Commentary
Operating schools is a business, not something governments do. Public sector enterprises and public sector employees are less creative than the private sector, almost by definition, and are not capable of running a school district.
This is why until 1890, when progressives created what we have today (amalgamated public school districts), all U.S. schools were private. Thomas Jefferson, who created the world’s first public funding of education, couldn’t have imagined (nor could any of the Founding Fathers) that the state would administer those schools.
We allow the state to administer the military because when lives are at stake, efficiency isn’t the only criterion; plus, when societies want neutral third-party protection (national, state, local)—the purpose of government—efficiency isn’t the only criterion. There is no reason, however, for the state to operate public schools, no reason for citizens to accept such huge waste and inefficiency. Lives are not at stake….