Reason Magazine: Lisa Snell & Harris Kenny- 'How School Choice & Privatization Can Help Fix America'

Source:Reason Magazine- Lisa Snell, speaking at Freedom Fest, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"School choice is winning, in America, folks," argues Reason Foundation education analyst Lisa Snell, who tallies up all the ways that voucher programs, charter schools, and more are making incredible improvements in the quality of American education. 

"We're broke," explains her Reason colleague, Harris Kenny, who says that privatizing and contracting-out many jobs done by public-sector employees will not only save money but increase service levels for taxpayers. 

Snell and Kenny spoke as part of  "Reason Day" at FreedomFest. Reason magazine editor and Declaration of Independents co-author Matt Welch moderates the discussion. 

Held each July in Las Vegas, FreedomFest is attended by around 2,000 libertarians and advocates of limited government. Reason.tv spoke with over two dozen speakers and attendees and will be releasing interviews over the coming weeks. For an ever-growing playlist, go here now." 

From Reason Magazine

If we knew about our public school system, New Deal, and Great Society before and how they would be today, before we actually designed them which of course is impossible (imagine that they were designed by psychics) we wouldn't of designed them the way we did. Unless of course they were designed by the exact same people as designed them before who didn't know any better. (I'm now dizzy from just writing that)

We wouldn't designed a public school system that would force people to go to school based on where they live. But what was the best school for the students and that their parents would make that decision. Or where there wasn't much accountability in the public school system, where people were paid and promoted based on how long they've worked, instead of how good of a job they do educating. Or let educators keep their jobs based on how long they've been doing them, instead of how good they are at their jobs. Or fund our schools based on where they are located, instead of what they need to do a good job. 

Or pay our politicians some of them who only work about six months every year (if you want to all it work: how hard is it to ask for money for your next campaign?) and who are members of perhaps the most unpopular profession in the country. (Trial and accident attorneys can breathe a little easier) Three four times as much as our educators and some of our educators being eligible for public assistance because of how little we pay them. And these are well-paid, well-trained professionals who could've made a hell of a lot more money in other professions. 

We probably would've gone farther in and been more efficient with Social Security and set up some type of pension system (not run by government) but that would've empowered people to plan their own retirements and not have to be dependent on Social Security as senior citizens. 

We probably would've designed a Medicare system that would've empowered senior citizens to decide where they get their health insurance. And we probably would've gone farther in health care reform and addressed the millions of people who can't afford health insurance one way or the other by letting them decide for themselves where they get their health insurance, instead of creating Medicare.

We would've designed all of our social insurance programs better and perhaps they wouldn't be run by the Federal Government or government at all. Which would be my choice but, yes created but by run by non- profit social services. When we set up all these programs in the past, we created them in the New Deal/Great Society Progressive Era, where we created a lot of these programs in one sense because of what Europe was doing and the supposed need to catch up with them. 

My argument about our social insurance system is not about the constitutionality of it, I believe the Federal courts have already decided that. Or whether we should eliminate them or not, I don't believe we should the fact is a lot of our country is still dependent on it. Which is another problem but my argument is about the management of them, how they should be run and how they are financed and to what degree and who should be running them, and what we should be doing with them in the future.