ABOUT THE AUTHORRichard Neal has amassed a record of practical experiences related to public education that has led him to conclude that choice, based on competition in an open and free market place, is the best way to provide K-12 education. 
He has taught students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as students in adult education and community colleges. He also served as a counselor at the secondary and adult levels. Additionally, Neal taught undergraduate and graduate college classes. He earned his way through school bureaucracies as a guidance coordinator, assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, and associate superintendent of a large school system. Also, he served as the director of a large adult and continuing education program. These positions provided rich experiences in policy development and policy execution in the areas of budgeting, special education, guidance and counseling, testing, gifted education, instructional technology, personnel management, textbooks, curriculum development, labor relations, staff development and training, and programs evaluation. Early in his career, he served as one of the nation's first teacher union leaders. In mid-career, Neal left public school employment to serve as associate director of an education and labor relations consulting firm. During that period he provided instructional programs on labor relations, policy development, and employee compensation to thousands of management personnel throughout the United States and Canada. His 12 books on labor relations have given much needed assistance to school boards and superintendents throughout the nation. Corollary to this work, he served as the editor of several journals, including the 18-volume Educators Negotiating Service, and the 10-volume Inside Negotiations, and is the author of 50 articles. These works were based on his extensive service as chief negotiator for school boards throughout the nation. Switching gears, Neal became a pioneer in setting the revolutionary framework for the decentralization of school district management. He presented dozens of seminars to thousands of educators on how to decentralize management through "school based management." His book, School Based Management: A Practical Guide to Implementation, became the bible for the decentralization of school management. His other books on this topic include School based Management: An Analysis of Special Issues, School Based Management: A Training Guide for Site Committees, and School Based Management: The Final Examination. His articles on this topic include School based Management Lets Principals Slice the Pie, and The Fine Art of Delegating. Because of his experiences with teacher unions and the frustration of trying to break up bureaucracies, he concluded that no force within the government school establishment can bring about needed changes to help students learn. His research exposing the failures of public schools and the rich opportunities for learning offered by the free market is found in his more recent books: Escape to Learning, The deserved Collapse of Public Schools, The Alliance Against School Reform, and School Choice After the Collapse of Public Schools. Neal currently writes a column on education freedom for the monthly publication, School Reform News, a publication of the Heartland Institute. Richard Neal is a graduate of the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and Ohio State University. He served as a seaman in the U.S. Navy and as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Married, with three children and four grandchildren, Dick and his wife, Frances, currently reside in Winston-Salem, NC. |