AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation today released Avoiding Government Regulation: Why Parental School Choice Is Possible Without Destructive Control of Private Schools. The paper, written by Senior Fellow Allan Parker, Jr., examines the legal impact of school choice on government authority to regulate private schools.
“Neither vouchers nor tax credits give the government any more legal authority to regulate private schools and home schools than they have right now. In theory, school choice is designed to create options and diversity, not regulatory on-size-fits-all mandates,” said Parker. “Neither tax credits, vouchers, nor grants of any kind require regulation in any form. But common sense, anti-fraud regulations as exist now probably always will.
“School choice, or child-centered funding, would increase the power of parents and force the bureaucracy to respond to real parent needs – learning and safety – not political needs. Under child-centered funding the money follows the child to the school of the parents’ choice. The particular mechanism – grant or tax credit – has no legal impact on government authority to regulate at all.”
To read the full report, visit: http://txpo.li/avoiding-government-regulation
Allan Parker is a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and president of the Justice Foundation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with honors from the University of Oklahoma, then went on to the University of Texas Law School and graduated number one in his class with honors. After his education, Mr. Parker became a partner with a law firm that represented numerous school districts and was involved with personnel terminations, due process hearings and cases before the Commissioner of Education. Mr. Parker taught Education Law & Civil Procedure at St. Mary’s University School of Law from 1987-1993 in San Antonio.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.
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