OPINION: Some rambling, unsophisticated thoughts on the question of education, property taxes to fund education and the nonsense of thinking.

The above map is from this article | “This Map Shows How Low States Education Spending Has Gotten | State policymakers who discover that they put less of a premium on education than Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad may want to rethink their budgets for 2019.”

The idea that American education is superior has got to change. Nearly every property owner is seething about Pennsylvania’s method of funding education. Maybe it’s time to look at alternatives?

Maybe the federal government ought to pay more? Here’s a list of global nations and their national government’s percent of gross domestic product allocated to education.

Maybe it’s time to reallocate? If the US reallocated it’s national budget from a massive defense budget (the largest in the world) to increased spending on education, would that be better? Here’s what France’s budget looks like, with education being the second largest line item.

Maybe it’s time for parents to pay? Perhaps an a la carte pay as you go plan for use of services ought to be considered. If your household has children, your household finds a way to pay for the education your child uses. No children in school? No property tax. Your progeny wants to play field hockey; pay an extra fee. Or maybe it’s time to skip the frills completely: Go to school, learn and come home. “Private and nonpublic schools in Pennsylvania provide the parents of school-age children diverse alternatives to public schools.”

Maybe that’s “school choice?” “How does school choice work in other countries?”|

Maybe it’s time to consolidate? Give up the local loyalty and bite the bullet. There are savings in consolidation of efforts. There are advantages to consolidation.

Maybe it’s time for a single national educational policy? Maybe it’s time to eradicate local schools as a concept and have a national educational policy that standardizes all educational functions. Same school buildings. Same school standards. Same school academics. Same everything.

Other readings:

• “Why America’s Schools Have A Money Problem”
• “Financing Education”
• “American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math”