This book examines the economics, history, and politics of education, asserting that public schools should be privatized. It suggests that privatized public schools can benefit from competition, market discipline, and the incentives essential to producing cost-effective, quality education and attracting additional funding and expertise needed to revolutionize school systems. Drawing inspiration from Margaret Thatcher's privatization of governmental council housing in England, privatization reforms in Latin America, and the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) movement in the United States, the book presents a plan in which teachers, administrators, and others involved in education would become the owners of schools, acquiring a financial stake in the process. Such privatization reforms could empower those directly affected by school performance and end interest group barriers, paving the way for new, cost-effective means of improving educational outcomes. Seven chapters include (1) "Introduction"; (2) "American Education: Poor Outcomes and Declining Efficiency"; (3) "Long-Term Benefits of the For-Profit Approach" (benefits to students, taxpayers, and teachers); (4) "A Historical Perspective on For-Profit Schools"; (5) "For-Profit Education in America Today" (private school performance); (6) "Illustrating the 'ESOP' Approach to Public Education (transition issues and the growth in ESOPs); and (7) "Conclusion." (Contains 68 references.) (SM)