By Art da Rosa
School Summer break is here. I visited schools in Rigby. They are using this time to reorganize, to clean, and to repair the school grounds. That’s great! Get ready for the next school year. Following their lead, I want to share my thoughts on how we can help our teachers and education from kindergarten to high school.
Where are we?
I voted for President Trump. He campaigned on eliminating the Department of Education. The idea is not to stop funding to schools, but to continue the funding without federal mandates. Our federal government imposes a lot of mandates on our education system. These mandates make our schools run inefficiently, unnecessarily increase the cost of operation, and, worst of all, tie the hands of our teachers, preventing them from doing what they were hired to do.
Idaho Initiative to Help Education
HB 93, also known as the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit, aimed to allow school choice, thus allowing parents to direct spending to schools of their choice.
The Teachers
I frankly admit that I have not talked to all the teachers. I could claim that I have talked to many of them, but still, a small percentage of them. I recognize that they are caring, want to do the right thing… and not very well paid.
I talked to a teacher who wanted to illustrate an important point by showing it in a movie. Then he realized that he could not do that because it was rated PG.
I talked to another teacher who could not explain a certain concept because it was too closely related to the Bible.
Whether we admit it or not. There are a lot of rules in education–a lot of unnecessary bureaucracies.
So, what can we do?
What if some of these bureaucracies are eased? Better yet, removed? Wait! But will it not degrade our education system? Don’t we want more control instead? Would it not allow the crazy woke ideas to infiltrate our schools? Historically, no. With fewer government-imposed rules, regulations, and bureaucracies, we will actually see less of the negatives that are associated with education. Freedom works!
But why does it work? Fewer regulations mean that the school board that we elected, the school principals, and the teachers will actually be running our schools. That alone is a reason for optimism. And if they don’t do their jobs? We, the residents, can remove them. By voting them out.
I admire Thomas Jefferson. His solution to a bloated government is:
In the past, the government has been top-heavy, with the Federal and State governments imposing on us. By decentralizing those regulations, we will achieve a more efficient system in our schools.
And what can our local schools do? That will be Part 2 of how to Support the Teachers and Education.
About Art da Rosa
Art is a husband, father, and grandfather who escaped the Cultural Revolution of Communist China to become a proud American citizen. A civil engineer and public servant, he now teaches the Constitution in Pocatello and aims to defend freedom and restore moral clarity.
