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Recently I saw this ad on my Facebook page, from opponents who don’t want families to have Education Savings Accounts or other forms of choice in public education.
Opponents are trying to ridicule the idea of giving families choice in education by comparing schools to parks.
Here’s why they’re wrong. Asking your state legislator for a so-called Park Savings Account makes perfect sense if the following conditions exist:
- The law says your child must spend at least six hours every weekday at a public park.
- The park she must attend is assigned by local officials, based on your zip code.
- The park in your zip-code is rat-infested, overgrown, unmaintained and generally neglected.
- The staff at the park is ineffective and can’t be fired.
- The Parks Union controls the Parks Management Board, and uses politics to block any real improvements.
- Staff membership in the Parks Union is mandatory and funded by tax money taken from staff paychecks.
Given these conditions, and if “country club” in this example means “safe place where my kids can play,” then, yeah – please enact a tax-funded Parks Savings Account program, by all means. In the meantime, out here in the real world, maybe opponents could open their minds to more ways for every child to gain access to a high-quality education.