Robert Sarvis on Education

Free market competition for education dollars

Sarvis: Strongly Agree.

Question topic: Who has the primary responsibility to be sure children are properly educated?

Sarvis: Their parents.

Bad schools persist because politicians are in charge

Why does the status quo continue? Because politicians and bureaucrats are in charge, not parents and teachers. To prepare our children for the real world, we need to adopt a modern approach that is proven to work and built to last. This means two things:

1. Parents, not politicians or bureaucrats, should be in charge of the education dollars spent on their children.
2. Teachers need to be liberated from the politicized, bureaucratic status quo and rewarded for the educational value--student learning--they create.

Supports vouchers, tax credit, charters, & parental triggers

I propose fostering, in every aspect of education policy, an open and competitive market for education services.
• Maximizing school choice through:
• A universal system of school vouchers and/or tax credits
• Expansion of charter schools, including "parental triggers."
• Instituting real, apolitical public-school reforms:
• Focus on actual learning of real-world life skills and job skills
• Reward quality instruction, not credentials and seniority
• Pursue teacher-driven solutions, not politician-driven spending fads.
• Overhauling state oversight of public education, including reform of:
• Licensing/certification rules
• Accreditation requirements
• State mandates
• Local and state school-board powers.
• Ensuring the independence of private & home schools from government red tape:
• Avoid letting the government do to private and home schools what it has done to public schools.
• Keep special interests from cartelizing the private education-services industry.