North Star Writers Group

I don't know that a day goes by without some liberal politician somewhere crying that schools are mired in poverty and insisting that taxes be raised so as to spend more money on them. And I'm not sure which is more infuriating – that said liberal politician has the chutzpah to offer such a blatant lie or that those in the media whose job it's supposed to be to ferret out such frauds will not do so.

The fact is that America has never spent more on public K-12 education, nearly half a trillion dollars total. That's almost 5 percent of the entire U.S. economy, of which $66 billion alone is spent at the federal level, for which I challenge any reader to find a single tangible benefit or worthwhile product. Or any part of the Constitution that authorizes this federal involvement.

On a per-pupil basis, America spends more than any other developed nation on earth, easily upwards of $100,000 for a student's entire kindergarten-through-high school career. Yet American students consistently rank in the middle of the pack at best on math, science and reading tests administered to 28 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations. That's not what I'd call value for the dollar. And even if it were, that's still a mighty steep price tag. You think that parents could do just a tad bit better than government with that $100,000 if only they were given the chance?

But all that spending never even gets acknowledged, much less scrutinized by a media that has chosen sides in the matter. The truth - that public schools are plenty well-funded and simply waste or embezzle ungodly sums of money - is buried as deeply as possible, and the presumption that blindly throwing endless piles of money at an institution already failing at its primary task will magically cure all that ails it reigns supreme. All so that teachers’ unions and Democratic politicians can continue their incestuous relationship, wherein your child is simply a vessel for them to gain money and power. And should you dare question them and their constantly repeated big lie in any way, then you hate kids and hate teachers and are barely one step above Attila the Hun on the barbarian scale.

At some point, those of us who see the truth need to be willing to take on Big Education and their tactics of intimidation. Fire needs to be fought with fire. So long as we immediately curl into the fetal position for fear of appearing to be "mean" to kids or teachers, we might as well just give the liberals and unions a blank check and get our surrender over with. And let's face it - if anyone is being mean, it's those who value a child only for his or her use as an instrument to extort as many tax dollars as possible out of the rest of us. (Not to mention as a future liberal voter.) We need to be more relentless in pointing out a few basic truths than they are in covering them up and bullying dissenters into silence.

• Public schools are most definitely not under-funded, by any honest measure. In fact, if based on performance, they are rather over-funded. And if any part of their funding is given insufficient attention, it is the spending side. A veritable proctologist's exam of an audit is long overdue.

• Every child's first and best educators are his or her mother and father. The idea that government either can or should replace parents in that role is ludicrous, if not immoral. Turn your child over to the state to have his or her mind shaped? Perish the thought.

• By the same token, a child's education is the sole responsibility of the mother and father who brought him or her into the world. They should not expect anyone else to pay for the cost of raising their offspring, nor should they have one penny of their money taxed away ostensibly for that purpose. This would automatically inject free-market accountability into the system, as any school not performing up to snuff would lose the customers who pay their salaries and subsequently go out of business. It would also bring back moral accountability to those eschewing (or outright evading) their parental obligations.

• Finally, if we are to truly change the system, it is going to require a willingness by parents to demand and obtain this accountability, including removing their children from public schools should it become necessary. This will inevitably run headlong into feminist orthodoxy, as the flexibility to do so will hinge upon having a two-parent household and the wherewithal to place rearing children - both intellectually and morally - ahead of career goals as a priority. The sad fact these days is that all too many parents, both single and married, value public schools for their usefulness as a glorified day care center rather than as a place of education. That's a big reason Big Education gets away with so much. Holding them accountable would, in turn, require more sacrifice than many parents are willing (or able) to make. So the next property tax check gets mindlessly forked over in a pointless attempt to satisfy the utterly insatiable.

I harbor no illusions that such an effort would be met with anything but hostility. Far too many people benefit far too much from the current corrupt system to expect that they'll let it be altered without a big fight. But there is a certain point where that can no longer be sufficient reason to not act. Children deserve far better than what they're getting right now. Your son or daughter is worth some sacrifice and a fight, don't you think?

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This is Column # DKK51. Request permission to publish here.