Privatizing Public Libraries?

Re:Ah Republicans!

If I can check out books from another community’s PL, why not send my children there [another community’s public schools]?

I believe you are on to something. Inter-library loans notwithstanding, the patron policies that libraries have for non-community residents vary widely. Because most (1) all Ohio public libraries get some amount of their operating funds from a portion of the State income tax (2), they are obliged to offer a library card to anyone who can prove residence in the state. I live in Columbus, but have almost a dozen cards for various nearby systems. Some of the more stuffy ones *cough*Bexley*cough* give you only limited privileges until you can hand return a postcard that they mail to your home address. When we go to Ocean City, New Jersey on vacation, the resort town’s library charges me a $25 fee for a privilege-limited card that is only good for 365 days from the issue date.
So, yeah, you can, in a way, check out books from another community’s PL. But on to the thrust of your query:

Open access for Public School systems is a very interesting idea. But I’m worried that the Realty industry would stand for it.

“Location! location! location!” says “good suburban school district” more than it does “low crime rate” or “close to shopping/golf”. Feminism and (more) equal rights (if not equal pay) may have given women the choice to pursue a career, but for most families, housing costs in desirable school districts have made the second income a necessity. Reduce the effect of geographic exclusivity in school district admission, and the variations in housing prices would dramatically flatten. Obviously proximity would still play a roll, as it would be unlikely for Cleveland families to drive their kids down to (Columbus suburb) Dublin schools. But with almost 7 times as many school districts (~600) as there are counties (88) in Ohio, many of the neighborhood borders might as well be moats.

I really DO think that open enrollment is worth an attempt. And not in a half-baked way via vouchers, either. Something equalizing, like the LLGSF’s formula (Roughly: Everybody got what they got last year; Everybody gets an equal increase; What’s leftover goes to the poorest first.) bears investigation.

(1) 500 Quatloos (3) to the first person to tell me which community library system in the state of Ohio is privately funded.
(2) Save the LLGSF!
(3) 500 more for anyone who knows what a Quatloo is.