Conclusions
What We
Know and Believe About What Works
Asora's Stellar Schools are
based on methods and technologies known to work in
post-secondary education. Our understanding of economics
suggests that a for-profit business enterprise will be the
most cost-efficient organizational format in which to
provide the Stellar Schools’ services. We believe
that franchising offers the right combination of control
and decentralization conducive to operating effective
schools and it also allows the benefits of this format to
extend to non-profit and public schools- of course,
assuming they are willing to live under the franchising
agreement’s terms and policies. We believe that the
efficiencies inherent in the Stellar Schools franchising
network will simultaneously allow for significantly better
instruction and lower costs while at the same time
preventing the ills of social promotion. It is expected
that private systems of schools based on these principles
will be able to operate less expensively than their
competitors and therefore will make tuition affordable to
larger numbers of families. This will help make school
choice a reality for more parents- even in the absence of
vouchers.
Other
Beneficiaries
We suggested at the outset that
benefits would accrue to non-profit and public schools.
These benefits are of two types:
•
Such schools could directly benefit as franchisees.
• Such schools could imitate the methods and
technologies of Stellar Schools and benefit that way.
Enhancing
the Reputation of For-Profit Schools
In the same way that Federal
Express, United Parcel Service, and other private delivery
services excelled in their businesses and showed how the
private sector is superior in providing a traditional
public services (as opposed to the Postal Service) we think
Asora's Stellar Schools, if successful, would bring much
respect to for-profit private education enterprises. As
more and more parents, voters, and politicians see the
value of private efforts in this area, we believe it will
be easier to legislate vouchers, tax credits, and other
inducements supportive of these kinds of educational
services.
Love that
Food Store Analogy
The analogy I like best is that
of education to food stores. The latter is almost
completely for-profit and yet our society has found
mechanisms (food stamps etc.) so that few go hungry. The
incredible variety and quality of food to be found in
American grocery stores is wonderful. Hardly any of our
schools are for-profit and it should be no surprise that
there is little variety and not much quality. The way to
get these for-profit schools into the ascendancy is to
increase their market share. Lowering tuition costs, as we
believe Asora's Stellar Schools will do, expands that
market.
More
Scholarships are Needed Too
Still, we need mechanisms in
this industry to give all children the option of such
schools. Among them are vouchers, tax credits and other
inducements for private scholarships. Having these funding
mechanisms available will, in particular, greatly
accelerate the growth of Stellar Schools. More generally,
we believe they will spur the development of a growing and
robust education industry.
Not in
Political Arena: We Only Need Approval of Capitalists!
Finally, I should say that the
beauty of Asora's Stellar Schools, or at least an
advantage, is that no new law is required to launch this
reform. It is thus out of the political arena. Rather it is
in the capitalist arena where it awaits the essential
ingredient of- guess what- capital!