While you and I look at children as the future, supporters of the education-industrial complex seem to view them a revenue stream. Hence the criticism of Wake County Rep. Paul Stam's bill that would give a tax credit to parents who fund their kids' education privately.
In addition to being fair, turns out the tax credit saves big bucks. Analysis by legislative research staff shows the bill could save state and county taxpayers up to $50 million a year. The $3,500 top tax credit a parent could receive is a bargain compared to the approximately $6,900 taxpayers shell out each year to educate a K-12 student.
And yet state Rep. Rick Glazier told N&O reporter Andy Curliss that Stam's bill is a direct assault on public education. "I don't think taxpayers ought to be involved in funding private schools, nor do I think the taxpayers want their money going there," Glazier said. "It is not the constitutional mandate of the state to fund the private schools."
Whether there is a mandate to fund private schools is irrelevant. Because it makes economic sense, the state already applies $1,850 per year toward the expenses of North Carolina students who attend private colleges and universities here. Last time I looked, the university and community system had withstood the assault.
As a matter of disclosure, I've got a professional interest in the funding debate. I sit on the board of trustees of Raleigh's Peace College, a private women's college. My wife and I also have a personal interest. We support Catholic education, including the school at our parish, even though we do not have school-age children.
To be clear, I don't dislike public schools or their board members, administrators or teachers. But I don't trust their priorities. Time and again, they put their ideology and interests ahead of individual student needs.
Consider the alleged intimidation of Enloe High School senior Jay Zhang after his letter to the editor was published in this newspaper. The letter said the diversity touted by Enloe isn't what it's cracked up to be for poor and minority students. Zhang observed that few minorities were in his advanced classes.
The school district is investigating alleged threats he then received from a teacher. Reportedly, the teacher suggested that he might rescind college recommendation letters he'd written for Zhang.
To be fair, if I was an Enloe teacher who supports diversity, I'd want Zhang to be quiet too. In test results, the record isn't good.
According to Wake County school system statistics for 2009-2010, Enloe is highly diverse. The student population is made up of 39.9 percent white students, 39.1 percent black or African-American students, 12.1 percent Asian and 5 percent Hispanic students. No other Wake traditional or magnet high school comes close to this diversified mix.
Given that diversity is supposed to help low-income and minority kids, the performance of these population groups should be stellar. Turns out, it's the worst in the district. On state ABC tests, only 60 percent of Enloe's Hispanic student population is at or above grade level. For blacks, it's 55.8 percent and for economically disadvantaged kids it's a mere 49.7 percent.
Minority and poor students fare far better at Southeast Raleigh High, a magnet school with the highest single-ethnicity student population among Wake high schools. Its student body is 71.5 percent black, 17.6 percent white, 6 percent Hispanic and 2 percent Asian. Not much diversity here. Yet 63 percent of blacks, 60 percent of Hispanics and 58.2 percent of economically disadvantaged students are at grade level or above.
At Knightdale High, a traditional school where 62 percent of the students are minority, 68 percent of blacks, 65 percent of Hispanics and 65 percent of poor kids are at grade level or better.
Individual parents, particularly poor and minority ones, who want to escape the intellectual dishonesty should be able not only to take their kids private, but part of their tax money as well.
