Tuesday, July 8, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.
If you trace the literacy of students over the past decades, it is declining for all children, independent of race or economic class. If you then look for other factors to try to find the causes of this horrible decline in the future prospects of our children, these two highly correlated trends jump out: The number of National Education Association union teachers -- the more the union has grown the worse the education of our children has become. And the amount of inflation-adjusted money spent per pupil -- the more money we spend the worse it gets!
I fear the union cares more about increasing union dues than making our kids competitive in the future. Smaller class sizes means more teachers and hence more money for lobbying for even more money.
Also, I am concerned the public is being lied to about the financial impact of vouchers. Democrats always claim vouchers take money from public education. In fact, no other program puts more money into public education than vouchers.
It costs $8,000 a year for every student in public education. If parents are given a voucher for $3,000 to enroll their child in a private school, that in effect leaves behind $5,000 to be spent on the rest of the kids in public schools. Class sizes get smaller as well. Parents who use vouchers must now pay several thousand more dollars for the education of their kids, so everybody wins except the teachers union.
PETE MOUNTANOS
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