Public Goods & the Money Belongs to the Child Fallacy (in tweets)
Challenging "dollars belong to the child, not the system" argument. (Tax)$$ provided by society to serve pub interest 1/ #publicgoodsmatter
Society (Tax $$) provides for the mix of public goods and services that make for a “better” society 2/ #publicgoodsmatter
Those dollars provided via taxation support a) infrastructure & b) operations for public goods & services 3/ #publicgoodsmatter
That includes schools, roads, public safety (policy/fire), national security, public utilities, parks, etc. 4/ #publicgoodsmatter
Investment in public infrastructure meant to serve not only immediate users, but users for generations to come 5/ #publicgoodsmatter
Support of operations also not exclusive to those using the service or good today or this year 6/ #publicgoodsmatter
Contributors of tax dollars include those directly AND indirectly benefiting 7/ #publicgoodsmatter
Indirect benefits accrued from investment in system of pub schooling include capitalization in housing values 8/ #publicgoodsmatter
Pub $$ matters not only to those using it here/now. $$ don’t just belong to parents/kids currently school-aged. 9/ #publicgoodsmatter
Assets acquired with public $$ surely do not belong exclusively to current parents/kids. 10/ #publicgoodsmatter
To apply the “money belongs to the child” logic to other public goods/services… 11/ #publicgoodsmatter
Should we just give public safety tax dollars back to citizens to buy guns & build fences? 12/ #publicgoodsmatter
What about fire protection? Buy your own hose & connect it where? “Charter” fire departments instead? 13/ #publicgoodsmatter
What about national defense/security? Here’s your voucher – you’re on your own? 14/ #publicgoodsmatter
Some things we (U.S. Society) decided not to really provide as public good/service–Health Care/Higher Education. 15/ #publicgoodsmatter
As inequitable as our K12 system is (it’s bad!), anyone believe higher Ed & health care are actually more equitable? 16/ #publicgoodsmatter
Yes,pub spaces give rise to tensions among constituents. Confronting(not avoiding)tensions is net+ for society! 17/ #publicgoodsmatter
Public Goods & the Money Belongs to the Child Fallacy (in tweets) | School Finance 101: