Educational Vouchers for the Onteora School District

I just sent this letter to Paul Smart, editor of the Olive Press.

Dear Editor:

A local government official has revealed a shocking statistic to the Town of Olive Republican Committee.  The average cost of education in the Onteora school district is currently $31,000 per enrolled student.  The official who revealed this number compares Onteora's $31,000 per student tuition to a national average of $10,259 per enrolled student and a New York State average of $17,200.  New York's public tuition is the highest in the nation, according to the official, but Onteora's is 44% higher than the state's average.

Assuming the $31,000 per student cost number is accurate, let us see how Onteora's costs compare to private schools'.  Nationally, in 2008 the average private school tuition was $8,549, 27% of Onteora's.  Nonsectarian secondary schools averaged $27,302 while Catholic elementary schools averaged $4,944.  Many of the nonsectarian secondary schools are elite schools that cater to the wealthy.  According to one survey Northfield Mount Herman in Massachusetts is the top ranked private elementary school.  The tuition for day students, according to its website is $31,700, roughly the same as Onteora's cost per student.  The UN International School, one of the best private schools in Manhattan, charges $24,350 per year, 21% less than Onteora.  The Beekman School in Manhattan has tuition of $28,500. The Rudolf Steiner School, with a 1:8 faculty-student ratio charges $29,468. Beekman calls itself "the tutoring school" and offers customized schedules, university-level classes in math, science, humanities and English, an average class size of eight (8), and one-on-one tutoring in concentrated subject areas.  Beekman has a one-on-one college placement program (one guidance counselor to one student) with continuous follow up conferences to refine college choices.  Guidance counselors guide students through the college application process. Specialized classes with three (3) students may be formed if requested, such as for advanced placement.  Tutoring is available once or twice per week. The school provides eight written evaluation reports in addition to four quarterly report cards.   98% of Beekman students go on to college. 

What is the college attendance rate for Onteora High? Given that the three Onteora schools are more expensive than Beekman, do they provide similar services? Are class sizes limited to 8 students? Is there intensive career guidance?  If a student wishes to study acting, is a course set up to cater to them?  If not, where is the $31,000 in teacher jackpot money going? 

It is going to keeping an extra school open. Moreover, the Onteora School district puts students far down on its list of its priorities. The $31,000 per student cost is a pretext to fund teachers' salaries, pensions and administrative bloat.  Teachers are more interested in indoctrinating students ideologically than in teaching the three r's. The Democrats are loyal to the teachers' unions, and could care less about your children. This is because of the dominance of academic certification organizations like the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which could care less about the three 'rs and exclusively emphasize political correctness.

In his book Capitalism and Freedom,  Professor Milton Friedman came up with an ingenious idea.  Give school budgets to parents in the form of vouchers, and let them decide the school to which they send their children. Schools would compete for students just as automobile manufacturers used to compete for customers. Onteora would have to compete with Beekman and the UN School, and provide an education of a comparable standard to Beekman's for the same price.  Since the taxpayers of Olive have magnanimously chosen to spend like a rich person on behalf of the Town's children, it is foolish to squander the money on subsidies to Onteora's unproductive school administrators as the Democrats have chosen to do.  We Republicans believe that if we are spending as much on education Olive's children ought to be given the same educations that rich people's children receive.  It is true that this arrangement would likely mean lower salaries and pension benefits for teachers, less administrative bloat, and fewer make-work jobs, which is why the teachers hate libertarians and the GOP but love the tax-and-spend Democrats.  But there is little doubt that your children would be better educated under a voucher system.  Perhaps it is time to ask the Onteora School district to compete with Northfield Mount Herman, the UN School and Beekman, and to end the festival of waste in the Onteora School District.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert
Town of Olive Republican Committee

It Is Time To Tax College Endowments

Goldie Blumenstyck reports in the Chronicle of Higher Education (paid access) that several economists have proposed requiring higher education institutions to use five percent of their endowment each year for educational purposes. Arguably, the requirement might be extended over a longer period. For instance, there could be a requirement that colleges use 5% of their endowment over a twenty year moving average. However, colleges should be required to use their endowments for educational purposes.

In reply, higher ed associations argue that they should not have to use their endowments and that the endowments are not like bank accounts. The Chronicle notes:

"Lynne Munson, an adjunct fellow at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, and Jane G. Gravelle, an economist at the Congressional Research Service—each recommended at the hearing that Congress enact legislation to require colleges with endowments worth $1-billion or more to spend at least 5 percent of that money each year, as private foundations are required to do, or be subject to federal taxes (The Chronicle, September 27)."

I would cut the minimum to ten million dollars. Colleges are not investment funds. The money should be used for educational purposes, not to protect institutional privileges.

Yet, the Chronicle reports that "the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said that the proposal does not take "complexities into account", such as legal restrictions on the use of endowments.

I would argue that Congressional oversight of the use of endowments is a good idea. Part of section 501(c)(3), the federal law that regulates the tax exemption of universities, requires that assets be used for tax exempt purposes, not for the benefit of the administrators and faculty of institutions. As well, this might be a first step toward increased congressional scrutiny of the politicization of universities, which is not permitted under section 501(c)(3). That is, violations of the tax exemption requirements for university trust funds are an open secret about which universities are inclined to lie. Increased congressional scrutiny might include beginning to require that universities divulge actual student outcomes; improvements in knowledge based on objective knowledge and general skills tests; job placement; graduate school admission; faculty research output; and student engagement on campus.