[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1142-E1143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTRODUCING THE FAMILY EDUCATION FREEDOM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 1997

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Family Education 
Freedom Act of 1997, a bill to empower millions of working- and-middle 
class Americans to choose a nonpublic education for their children, as 
well as making it easier for parents to actively participate in 
improving public schools. The Family Education Freedom Act accomplishes 
it's goals by allowing American parents a tax credit of up to $3,000 
for the expenses incurred in sending their children to private, public, 
parochial, other religious school, or for home schooling their 
children.
  The Family Education Freedom Act returns the fundamental principal of 
a truly free economy to America's education system; what the great 
economist Ludwig von Mises called ``consumer sovereignty.'' Consumer 
sovereignty simply means consumers decide who succeeds or fails in the 
market. Businesses that best satisfy consumer demand will be the most 
successful. Consumer sovereignty is the means by which the free market 
maximizes human happiness.
  Currently, consumers are less than sovereign in the education market. 
Funding decisions are increasingly controlled by the Federal 
Government. Because ``he who pays the piper calls the tune,'' public 
and even private schools, are paying greater attention to the dictates 
of Federal educrats while ignoring the wishes of the parents to an 
ever-greater degree. As such, the lack of consumer sovereignty in 
education is destroying parental control of education and replacing it 
with state control.
  Loss of control is a key reason why so many of America's parents 
express dissatisfaction with the educational system. According to a 
study by the well-respected public opinion firm Fibrazio, McLaughlin 
and Associates, Americans want Congress to get the Federal bureaucracy 
out of the schoolroom and give them more control over their children's 
education.
  Today, Congress can fulfill the wishes of the American people for 
greater control over their children's education by simply allowing 
parents to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend on education 
rather than force them

[[Page E1143]]

to send it to Washington to support education programs reflective only 
of the values and priorities of Congress and the Federal bureaucracy, 
not the parents.
  The $3,000 tax credit will make a better education affordable for 
millions of parents. Mr. Speaker, many parents who would choose to send 
their children to private, religious, or parochial schools are unable 
to afford the tuition, in large part because of the enormous tax burden 
imposed on the American family by Washington.
  The Family Education Freedom Act also benefits parents who choose to 
send their children to public schools. Although public schools are 
traditionally financed through local taxes, increasingly, parents who 
wish their children to receive a quality education may wish to use 
their credit to improve their schools by helping financing the purchase 
of educational tools such as computers or extracurricular activities 
such as music programs. Parents of public school students may also wish 
to use the credit to pay for special services for their children.

  Greater parental support and involvement is surely a better way to 
improve public schools than funneling more Federal tax dollars, 
followed by greater Federal control, into the public schools. 
Furthermore, a greater reliance on parental expenditures rather than 
Government tax dollars will help make the public schools into true 
community schools that reflect the wishes of parents and the interests 
of the students.
  The Family Education Freedom Act will also aide those parents who 
choose to educate their children at home. Home schooling has become an 
increasingly popular, and successful method, of educating children. 
According to recent studies, home schooled children outperform their 
public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects 
on nationally normed, standardized achievement exams. Home schooling 
parents spend thousands of dollars annually, in addition to the wages 
foregone by the spouse who foregoes outside employment, in order to 
educate their children in the loving environment of the home.
  Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, this bill is about freedom. Parental control 
of child rearing, especially education, is one of the bulwarks of 
liberty. No nation can remain free when the State has greater influence 
over the knowledge and values transmitted to children than the family.
  By moving to restore the primacy of parents to education, the Family 
Education Freedom Act will not only improve America's education, it 
will restore a parent's right to choose how best to educate one's own 
child, a fundamental freedom that has been eroded by the increase in 
Federal education expenditures and the corresponding decrease in the 
ability of parents to provide for their children's education out of 
their own pockets. I call on all my colleagues to join me in allowing 
parents to devote more of their resources to their children's education 
and less to feed the wasteful Washington bureaucracy by supporting the 
Family Education Freedom Act.

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