JUNEAU, Alaska – For an accomplished and successful person, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich sure seems to be a dull and unimaginative thinker.

During a speech to a joint session of the Alaska legislature on Monday, Begich came out swinging against proposed amendments to the state’s constitution that would allow public money to be used for student tuition at private or religious schools, the Associated Press reports.

Supporters of the constitutional amendments and related voucher programs want all families – not just well-to-do ones – to have access to the school that best fits their children’s needs, even if that school is a private or religious one.

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But Begich, whose son attends a private school, “said there is already plenty of school choice in Alaska’s public system, including home schools, charter schools and alternative programs,” reports the AP.

Public dollars are for public schools, “period,” Begich said.

The Democratic Senator also made a pitch to state lawmakers to ramp up K-12 spending.

“It’s our job to give school districts the resources and tools they need,” Begich said.

In those two comments, Begich revealed himself to be an inside-the-box thinker who fails to grasp what the purpose of public education is really all about.

Like the teacher unions and the Education Establishment, Begich equates “public schools” with “public education,” and views them as interchangeable concepts.

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They’re not.

“Public education” is about ensuring that all children receive a quality education sponsored by the state. “Public schools” are just one method of delivering that education to children. There are many other methods for educating students, including charter schools, private schools, cyber schools and home schools.

For Begich to say that public dollars should only be spent on government-run (public) schools is just plain silly. Public dollars should go wherever a child attends school, so long as he or she is receiving an education that meets a certain basic standard.

It’s proper for state governments to ensure that schools receiving public dollars are delivering a quality product, and to withhold dollars from those that don’t.

But a growing number of Americans are concluding that it’s improper for a state to essentially force a family into sending their children to the government-run school that’s in their zip code. That’s why the movement toward charters, homeschooling, and yes, vouchers continues to grow every year.

Begich supports the stale approach of restricting K-12 funding to only government-run schools – and all the buildings, administrators and unionized employees that are needed to keep them operating – instead of customizing funding to the needs of individual children.

Whether or not his fellow Alaskans share that view remains to be seen.

The AP reports the constitutional amendments that would allow the creation of a school voucher program “needs two-thirds of the vote in each the state House and Senate to pass.”

Currently, the proposal appears to lack the necessary support in the Senate, the AP notes.

Republican state Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who is leading that effort in the upper chamber, had some post-speech advice for Begich.

Begich “seems to want to be focused on the internal workings of Alaska,” Dunleavy said. “What we really need is less oversight from our own (U.S.) senators.”