I was absolutely horrified the other day when I read this article, "Arizona's New School Choice Bill Moves Us Closer to Milton Friedman's Vision." I cannot imagine anything nearly as awful as moving closer to a privatized school system, where our great public education system is cannibalized for funds to go to private schools. And something that moves us "closer to Milton Friedman's vision" is abhorrent. Friedman's "free market" economic policies were on full display in Chile following Agusto Pinochet's coup. Friedman's "vision" is a dystopian one, incompatible with democracy and lending itself to autocratic, despotic governments. The word "fascism" comes to mind when thinking about Friedman's economic policies.
The article celebrates the
"school choice" bill, which involves giving individual parents about $7,000
in vouchers per child to spend at private or alternative schools. The vouchers,
known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts or ESAs, will be available to use at
private schools, religious schools, and alternative schools. What this means
for public education is the loss of revenue and funding.
Other conservative sources included similar articles, praising the new Arizona school choice bill and celebrating moving closer to Milton Friedman's vision for education (see https://tennesseestar.com/2022/07/03/commentary-arizonas-new-school-choice-bill-moves-us-closer-to-milton-friedmans-vision/ for example).
Opponents of the
program and its expansion say it will siphon tax dollars from public schools
when parents decide to take their children elsewhere. Public schools are
largely funded by federal, state and local government on the basis of
attendance.
Milton Friedman’s
“vision” sees a privatized education system where those people with money can
afford the best education for their children while poorer people are stuck in
an underfunded public education system that is failing because those with money
have abandoned it. As early as 1955, Friedman advocated for vouchers so parents
could choose their children’s education. While it sounds good (who would be opposed
to parents being able to choose their children’s educational opportunities?),
Friedman’s vision is based on the destruction of our egalitarian public
education system. Public education serves everyone, rich or poor. As it is, the
funding for public education is already unfair; funding comes from property
taxes and thus, public schools located in wealthier areas are better funded.
In addition,
Arizona already ranks either 49th or 50th in spending on
education.
In 2018,
Arizonans overwhelmingly voted down the expansion of school vouchers by
defeating Proposition 305, which would have expanded the ESA program. Yet the
Republican Arizona legislature has gone against the will of the people of
Arizona and passed this school voucher bill.
In a critical
article on the legislation in Salon.com,
Beth Lewis, director of Save Our Schools Arizona put it this way:
"The Republican
universal voucher system is designed to kill public education," tweeted former Arizona
House Rep. Diego Rodriguez. "OUR nation's greatness is built on free
Public schools. The GOP goal is to recreate segregation, expand the opportunity
gap, and destroy the foundation of our democracy."
This is indeed
Milton Friedman’s “vision” for our education system.
The article in Salon.com also notes: the new law also speeds up the same sort
of death spiral that has afflicted public schools across the country, by steadily
draining funds away from public education. While the immediate cost of ESA
expansion — for students already outside the public school system — will draw
on Arizona's general funds, the money to cover children who leave public
schools in coming years will be deducted from public school budgets.
As Charles Siler notes,
“One of the things people never fully comprehend is how far privatization
advocates want to take things," he said. "They want to get rid of all
public funding for education. Eventually vouchers will die off too." What
will remain, he argues, will be a self-funded primary education system, funded
by a lending market much as colleges are. Or as Lewis says, a "system of
haves and have-nots.”
And that is the true "vision" of Milton Friedman: a "free market" for education as for other businesses, which will sacrifice a free public education for all children in favor of a market funded, privatized system where those with means will be able to find good education for their children and those without will be relegated to failing schools and overcrowded classes.
