MARINA DEL REY, CA--In 1972, Ayn Rand wrote: "One would expect the government's performance in the field of education to be questioned, at the least, but the growing failures of the educational establishment are followed by the appropriation of larger and larger sums. There is, however, a practical alternative: tax credits for education."
     In her proposal, Rand advocated reimbursing tax payers a credit equal to the money they spent for private schools. The upper limit an individual could be reimbursed would equal the amount the government spends to give a comparable education. Education credits could be claimed for all education expenses no matter if it is for the individual, his child or someone else he has helped put through any level of schooling (from primary to higher education).
     Not a supporter of public schools or the income tax, Rand saw her tax-credits-for-education plan as a way to start the process of separating the government from education.
     Rand said that her plan would:

Give private schools a chance to survive and bring tuition fees into the range of a majority of people.
Decentralize education and open it up to competition.
Eliminate the huge educational bureaucracy of the government.
Further cut the tax drain on the public.
Foster the development of different educational theories and methods.

     Richard Ralston, director of development for the Ayn Rand Institute, said that, although proposed more than 25 years ago, "Ayn Rand's ideas have been shown, once again, to have withstood the test of time. The principle that individuals should have control over their own and their children's education was right in 1972 and it's still right today."