The Choice Channel

“Two thousand three hundred years ago, Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot with one slice of his mighty sword. This was most unfortunate, inspiring countless men to believe that the path to greatness lies with simple solutions to complex problems. So it is with a small new education reform idea called the ‘65 percent solution.’ The would-be Alexander here is Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com. He wants to regulate the spending of every Florida school district based on federally mandated accounting categories, so at least 65 percent of expenditures are labeled ‘instruction.’ This makes sense for about five seconds. Four of five people asked to evaluate a one-sentence idea while trying to hold the phone and cook dinner at the same time agree that it sounds great.” (04/28/06)