Government Fails To Educate Nj Kids

WIDOWER VAN-NESS Crawford and a number of other parents have sued the State of New Jersey to demand the right to take their children out of failing schools and send them to the school of their choice.

Filed as Crawford v. Davy the suit aims to be a landmark case that establishes the right of parents to educate their children.

Obviously widower Crawford and his triplet 16-year-old sons that attend the failing Malcolm X. Shabazz High School in Newark have been selected by school choice activists as poster boys for school choice. But the point remains: why can New Jersey schools not educate children when they are spending $10,000 to $20,000 per year per student? What gives them the right to spend the money on Crawford�s sons rather than Crawford? If they are going to piss the money away on his kids why not give the money to him and let him piss the money away?

According to Kristen A. Graham, the activist groups backing the suit are �Alliance for School Choice, a Phoenix-based group; the Black Minister's Council of New Jersey; the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey; and Excellent Education for Everyone, a New Jersey group that supports school choice and vouchers.� The co-plaintiffs joining Crawford have been selected from around the state, as you might expect.

Leaving aside the church vs. state aspect of education, there is the basic nature of government. Government responds to problems and throws money at them. But government has no interest in solving problems. If ever a problem would be solved then the funding would go away. What would be the point of that?

Thus when school fail our kids the school lobby demands more money. Why don�t we say that if you fail to educate our kids then we are going to take the money away and give it to someone else?

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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