Education

Key Points
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Key Points
  • Citizens, legislators, and regulators should separate the concept of public education from the monopolistic delivery system and embrace 21st-century methods of connecting students with learning experiences.
  • Legislators should improve or pass charter school laws, striking a balance between innovation, autonomy, and accountability.
  • Legislators should create or expand the type(s) of school choice program that best suits their state: vouchers, tax credit scholarships, homeschooling, and education savings accounts.
  • Legislators and regulatory agencies should be wary of attempts to re-regulate innovative and/or private educational options, which could expose them to the death of the thousand bureaucratic cuts and sacrifice the freedoms that allow them to succeed.
  • Institutions of higher education should be transparent about what outcomes students can expect and how much money they will have to spend or borrow.

An excellent education has long been recognized as key to the American Dream. Unfortunately, the current monopolistic and expensive K-12 education system is failing our students, leaving them unprepared for college, careers, or life. Similarly, our higher education system is leaving students with higher debt burdens and fewer career guarantees than ever before.

While the left argues that our ailing public education system can be fixed with ever-greater quantities of taxpayer dollars, the more than $600 billion we currently spend nationwide reflects a large increase in funds over the last 30 years, in exchange for total stagnation – or worse, declines – in achievement. On the college level, subsidies meant to help college students struggling to pay tuition have instead caused prices to skyrocket well above inflation.

Instead of throwing more money at the problem, it’s time to let parents take back control over their children’s educations by allowing them to apply competitive pressure to schools and educational providers. Innovative, parent-empowering choices such as charter schools, voucher programs, tax credit scholarships, homeschool, and education savings accounts allow each child the opportunity to reach his or her potential. In higher education, greater transparency is needed to ensure that students and parents know what they are paying for, and with what prospects they are likely to graduate.

Instead of endless top-down mandates, these revolutionary inroads into the education system are coming from the states. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books allowing charter schools to operate, while half the states have some form of private school choice program. The states should continue to expand parent choice and push educational institutions to compete with each other to provide the best product, just like providers of any other service.

Articles

Education

Myths vs. Facts: Closing the Federal Education Bureaucracy

Andrew Handel/April 9, 2025
In the News

How States Should Manage Education: Andrew Handel on NewsTalk STL

In the News

States Are Chomping At The Bit To Overhaul America’s Broken Education System: Lisa B. Nelson and Patricia Rucker in The Daily Caller

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Publications

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Model Policies

  • Resolution Supporting Devolution of Power from the U.S. Department of Education to the States Final

    WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states, and education is not enumerated as a responsibility of the federal government; WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Education’s creation in 1980 has led to significant federal overreach in education through…

  • Limiting Student Use of Cell Phones in K-12 Classrooms Final

    Section 1. Definitions. (A) “Instructional time” is time during which students are participating in an approved course, curriculum, or other educationally-related activity under the direction of a teacher. The term does not include a period of time between classes, lunch, or recess. (B) “Mobile device” means a personal mobile telephone…

  • Education Tax-Credit Act Final

    Section 1. Definitions (A) “Qualifying student” carries the definition of a “qualifying child” found in 26 U.S.C. § 152(c)(1) through (4) who received full-time academic instruction in a nonpublic school. (B) “Curriculum” means a completed course of study for a particular content area or grade level,…

  • Standardized Testing Choice Act Final

    Section 1. Definitions (A) “CLT” means the Classic Learning Test administered by Classic Learning Initiatives. Section 2. Post-Secondary and Higher Education Admissions (A) Public institutions of higher education shall accept a student’s score on the ACT, CLT, or SAT, as those terms are defined in [insert statutory reference], for purposes…

  • Act to Prohibit Anti-Semitism in State K-20 Educational Institutions Final

    Preamble WHEREAS, a historic rise in antisemitic violence, harassment, and discrimination has occurred at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities across the United States, targeting Jewish students; WHEREAS, in April 2024, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found that the number of FBI investigations into antisemitic hate crimes…

  • The School Board Election Date Act Final

    Section 1. Date of School Board Elections (A) The date of a school district’s election for members of its board of education shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, simultaneously with the general election. (B) Replacement of school board members…

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Task Forces

Education and Workforce Development

The mission of the ALEC Education and Workforce Development Task Force is to promote excellence in…

Press Releases

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