Thom Hartmann: Governor Chris Christie- 'Orders For Profit Corps To Take Over Failing Schools'

Source:Thom Hartmann- Governor Chris Christie (Republican, New Jersey) ordering an all you can eat meat lovers buffet, just for himself.. Actually, I don't know why he's pointing. 

"Thom debates with Dan Gainor, Vice President & T. Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow at the Business & Media Institute, on school choice. If you liked this clip of The Thom Hartmann Program, please do us a big favor and share it with your friends... and hit that "like" button!" 

From Thom Hartmann

I love the idea of public school choice that parents can send their kids to the school thats best for their kids. Instead of being forced to send their kids to a school based on where they live. And if they live in a low-income area, that means sending their kids to rotten public schools. I also love the idea of charter schools (independent public schools) that are owned by the public school system, but operated independently of the public school system. 

I love the idea of non-profit private schools, that private schools raise enough money just to cover their expenses. And everything in their system is about having the best school possible and delivering the best education possible for their students. 

But what I'm not a fan of is for-profit private schools, not that I would be for passing some law to outlaw them, because again the market the people should decide where parents send their their kids to school and for-profits private schools are just an option that parents have to select. 

It's not an education option thats forced down anyone and I especially don't like the idea of privatizing public schools which of course are non-profit and turning them into for-profit schools. Which is what Governor Chris Christie is apparently trying to do in New Jersey. 

Public schools are just that, public and non-profit for the public and are public goods and services and that of course aren't doing very well in America right now. But that doesn't mean we turn them into private corporations. We reform them to make them work better and we give them competition to force them to work better in order to stay in business. 

One way to make public schools work better is to bring in competition to them. Force them to do a good job in order to keep receiving students and to stay in business. And the public schools that aren't able to compete with good public school and private schools, will end up going out-of-business. And the public schools that do a good job, will of course thrive and end up receiving plenty of students every year. Because parents will see how good those schools are and will want to send their kids to those schools. 

If states and localities want to fund private school choice, (meaning vouchers for low-income students who are stuck in bad public schools to go to private schools) fine, thats their tax revenue and they can do that. I'm personally not in favor of that because I believe that public school revenue should be used for public schools. Money thats going to finance private schools, can go to pay for public school choice, Charter schools, pay raises for quality teachers, better starting pay for teachers, money to build new public schools or to finance crumbling schools, which also creates more jobs, etc. 

Money by itself can't repair our public school system. It's about how that money is spent and what its spent on that matters. Last time I checked New Jersey, yes has a Republican Governor but a Democratic Controlled Legislature. So Legislative Democrats in New Jersey should be able to stop what Governor Christie is trying to do in some of these areas. 

Governor Christie to me represents exactly what the Tea Party stands when it comes to economic policy: privatizing public schools is an excellent example of this and you would think he would be their perfect Presidential candidate. But apparently he's smart enough to realize that he's not ready to be President of the United States. And this plan to privatize public schools is a perfect example of that.