That work starts with the Legislature practicing what it preaches.

Now that Utah parents will be able to take public money to the school of their choice (in legislative vernacular, this is termed voting with your feet) the Legislature can get off the backs of public schools. In a world of free markets and parental control, all schools should have the same minimal level of government oversight.

Legislators can start by killing some bills currently before them. For example, they no longer need to tell districts how to elect their board members. If parents don't like how their district works, they can leave. No government oversight is required. In their own words, people can vote with their feet.

They don't need to regulate school clubs. If parents don't like the clubs at their school, they can choose another education vendor. They don't need to tell schools what to do if students are truant. If you don't approve of the way your school handles problem children, you can now take your child to a school that is more to your liking.

They don't need to regulate what teachers say in the classroom. If you don't like what your teacher is telling you or your child, you can go somewhere else.

After they cut the red tape from this year, they can start hacking away at regulations from prior years. At long last, we can abandon all that useless testing. Accountability now resides strictly with the parents, not the government. We can get rid of No Child Left Behind. We don't need UPASS, CRTs, NAEP or Iowa Basic Skills. Best of all, we can throw out that ridiculous high school graduation test. It only seemed to catch the students with severe disabilities or poor English skills anyway.

Parents can tell if their student is progressing adequately.

If the Legislature really believes in free markets and parental control of education, legislators need to step out of the way of both.

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* TIM BEAGLEY is a former member of the Utah State Board of Education.