Commentary
Suppose you were learning how to drive for the first time and you had a choice between two instructors. One of them, a government employee, has a success rate of 26 percent while the other, a private contractor, has a 90 percent success rate. Which instructor would you hire?
The choice is obvious. However, many government bureaucrats have a different way of thinking. Most would pick the government instructor because that’s who they believe can provide the best service.
As a case in point, the Saskatchewan government recently announced plans to centralize all online instruction in the province. To do this, the government picked a public school division with a 26 percent graduation rate in its online programs even though a private online school—Flex Ed—in the province has a 90 percent graduation rate….