Education activist Corey DeAngelis and attorney Stephan Kinsella debate the merits of libertarian support for the school choice movement. They discuss the flaws in the public school system, the benefits of education savings accounts, government regulation on private and homeschooling, potential consequences of educational welfare, building coalitions, and examining charter school admissions.
School choice vouchers empower parents and provide more freedom in decision-making for their children's education.
Studies indicate that introducing private school competition through school choice programs can positively impact public school outcomes.
Supporting school choice is viewed as an incremental step towards greater educational freedom, even though some libertarians advocate for the complete separation of school and state.
Deep dives
The Importance of School Choice for Libertarians
School choice voucher systems give parents more freedom and agency to make decisions for their children as opposed to public school systems.
The Impact of School Choice on Public Schools
Studies show that private school competition through school choice programs can have a positive effect on the outcomes in public schools.
Incremental Steps Towards Separation of School and State
While some libertarians advocate for the complete separation of school and state, supporting school choice is seen as an incremental step in the right direction.
The Potential Effects and Concerns of School Choice
Critics argue that school choice may lead to increased government control over private schools and educational welfare entrenchment, but proponents believe it provides greater opportunities and aligns with libertarian values.
Incremental Progress vs. Perfect Solution
Corey argues that today's school choice movement is a step in the right direction and that libertarians shouldn't make perfect the enemy of the good. He believes that broader coalitions and bigger tents are necessary to achieve success. Corey highlights the lack of evidence supporting doomsday scenarios associated with school choice and emphasizes the benefits of reducing educational welfare and increasing parental choice.
Separation of Education and State
In contrast, Kinsella argues that school choice ultimately leads to a universal tax-funded voucher-based educational welfare system. He advocates for the separation of education and state, reducing state funding of education, and cutting property taxes. Kinsella emphasizes the need to abolish public schools and states that reforming the current public school system should entail reducing its size and scope rather than expanding it through school choice.
Education activist Corey DeAngelis and attorney Stephan Kinsella debate the resolution, "Today's school-choice movement in the U.S. is worthy of support by libertarians."
Taking the affirmative is DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. He is also the executive director at the Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a senior fellow at Reason Foundation, and a board member at the Liberty Justice Center. He was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work on education policy and received the Buckley Award from America's Future in 2020.
The debate was held at New York City's Sheen Center and hosted by The Soho Forum, which receives fiscal sponsorship from Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.