Twenty years ago, when libertarians looked out over a nation dotted with failing schools, we had hope. We saw what we expected to see: government institutions that were failing in all the ways that governments go wrong. Incentives for quality were low, so the schools were being run for the benefit of the employees rather than the putative customers. And of course the problem was especially prevalent in low-income neighborhoods where parents had little political power and few alternatives.

There is a cure for such problems: the market. Competition and choice could align incentives properly, producing schools that delivered the same kind of quality and service that your local supermarket does.

Of course, it’s uncomfortable to suggest that we should leave something as important as education to the vagaries of the market. Some parents don’t make enough money to pay for adequate education. Some parents could not or would not invest the energy to find a good school. Society has an interest in producing educated citizens with the skills to enter the modern marketplace, and moral decency demands that we make sure every child starts out with a shot in life. So even libertarians quailed at suggesting that we should just shut down all the government schools.