Rotten Washington, D.C. Schools Seek to Rub Out Competition

Washington, D.C. spends more per student in its public schools than does any state, for worse results in educational achievement than that of any state. D.C. schools are literally falling apart from neglect due to administrative incompetence.

But rather than fixing its rotten schools, which have alienated many parents and students, Washington, D.C. is now preparing to crack down on home schoolers to force them back into the schools, according to Skip Oliva of the Voluntary Trade Council. He writes,

D.C. education officials just announced a new crackdown on homeschooling via regulations that, as I’m reading them, would subject all homeschooling families to arbitrary government interference. The D.C. rules empower the ‘State’ Superintendent’s office to declare any homeschooling curriculum insufficient and order children back to school. There doesn’t even appear to be a facade of due process, as any appeals are heard by the mayor’s office. . . this is blatant monopolist protectionism at its worst.

Earlier, I wrote about state officials who seek to bar home schooling if parents don’t have state-approved teaching “credentials” — that is, if they haven’t taken education-school courses in psychobabble, multiculturalism, and political correctness. Here’s what outspoken teacher Betsy Newmark says about the value of the “credentials” she was forced by state law to acquire before she was allowed to teach: ”Teaching credentials. Bah! I’ve got teaching credentials and found all the folderol I had to go through to get certified pretty much worthless.” One teacher managed to get a degree in education despite being totally ”illiterate.”