Free-market education

Regarding “Business of education” letter (Page A16, Friday), the writer decries one-size-fits-all and education run by politicians and bureaucrats, urging free markets to provide all education. What he and most of us don’t think of is that the current public school system is a very large decentralized approach to school administration and funding run by local representatives called school boards. In 2014 there were more than 1,200 of these organizations in Texas. HISD, as large as it is, is still run and administered by a local board appointed by the school district’s customers. It is a direct model of free market governance.

Funding comes from its local customers (property tax), governance by the board and delegated to a named CEO (superintendent) responsible for daily operation whom the board can dismiss at will. As with all business in a “free” market there are standards that must be adhered to, enforced by each company/ school district board and government regulatory agencies.

The only real differences is that the writer doesn’t have to pay money to Wal-Mart if he doesn’t shop there, but he does have to pay money to his local ISD. That points to the actual issues that need to be addressed: Education for all or only for those who can pay, and do we have minimum educational standards that should be met?

Walt Lind, Nassau Bay