A Free (Market) Education
By Jonathan Copsey and John Fredericks
"It's the last great government-mandated monopoly of our time," claims State Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), borrowing a phrase from legendary free market economist Milton Friedman. A 17-year veteran of the Georgia Legislature and announced candidate for lieutenant governor in 2010, Johnson's comments are not directed to the usual suspects one may think, like cable providers, public utilities or power companies.
What's raised the senator's ire is Georgia's public school system and, in particular, the state's education bureaucracy that decides on school districting. Johnson put his proverbial money where his mouth is. He has introduced a bill in the Georgia Legislature to dismantle it – for good.
Johnson, detail oriented and soft spoken, is regarded as a tireless education advocate and a policy wonk of sorts by some of his colleagues. Georgia House Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) says Johnson "has done more for public education and school choice than anyone in Georgia history." Johnson himself is a product of the Georgia public school system, and a successful one at that. His children have all gone to the state's public schools as well. Johnson says he has not changed his opinion of the virtues of a public education in Georgia. But that does not stop him from wanting to change it – for what he thinks will be the better.
Senate Bill 90 is the most recent – and most radical – of Johnson's education-oriented legislation. It proposes to unite the rebellious education policy trio of vouchers, choice and free enterprise, bringing them all together under one roof in one bill. The legislation, if passed, would let parents choose where their children go to school. No geographical restrictions and no barriers. Just pay for your own transportation and go to any school – public or private – you want.
There are a few other caveats. First, students have to be accepted by the school they wish to attend. Second, if the desired school is full to capacity the student will not be allowed in. Finally, both the student and parents have to agree to follow the school rules at all times. If any rule is broken, the school has the right to expel the student and force them back to their original school.
"Right now, depending on your zip code, you're told where to go to school," Johnson said. "We don't deliver healthcare that way. We don't say if you live in Fulton County you have to go to Grady [Hospital]. We don't say if you live in Fulton you have to go to Georgia State University. We don't tell people with food stamps they have to spend them at Kroger. But we say that if you live in this neighborhood you go to this school unless you're wealthy enough to afford private school."
In theory the state could pull this off because each student in the public system is allotted a certain amount of money, defined by the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, introduced in the mid 1980s. The matrix is based on a per-student expense allocation, derived from various factors like location, district enrollment and total education costs for the state.
The average per-student allotment in Georgia is currently around $5,000, with that money designed to cover a student's entire education costs for one year, including books, busing, food, school maintenance, teacher salaries. Johnson's bill would allow the QBE money to follow the students to whatever school they attended by being deducted from the original school and added to the new school of choice's coffers.
The bill provides parents ithe ability to send their children to a parochial school or a school closer to their work, with financial help from the state. On a broader level proponents say it would force every school to compete for enrollments to stay financially viable. This, they say, would increase accountability for teachers and administrators. If large numbers of students abandon a particular school, it may be forced to shut down.
"It would just go out of business, like it probably should," said one bill advocate.
"I am a firm believer and supporter in public schools, and public schools are always going to be where the vast majority of our children are educated. But we've got to do a better job," said Johnson. "I think as a business person and a conservative that the free market will do more to improve our schools than the [ingrained] monopoly that exists today."
Georgia's public education is not the greatest - it currently ranks 47th in the country. Supporters of SB 90 claim the bill aims to change the school system with every tool at the state's disposal in order to better prepare students in a quickly changing global economy. Regardless, the practicality of the bill and, perhaps more importantly, the inclusion of private schools into the mix, has some educators riled.
The bill's very existence is controversial.
"I think it undermines public education," said Fulton County Board of Education Chairwoman Julia Bernath.
She is not alone in her thinking. Many in the public education sector who feel similarly are harpooning SB-90 before it sees the light of day.
"It creates two different levels of accountability," said Bernath. "It does not require accountability of the funds that go to private schools. It doesn't require the same level of testing to be performed for students, show student achievement, require teachers to be certified and does not require any type of transparency on how taxpayer money is spent. I think it undermines the concept of neighborhood schools which is what public education is based on."
Her fellow board member Katie Reeves supports SB-90, claiming it would provide parents with a pathway out of failing schools. But Bernath says parents have that option now.
