School Choice Answer to American Competitiveness Woes

By Rebekah Rast
Siemens, the German engineering group, is having difficulty filling job openings in the U.S.
With an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, how is that possible?

Eric Spiegel, chief executive in the U.S. for Siemens, said in an interview with Financial Times that, “There’s a mismatch between the jobs that are available, at least in our portfolio, and the people that we see out there. There is a shortage (of workers with the right skills.)”
For contrast, the article goes on to say that a Volkswagen plant had 85,000 applicants for 2,000 jobs at its new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

America spends far more on education than most other nations, so why is its workforce lagging behind? There are jobs to be had, but the industries hiring say the knowledge, education and performance levels needed for these jobs aren’t being found in the U.S.

While the Obama Administration and Department of Labor tout that more job training and government intervention would solve this problem, why not fix the problem at its roots — America’s current education system.

One simple and cost effective way to do so is to allow students and parents to choose what school they attend and what kind of education they want to receive. And that is exactly what many states are doing during this time of budget cuts and fiscal restraint. In fact, over the past five years, the number of states that have enacted school choice programs has doubled.

One particular school choice program that is gaining in popularity is the tax credit program, now adopted by nine states.

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