Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has introduced legislation that would direct federal money currently sent to states for use in public education and instead, send it directly to parents.

The SCHOOL Act would make sure federal funding “follows children, whether learning in person or remotely, to the public school, private school, or home school they attend.” The money could only be sued for education. The bill would also prohibit “additional federal or state control over non-public providers of education. And no family would be compelled to accept the money.”

According to Reason Magazine’s Corey DeAngelis, the flexibility Paul’s bill would offer parents is particularly important in light of the concerns surrounding the re-opening of the nation’s public schools:

If a Walmart stays closed, you can take your money elsewhere. If a public school doesn’t reopen, you should similarly be able to take your children’s education dollars elsewhere. In fact, even if your school does reopen, you should still be able to take your children’s education dollars elsewhere, because the money is for educating the child, not protecting a government monopoly.

According to Education Week, “17 of the 20 largest school districts are choosing remote learning only as their back-to-school instructional model, affecting over 4 million students.”

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons