Sen. Rand Paul’s SCHOOL Act isn’t getting nearly as much news as the ongoing wrangling over relief funds for individuals and states hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, the act has the potential to drastically improve the lives of millions of children and their parents.
The legislation, introduced earlier in August, is especially beneficial for low-income parents who are looking for good educational opportunities for their kids, but can’t afford pricey private schools.
The premise of the act is fairly simple: the money the federal government spends on education shouldn’t necessarily go to public schools, especially since many of these schools will only offer virtual learning for the foreseeable future. Rather, the SCHOOL Act would allow the money to be directed to the educational setting that best meets a parent’s needs, be it a public school, private school, religious school, charter school, or homeschool setting.
Education experts have panned virtual classes provided by the public-school system, stating that they don’t provide the same level of learning offered by in-person classes. Many lower-income parents don’t have good laptops for their kids or a strong internet connection that would allow them to attend classes via Zoom.
There is also the obvious fact that many parents have to work outside of the home during the day. Cashiers, delivery drivers, doctors, nurses, home health aides, police officers, firefighters, and a host of other “essential” workers simply cannot do their jobs from home, which means that, without assistance, they could be forced to quit their jobs to care for their children at home. The SCHOOL Act solves this problem by providing needy families with funding so they can find other options.
There is no guarantee that the SCHOOL Act would pass, as the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives are in bed with teacher unions that are doing everything in their power to shut down school choice opportunities. It’s hypocrisy at its worst, especially when one considers the fact that many of these same liberal representatives and even former President Obama have chosen private schools over public schools for their own children. Even so, the SCHOOL Act makes it clear that there is a solution to the educational dilemma.
Allowing parents to have a say in how federal educational funding is used to educate their own children is a far better option than simply turning the money over to public schools districts and teacher unions.
