Yugo Quality at a Hummer Price

Intel recently introduced a new chip codenamed Penryn. In terms of current technology, this new chip packs double the transistors in the same space, uses 30 percent less electricity, is 20 percent faster in switching speed, and reduces power leakage by 5 to 10 fold. In 1965 Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore observed that transistor density doubles every two years.

If public education productivity had improved as much as computer technology since 1965, it would cost less that one cent and take less than one second to produce a K-12 education.

Regrettably, the academic achievement of the U.S. public education system is considered a Yugo by international standards. Sorry to say we are paying a Hummer of a price and the future looks bleak.

Albertsons,Walmart, Winco, and Fred Meyer all compete to serve the public. Would you be happy if the government forced you to shop at only one of these stores based on your zip code? The government should not do anything to limit parent's ability to make the best choice for their children. All education providers — government, religious, and secular — can contribute to public education because all can serve the public by educating children.

ISAT Scholarships

Bryan Fisher of the Idaho Values Alliance:

The "high stakes" test students must take to graduate from high school in Idaho is the ISAT (Idaho Standards Achievement Test). All sophomores take the 10th grade ISAT exam, which the Statesman describes as "the graduation test, which they (students) must pass before getting a diploma." This raises a thought-provoking question: if a student passes "the graduation test" in the 10th grade, and thus has demonstrated the academic proficiency we require of all high school graduates, why are we strapping him in a seat for two more years, at taxpayer expense? A better approach: once a student passes the ISAT, give him his high school diploma, and then use the taxpayer dollars Idaho would otherwise have spent on his last two years of high school instead financing the first two years of his college education. By the time he finishes what would have been his senior year, he'd already have two years of college under his belt, and he and his parents would have just two years of college to fund instead of four. Plus, students who know they are not college bound could begin training for a trade in what otherwise would have been their junior year in high school.

Gale notes:

According to the Idaho Department of Education, taxpayers were charged $8,279 per student last year. This is the average rate. Based upon the State funding formula, the rate for 11th and 12th grades is estimated at $10,665 per year.

Tuition at BSU, U of I, and ISU is $4,410 year year. The ISAT Opportunity Scholarship could provide a full four-year scholarship to any of Idaho's public universities.

Since federal grants and loans are available to private colleges, the ISAT Scholarship could also be used at Idaho's private colleges including College of Idaho, BYU-Idaho, and NNU.

Find the Road Money in the Bloated Education Budget

Last year the Idaho Department of Education reported that taxpayers were charged over $2 billion dollars for K-12 public education. This indicated a rate of around $8,279 per student for 246,717 students. In contrast, Idaho’s private schools are charging around 60 percent of the public school rate or $4,800 per student per year.

The Albertson Foundation reports that private school academic performance is at or above the public school averages. This would suggest that private schools are over 70 percent more productive than public schools.

Why not give taxpayers a break and allow more students to attend Idaho’s highly productive private schools? If just 25 percent of Idaho’s public school students could attend private schools, over $214 million dollars would be available for new road construction.

Note to Butch: Be smart, don’t raise taxes to pay for new roads, increase choice in education. Idaho can have better education and better roads without raising more taxes.