"There are already provisions in place that allow students to move from failing schools," she said. "That is a piece of school choice through No Child Left Behind. In north Fulton [County] we also have a number of charter schools that support school choice. Why introduce vouchers for choice if that ability to choose already exists?"
Rep. Kevin Levitas (D-Tucker) is opposed to the bill.
"I don't like vouchers to begin with," said Levitas. "Tax dollars should be used for public education. At a time when education funding has been gutted, and public schools are not fully funded, this bill makes no sense. The QBE formula has been consistently reduced due our budget constraints and this just takes more money out of the schools that need it most. This is the wrong bill at the wrong time."
He said if parents choose private education for their children it is their decision and they should, "be prepared to fund it themselves."
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think tank, has released numbers that show vouchers make sound fiscal sense. Assuming 20 percent of Fulton County students make use of vouchers, almost $1,500 could be saved per student.
"Property taxes pay half of the cost of education per child. If the child is gone, then the money stays," said Johnson. "That money could be used for the kids who are left or refunded to the tax payers. Even a fifth-grader can see that you get more money for fewer children."
When a student leaves a school system, the state QBE money goes with the student and the new school gets the cash. Property taxes, however, which represent the other 50 percent of school funding would remain with the host school district of the resident and be disbursed among a smaller pool of students. In areas like north Fulton County, where property taxes are high, the public schools could see an enormous increase in revenue per student (assuming they leave the system either for private school or another district). South Fulton and other rural or poor areas would not.
Of course, this assumes 20 percent of public school students use the vouchers. Even Johnson admits that number is high. The school voucher system of Milwaukee, for example, has been around since 1990 and sees 20 percent usage. There is a lack of historical data available to show what the usage might be in Georgia.
Judging from the state's special needs voucher program, also originally proposed by Johnson, it's not a likely scenario. Since the enactment of the special needs vouchers only 899 students across the state have taken advantage of them and only 4 in north Fulton County.
"What it really comes down to is whether or not we have space in our schools," said Susan Hale, communications manager at Fulton County Schools. "Obviously space is at a premium in north Fulton. Schools are just bursting at the seams so we are not really able to take in new students."
According to Bernath, the county also has yet to see any of the promised revenue growth from the vouchers.
"The idea initially was that students would transfer, which would create a smaller need for teachers so we would not have to hire new teachers," she said. "Unfortunately, students are transferring one or two at a time, leaving the majority of their classmates remaining. Not only do the students who remain need teachers, so do the ones who left. Two teachers are now required where before there was only one. … The class size is smaller but the cost to educate has not decreased. It's increased."
So not only are people not able or unwilling to use the vouchers, for those that do, costs to the state are actually going up, she asserted.
Another sticking factor is just how much the voucher would be worth. Like Levitas said, while the QBE formula is technically a fixed amount per student, Gov. Perdue's incessant austerity cuts have routinely reduced education funding and decreased QBE. So a student moving to a private school who is expecting a $5,000 voucher might only get $3,500.
As of March 6, SB-90 had passed through the senate education committee by a vote of 6-4 along party lines, with GOP members voting the bill out of committee. If that is a sign of things to come, the bill's prospects do not look good. It requires an amendment to the state constitution, which would need to pass the legislature with a two-thirds majority. Without any bipartisan support, that is not likely.
Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) supports the philosophy behind SB-90, calling it a "viable free market solution to improving Georgia's education." He said the bill is likely to go through significant revisions in the House.
State Sen. Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta), the Senate caucus chairman who represents most of north Fulton County supports of the measure.
"We will be giving many people in Georgia an opportunity for school choice which is long overdue, and has been very successful in other states, like Florida," he said. "They have raised achievement levels and graduation rates quite a bit and it's time to do that in Georgia. For over 25 years now, we've continued to throw more and more money at education and our graduation rates have continued to be at an unacceptable level."
Moody's remedy? "Where there's competition there's usually more success," he said.
Johnson agreed: "If you believe that the free market system will help education then we ought to do it for everybody. We shouldn't try and classify it with special needs or try and judge the school as failing or not. Let's let the free market decide that. SB 90 is just like the GI Bill or HOPE scholarship – it applies to everybody. … I'm hopeful that the debate has moved to the point that if school choice is good. It's good for everybody."
Jon Copsey is a reporter for The Beacon, and John Fredericks is the publisher of The Beacon and Beaconcast.com, of Roswell, Ga.
| 