The signs of systemic collapse in education are becoming more numerous. Here is the big news at present:

16 Schools in Lancaster County on list of Low Performers

This new program, which is really the best of its kind nationally, is an expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) which allows businesses to receive a tax credit for giving support so that needy students can afford a private education. It is the best because it builds supportive relationships between businesses and the schools--not schools and the state. It is not perfect, but it is good. The expansion is allowing for a greater degree of scholarship for low income students and families trapped in failing school districts. In Lancaster County, this will hammer the McCaskey District, Columbia, and (unexpectedly) Pequea Valley HS. This will bring a level of accountability to these districts which is needed. It will or could have these problematic results which happen generally when government gives a subsidy:

1. Private schools could increase their tuition to get the maximum benefit from the tuition of subsidized needy people.

2. People who would qualify for the tuition subsidy might actually move into the poor districts just to get the subsidy.

3. The public districts might have to make massive cuts as families flee.

4. Private schools (starving for money) might accept students who are going to have needs that they are not really set up to meet (needs for breakfast, and more support than they offer) just to get money.

5. Private schools might unwittingly become dependent on a government program.

All of these problems are going to increase because the public system is economically unsustainable and the states can not print money. The fixes right now are the sticking fingers in a dyke, but the state only has so many fingers and the dyke is getting runnier...and no one can locate the little Dutch boy. A family member of mine (wise and prudent Christian man who is involved in public education) said (with frustration), "Some lawmakers just want the all schools to be private schools!" This is true, but increasingly this is not happening because of philosophical commitments it is happening because of the ability to read a spreadsheet. If you have stocks in the public schools, I would sell now.

The next question to ask is this: "If low performing districts are so bad that you will give an $8500 tax credit per student to a low income (under $60k) a year to flee, then why not for families that make $60,001 or $70k or $80k?" The logic (seems to me) is unassailable and when this questions is answered, the gig is up for parts of public school.