(1)     If you believe that anyone can teach K-12 classes without the professional training required by your state    .  . .

(2)  If you resent paying higher taxes, because students with disabilities need special care . . .

(3)     If you think that public funds spent on physical education, social education and the arts are non-essential for K-12 schooling   . . .

(4)     If you are glad for your student to go to classrooms with students of only your racial, socio-economic, and religious group   . . .

(5)     If you think the books taught in classrooms and provided in school libraries should meet the standards of a small minority of tax-payers  . .

(6)     If you want your student exposed to a faith-based curriculum or a curriculum that sandpapers away the struggles of women and minorities from U.S. History . . .

And if you have an extra $12,000 your pocket . . .

Then, by all means, enroll your student in a private school.

But don’t expect the taxpayers, who said “no” these conditions, to pay for your privileges. This means: No vouchers for private schools.

The first three conditions are why public schools are so expensive to tax-payers. Their teachers must be professionally trained and therefore have to be paid more. They maintain requirements and conditions for students of every aptitude and ability. They pay out high per-pupil expenses because all students are accepted. No one is turned away because they learn differently or require a high number of teachers per classroom. Public schools are not allowed to discriminate or select based on the natural or cultural assets of their students. Private schools may do that, and sometimes they do.

The next three conditions represent the war on diversity, equality, and inclusivity.  For some reason the right of all students to attend a public school has boiled down to bathrooms and dirty books.  Every one of these policies has been turned into a culture war, when reasonable people can agree to a truce. If the superintendent and the school board can devise a compromise, not a concession, then citizens of reasonable minds can live together.

Of course, if you can’t tolerate an additional gender neutral bathroom or a specially supervised book department in the school library, then, by all means, enroll in a private school.

Curriculum has always been contentious in public schools. What books in English, what issues in social studies, what versions of the creation of the universe. Parents should be welcome voices, when they are informed voices. It is no good to go to war on a book or a unit of study just because  a national lobbying group has attacked it.

Sometimes parents can offer to meet with teachers about their objections to a book. Sometimes a school may ask teachers to offer an alternative reading. Sometimes teachers can allow a debate between “creation science” and “evolution” during or after class.  Sometimes primary documents about the cause and conditions of slavery make students uncomfortable. If these compromises offend you, then, by all means, enroll in a private school.

Public schools could offer a more competitive service. The most obvious improvement would be to cap enrollment for classes at twenty for K-5 and twenty-five for 6-12.  The research on class size is controversial but ask teachers if they teach better with smaller classes and they will nod vigorously. It all boils down to individual attention you can’t give in lecture-sized classes.

This means more money for teachers and more available teachers. Both issues could be addressed with internships for teachers at the end of their licensure program. Intern teachers could be paid for full time teaching at a lower level of the pay scale with benefits from professional mentorship of the experienced faculty.  Smaller classes allow for earlier success at real teaching, instead of crowd control.

If the interns are well-supported, both financially and by mentorships, they will move into permanent positions after they have proved their qualifications. More young teachers will be drawn to these programs, which could result in hiring on the tenure track. More teachers, smaller classes.

Public schools are a work in progress, but if you are impatient, by all means, enroll in a private school.