JCN CEO demonstrates how the free market can solve education problems
A special report in American Spectator features the pioneering efforts of Bob Luddy, President of CaptiveAire, Inc and JCN member, to broaden educational opportunities for children and families in North Carolina.
The article is titled, “A Private School on a Public Scale: How the free market solves education problems.” It describes a private K-12 college prep school called Thales Academy, that is “tearing down the private-school cost barrier”:
“It’s not hard to see, too, how Thales Academy differs from other private schools. Thales costs $5,300 per year for kindergarten through fifth grade and $6,000 per year for sixth through 12th grades. That’s a standout deal, particularly for high school. Estimates peg the average high-school private-school tuition at $11,220 per year.”
“Thales is the brainchild of Robert Luddy, an entrepreneur and owner of CaptiveAire, a manufacturer of kitchen ventilation systems. The genesis of the school came about when long waiting lines at Franklin Academy — Luddy’s charter school — elicited the need for a more creative solution.”
Luddy says the idea for Thales stemmed from the long lines at his charter school, Franklin Academy and help from favorable legislative and judicial decisions. And he thinks the idea can be replicated all across the country:
“In A
merica, there are many great private schools, but most fail the low-cost test,” Luddy notes. “Virtually every state could adopt the Thales model. Some legal and bureaucratic challenges exist. We have not researched the laws in every state, but since private education has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1925, it is definitely doable.”
Read the entire piece here.
