Customer Reviews

Financing Education: The Struggle Between Governmental Monopoly and Parental Control

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This book is an important book for our time. Everyone who is concerned about problems besetting the public schools should read this book. A main theme of the author is that schools will not improve unless we break up EFM, the "educational finance monopoly," and instead give more power to parents. The author lays out some powerful arguments. He shows how school choice is already working well in many places, including in several European countries, and in the USA. He points out that the G.I. Bill has produced the best higher education system in the world, but our K-12 system is one of the worst in the world. Opponents of school choice charge that it will increase extremism or racism, that the government will take over private schools, or that school choice will destroy public schools. This book addresses these and other charges, demonstrating clearly that they aren't valid, but are instead "smoke screen" arguments promoted by the educational establishment. This book also includes the actual proposal for the Washington D.C. voucher system passed by Congress this last year ('98), but vetoed by Bill Clinton. If you are thinking school choice might have some merit, but have not known what to make of the arguments against it, read this book. But be careful, like myself, you may decide to become active in getting your state to beat Florida in becoming the first state to adopt a school choice proposal. Another good book on this subject is "School Choice: Why You Need It, How You Get It," by David Harmer.