Wishful Thinking at ABQ Journal

New Mexico is a poor state. We need “bold” changes to improve education if we are to keep it from getting poorer. How do we implement these bold changes? Throw a lot more money at education is the answer according to the Journal. And money from windfall energy revenue is available for the throwing. That is the essence of yesterday’s editorial (subscription).
This is wishful thinking in the extreme. Education “reforms” have not worked in the past. And they will not work in the future as long as K-12 education is a socialistic, one-size-fits-all, union-run monopoly. Real per capita spending on education has increased well over 20 percent in the past 15 years and what do we have to show for it? Nothing! But if we have more bold reforms and throw more money at it things will get better? Give me a break.
I wonder if anyone at the Journal has ever heard of school choice? Let’s empower parents instead of the union monopoly. Parents can make better decisions for their kids than education bureaucrats in Washington and Santa Fe.