Open Letter to Governors

Dear Governor,

The International Montessori Society shares the concern of many in your state to improve the quality of its public education. As governor, you have the primary role in setting the tone for leadership and laws that affect this vital factor in assuring progress at all levels of social and economic development.

At present, public education is largely limited to a system of state-run schools, which, over the years, has acquired a virtual monopoly control in the field. In this narrow, restrictive context, there is only the choice of conventional, curriculum-centric philosophy. Progress in public education, however, requires a wider field of choice and expression.

Public education will only improve in quality through healthy competition, experimentation, innovation, and choice among a full range of available alternatives. It cannot be assured through censorship of unconventional alternatives, such as the child­-centric type of true natural Montessori education. This new scientific educational approach is described by the enclosed information.

The current system of public education is restricted by a number of repressive laws and practices that seriously undermine its true purpose. Among these are compulsory school attendance laws, wasteful taxpayer funding of a single government school system, and excessive regulatory control over non-government alternatives.

The government can therefore help to greatly improve the quality of public education by taking such measures as follows:

1. Repeal compulsory school attendance laws, freeing parents from the coercive threat of prison and other penalties for non-attendance at government schools.
2. Reduce the age range of compulsory schooling; for example by changing the beginning age from “6” to “7”.
3. Decentralize the delivery of government schooling, allowing each local subdivision to provide public education through a range of options, such as in-home tutoring, on-line computer coursework, parental vouchers for non-government schooling, and parent run charter schools.
4. Support free operation and competition among non-government schools by removing academic content censorship over their curriculum through such means as government approval and licensing of these schools and their teacher training institutions.
5. Remove and/or reduce staff training restrictions on unconventional educational alternatives, such as Montessori schools, which are typically regulated through mandatory day care licensing.
6. Phase out taxpayer funding of government schools by gradually shifting to a “school fee” payment plan for parents who actually use these schools.

The above measures all have the benefit of improving healthy competition and free choice for parents in public education. If your aim is to increase learning ability, academic achievement, and moral development of the children involved, then I think you will want to seriously consider one or more of these measures as a positive step in the right direction.

Please contact me directly if you have questions or wish further discussion on any specific proposal. IMS stands ready to offer support, consultation, and guidance in helping assure better public education in your state.

Sincerely,

Lee Havis

Encl.