Local Political Action Committee Didn't Get the Memo

Education should not be run like a business, because education is more than a business. Leave it up to the Chamber of Commerce PAC to reduce a public trust to a series of financial transactions and to paint a romantic portrait of business leadership undefiled by real-world malfeasance and misappropriation that happens at harlequin corporations like HealthSouth, Enron, Tyco or even the National Republican Congressional Committee.

If these lobbyists accomplish their goal of packing the School Board with homogeneous and overspecialized acumen, then our children will be worse off than they are now. You can't just lay-off students when education weighs heavy on your balance sheet. All kinds of institutions and trusts--schools, museums, library, etc.--would cease to exist if the sole criteria by which we guide them is business administration, which has its own temptations and moral blindspots. I cannot think of a worse idea than reforming public education with a private sector power house that is itself in need of reform. Hell, I know a couple of kids who could effectively teach some ethically challenged business leaders simple lessons on taking turns and sharing.