In Arkansas news today, Springdale public school officials are showing up in full force to oppose a charter school application before the State Board of Education:

The Springdale School Board has postponed an all-day work session on Tuesday because some board members will be attending today’s Arkansas State Board of Education meeting to speak against a proposed charter school. . .

The state is considering a proposal from Dove School of Excellence, which operates four charter schools in Oklahoma, to expand into Arkansas by opening a school in Springdale. . . .

One of their main arguments against the charter school is it will not provide any services the school district cannot, Schaeffer said.

“If a charter school is going to go in, it should offer something better or do something we can’t,” Schaeffer said.

Imagine that Taco Bueno had to get permission from Taco Bell to open a store in the same town. You might hear the same anti-competitive argument: “Why should they be allowed to open? They’re just going to offer the same things that we do. They have tacos; we have tacos. They have burritos; we have burritos.”

But of course, the whole point of competition is that a competitor will offer essentially the same goods or services. If the goods or services are too different, it isn’t really competition after all. On any given night, Bonefish isn’t competing for the same customers as Taco Bell, whereas Taco Bueno is. And it’s up to the customer — not to Taco Bell — to decide whose tacos are, in fact, “better.”