Diverting all the money currently subsidising the private schools would save the taxpayer $2 billion per year.

Don't believe what the private school lobby tells you - they conveniently forget to include the huge capital grants that are regularly flung their way.

Do not be too negative. evidence suggests that public school kids do better than either selecticve or private school kids at uni. PISA suggests that private schools do less well than the SES and the the resources would predict. None of theis should be surprising as special needs kids do better in normal schools so normal kids should do better in normal schools.

Oddly we seem to want special schools for normal middle class kids. the danger is however we are developing a school system where only special needs kids are going to normal schools.

GIfted students that do gifted programs are indistiguishable from gifted students who do not at 24. Often educational outcomes are simply measured at the wrong point. Longterm results may be quite different than short term. The NBES research on school choice in Chicago where the choice is randomy allocated. I think they have a lottery. Seenms to indicate that parents exercising choice negatively impacts. Either way research seems to indicate school choice is not what its cracked up to be

or you could take the view that as grown-ups we are equally liable to law, equally liable to taxation, equally responsible for contributing to society.

so how then can you justify private schools? their whole purpose is to give a head start to the children of the rich, who hardly need it,and certainly don't deserve it.

The conservatives approach to teaching is to avoid teaching children to think clearly. In at least one state and in several school systems overseas teaching children early in their formative years to think clearly is paying off in two fields; the students intellectual capability is increasing significantly and adverse student behaviour is ceasing to be a major problem. The curriculum change necessary is about one hour per week of open class discussion of an ethical or societal question or two of the students choosing. Once established the teachers role in this class time becomes mainly one of ensuring that considerate rules of listening and speaking are adhered to. The one hour is not a net loss to the total other subjects' time as often the subject of the discussion is from another curriculum strand. Also the effectiveness of other school time increases substantially because the children's attentiveness and ability in all classes improves.
If parents elect a non conservative government it may be possible to really take a new approach to public school education which would leave the private school system struggling to keep up particularly those schools that have an authoritarian or dogma dominated approach

Why should parents who have worked hard and been successful and can afford to put their kids in private schools be critisized and spoken about like they have done something wrong. Surely success should be encouraged and people shouldn't be punished for being succesful. If we start punishing parents for being successful and we treat them with disdain then we discourage people from helping themselves and create a society where it isn't in your best interest to work hard, succeed and be good. Is that really what would be best for the people?

If parents pay taxes then their taxes are entitled to go towards their children's education at whatever school they choose to go to. If parents are prepared to pay more for better facilities and conditions - then good luck to them.

If the public schools stopped focusing on the Private schools and started focusing on why so many parents (and many are not rich) are taking their kids out of the public schools then maybe things would change.

The biggest problem in the public school is their negative and hostile attitude towards those who they see as better than them and their lack of respect and regard for parents and students.

The LDP (Liberty and Democracy Party) opposes the state-federal jurisdictional duplication in education policy and believes that school funding and regulation should be decentralised and devolved to the state level.

At the state level the LDP supports the introduction of school vouchers to allow greater competition between schools and greater parental choice.

And the LDP is against providing subsidies to anyone, including private schools.