Should Americans expect the incoming Donald Trump Administration to have much impact on the nation’s schools?
President-elect Donald J. Trump and Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos will soon find themselves setting the national dialogue on education. They will be leading, at least nominally, a public education sector whose performance is holding back the nation’s economy where it should be driving its growth.
The emphasis of the incoming Trump Administration on expanding parental choice in schools should be expected to produce some immediate benefits, but can’t by itself energize such a dramatic turnaround in performance.
Harnessing choice to improve productivity was foundational to economist Milton Friedman’s conception of school choice sixty years ago. He emphasized that the most important purpose of school choice was to drive improvements across public education through competitive pressures and market dynamics.
American taxpayers invest $600+ billion annually, or 5.2 percent of the nation’s GDP, on U.S. public elementary and secondary education. This is likely not sustainable at its current, relatively low level of productivity.
Read the full commentary for Forbes here.
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