In defense of the Obamas' private school choice

Cato (and many others) point out that the Obamas are opting for private schools for their kids in DC. A fine choice, and one might be tempted to say this is an elitist, hypocritical move.

It is hypocritical, perhaps, considering the president-elect's words on education, but I don't worry too much about that sort of navel-gazing. What's important to understand is that it's not actually elitist when you do the numbers.

How can this be? Certainly, only a small, well-to-do minority can afford private school, right?

Actually, we all can. Tuition at the private Sidwell school for the Obama kids is around $25,000 per year. In the case of the DC public schools, the yearly outlay per student is ... around $25,000 per year.

It's a fair bet that Sidwell is offering a considerably better education, for the same amount of money. The difference is in who controls the resources.

Government, and the employees thereof, get paid the same regardless of performance. In the real world, in fact, poor performance might result in more funding. After all, if a government agency is failing to deliver, the issue must be money! (Let's be charitable and call this widely-held belief "unempirical").

In the case of Sidwell, their customers can opt out at any time. They get paid only if their customers (the parents) are satisfied with the product. So Sidwell's success, and its very existence, is coupled tightly to performance in a way that government rarely is.

Obviously, then, the issue is not resources but the model. I wouldn't hire a car mechanic who gets paid the same regardless of outcome. I wouldn't patronize a restaurant that I couldn't "opt out" of the next time. And yet we build an educational system on exactly such a foundation...

Comments

[John Chipko]

Tuition doesn't cover the full cost per student at Sidwell. The Cato piece compares apples and oranges; both yummy but, not the same.

[John Chipko]

A couple other things:

It is possible but not certain that the pool of resources to produce Sidwell-quality schools at cuttent prices exists. If your 'model' were implemented might the cost of better schools go up so that everybody is back at the same point but at a higher cost?

You're probably being charged according to the flat-rate book for your car repairs. The service manager assigns your car to the tech considered appropriate; unless you're going to a boutique shop in which case you're paying a premium all the time. Cet par.