Locality is crucial for accountability. Because the greater is the distance between the policy maker or the policy making body and those most affected by the policy, the students, teachers and schools, the more adverse is the policy’s impact on a public school district’s finances and ultimately upon the quality of education it provides. Our public schools, therefore, must be given the choice of becoming self-governing, self-funding, autonomous, local public school districts free from state and federal mandates so that they can be liberated to provide a top quality education while held being accountable to this standard by those who are the most capable of doing so, the local school district’s taxpayers.
A self-governing public school district would be free of state and federal mandates but would abide by all other state and federal laws. It would remain a public school district rather than become a charter school. It would continue to serve the same local community with the same regular and special education students. While public school districts could elect to stay within the state system and continue to abide by all mandates, all districts would be given the opportunity to legally opt out.
Self-governance is the alternative to a state dominated educational system that could provide public schools with the authority necessary to improve educational accountability consistent with the priorities of their local school communities. It would also provide school districts with the flexibility to innovate rather than be forced to march in lock step to the state’s one-size-fits-all mandates which fit no district. Because decisions guiding the operations of self-governing schools would no longer be determined at the state level, parents, teachers, school administrators, boards of education and local taxpayers would be better able to shape the quality of education which students receive in their local schools.
Self-governance would eliminate the excessive financial and administrative burdens imposed by state mandates. The ever increasing cost of the state’s unfunded and under funded mandates is forcing school districts not only to cut non-mandate protected education programs but also to increase property taxes. For example, New Jersey’s public school districts can no longer afford to pay for these unfunded and under funded mandates because most school districts are forced to spend disproportionately more to meet the requirements of these mandates than these districts receive in total state and federal financial aid. Self-governance would increase the financial resources available for the classroom because the funds that are currently used for compliance with state mandates could be redirected to improving student learning and achievement, which after all is the real mission of our schools.
How do we restructure our educational system such that we not only enable our schools to increase the property taxpayers’ return on their investment but also greatly improve the quality of education while holding schools accountable to this standard? The answer is to give our public schools the choice of becoming self-governing, self-funding, autonomous local public school districts free from state and federal mandates. This would empower public schools to improve the quality of education consistent with the priorities of their local communities as well as the flexibility to innovate. Legally opting out of the state system through a state-wide voter approved referendum would restore decision-making to the local school district level. Because decisions guiding the operations of self-governing schools would no longer be made largely at the state level, parents, teachers, school administrators, boards of education and local taxpayers would be better able not only to shape the quality of education provided in their local schools but also to hold their local schools accountable for this outcome.
