Is there anything more important than our children?  I think not and know that you will agree. So I wanted to give a shout out to President Obama, who I am frequently critical of, for threatening to veto an appropriation bill in Congress that includes a massive bail out of teachers' unions and cuts in Charter School and other excellent education programs put out there by his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.  The president has been pretty good on education all things considered and so I say, "Way to go, Mr. President!"

And while I am on the subject of education, let me point out something to consider when you hear teachers and school district employees whine about not having enough money.  Every time they feel the slightest pinch or someone tells them no, the rallying cry is always "It's for the kids".  Bull.  Consider this: for the past ten years the enrollment in public schools in grades Kindergarten through grade 12 has been growing at about 1% per year.  During that same period, public school budgets have increased an average of 32%!  That means in plain English that there is a lot of room to cut bureaucracy and administration and all this hoopla about hurting the kids is just nonsense.

In fact, for the past 50 years, public school funding has grown far faster than enrollments and education has gotten worse and worse by any measure.  Those parents that can afford it or are lucky enough to live in areas with good Charter schools have been voting with their children, meaning that they are taking them from public schools and moving them to private and charter.  This means that those schools have a better and better mix of students who want to get ahead and are serious about it while public schools are left with the children of parents who often (though certainly not always) hold education as less of a priority.  As our children mature, it is peer pressure that has the biggest effect on them as opposed to parents.  So when they go to a school where the conversation is "Which college are you going to" as opposed to "Are you going to college?” the difference in their educational path and therefore their possibilities in life are going to be radically different.

So we need more school choice, more private and charter schools, and less public funding into a clearly failed system.  It's a waste of money to do otherwise and a huge disservice to our children.