vikings of Wilton, ME C-fairer,
I support authorization of charter schools and private options to the public schools. But your comments equating socialism with the public school system is simply uninformed. The biggest difference between public schools and charter schools is that the public schools are governed by locally elected school boards (mostly composed of parents) Charter schools are run by unelected boards or by management companies.
Your right few people suggests that the restaurants be run by elected boards (kind of silly). But also few people suggest that the courts, police, or fire companies be run by private companies that are not accountable to the public. Simple question is education a private good that should be available based on individual parents ability to pay (like restaurant meals) or a public good available equally to all (like police and fire protection). Private goods are provided by private enterprise. Public goods by the public as a part of the social compact of our communities. Charter schools with accountability requirements would provide a hybrid bringing some of the private advantages while still having public oversight.report abuse

98thRET of Winthrop, ME The board nails this one.report abuse

C-Fairer of Waterville, ME http://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

That's why socialist economies eventually must fail. That's why socialist education systems cannot provide decent education for kids no matter how much money is thrown at the bureaucracies
"Why have public schools at all?" All the predictable answers, he wrote, "leave out the simple fact that one of the surest ways to leave a kid 'behind' is to hand him over to the government

But nobody believes that the government should run 90 percent of the restaurants, farms and supermarkets. Why should it run 90 percent of the schools – particularly when it gets terrible resultsreport abuse

YouGo of Augusta, ME Charter schools might force local schools to get their act together - but, wait this is Maine! Outsider ideas are rejected as they are not a Mainer's ideas! Until Mainers begin to think outside the box, nothing will change. This is why so many people, especially young families, are leaving this state. Lots of taxes + resistance to change = fewer families and industries. Yes, your education costs may drop, but you will have a much smaller pool of doctors, dentists, lawyers and teachers to choose from as Mainers are knonwn to dislike and distrust outsiders and avoid them at all cost. The only Mainer is a locally born one....report abuse