the government spends for them and choose their own schools? If the government still wanted to make sure that education was compulsory for all minors then they could return the money to the rightful owners in the form of vouchers. These vouchers would go towards tuition for private schools, and then the government would no longer need to waste money on its failing school system.”

Read the whole article here.

by Dr. Matthew Ladner,While I’m more of a Robert Nozick guy, it is an interesting thought experiment to judge today’s public schools against the principles of John Rawls, an enormously influential liberal political philosopher.  

Rawls argued in A Theory of Justice that we should shape public policy as if we were living behind a “veil of ignorance.” Behind the veil, no one would know their position in the forthcoming society, child of a billionaire or destitute. The veil, Rawls argues, creates an incentive to create a way out of the latter scenario. 

Pop quiz: You need to enroll your child in kindergarten. Would you choose a public elementary school in: 

A. The Roosevelt school district in South Phoenix;B. Inner-city Detroit;C. Camden, New Jersey;D. None of the above. 

Did you answer D? Rawls would say that if those schools aren’t good enough for your child in theory, then they aren’t good enough for children in practice.  

We have tried throwing money at dysfunctional schools, and now we need to try more effective reforms. Progressives that are serious about their values have plenty of moral reasons and piles of evidence to support school choice. Let’s put this debate behind us and get to work on the details.  

Matthew Ladner is vice-president for research at the Goldwater Institute.