"Peace, Freedom, and a few less fat bastards eating all the pie."
-Edmund Blackadder III
"It's very unlikely that spending more money on education will result in better educated children," said BC Libertarian Party Leader Ken Wiebe.
Wiebe said in an interview today that the best route to a better education for BC's children is to introduce real parental choice and competition in our educational system.
"Parents are in the best position to determine what is a good education for their children," says Wiebe. "As with choosing their clothing, food, or any other product or service, parents will choose the best they can afford for their children. The power to choose will encourage professional educators to reduce cost and improve the quality of education... Just as it does in any other area where competiton and innovation is present."
Wiebe, a 41-year old systems analyst, points out that people perceive that educational quality has declined, not improved, as ever more tax dollars have been funnelled into an unresponsive education bureaucracy. "I myself received a better education than my son is, and that includes the year I attended a one-room schoolhouse outside Prince George as a child."
So, what does Wiebe propose?
"The BC Libertarian Party would promote full educational choice to parents. Parents could choose to leave their children in their local public schools, transfer them to a private school of their choice, or even provide education to their children at home."
Instead of money going directly to the public education bureacracy, parents would be issued school vouchers which would cover the cost of their child's education, Wiebe said. He also said a Libertarian government would examine the possibility of transferable tuition tax credits as an alternative to the voucher system.
"The issue is clear: do we wish to continue with an unresponsive government monopoly in education, or do we want real alternatives and innovations for 21st century children? The factory education model designed earlier this century is simply not up to the challenge of the future. It will not succeed because it cannot succeed, and our children deserve better from us." Wiebe says, "One-size-fits-all education fits no-one at all, and ultimately it is parents who know best what their children require."
The BC Libertarian Party is running over 20 candidates in British Columbia's 75 Electorial districts. Vancouver Island has five declared candidates running under the Libertarian banner, including party leader Ken Wiebe in Saanich South.
Contact:
Ken Wiebe, Leader
BC Libertarian Party
604-384-4505
Wayne McLaren, Campaign Manager for Ken Wiebe
604-598-7848