OPINION:
With all the drama surrounding the presidential candidates in the past two weeks, it’s easy to miss the revolution happening behind the scenes. The Republican Party is making bold moves in education, while Democrats just suffered a major setback.
A federal appeals court earlier this month blocked the latest attempt by the White House to forgive student loan debt. Eight red states had sued the Department of Education over the lawless scheme to buy votes with $475 million in loan forgiveness that was never appropriated for the purpose by Congress.
A program that forces taxpayers who didn’t go to college to pay for those who did creates incentives. For some, it might make going to college more attractive because they can get someone else to pay for it.
The only way Democrats know how to think about any issue is to throw money at it, but this doesn’t necessarily improve outcomes. The amount of money spent can be counterproductive, particularly at the K-12 level.
In a new study, the Illinois Policy Institute found a doubling of expenditures at Chicago’s public schools between 2012 and 2024 failed to double test performance. To the contrary, 3 in 4 Windy City students can barely read. Reading skills plunged 63% and math scores dropped 78% despite the cash infusion, according to state figures.
At their recent convention, Republicans offered a different take on teaching the next generation. “We will restore a period of national pride … where students are freed from failing schools and corrupt teachers unions through universal school choice,” speaker and Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle said.
Her remarks drew from the newly slimmed-down GOP platform that went out of its way not only to mention school choice, but also to set a goal of offering new educational options to parents and students in all 50 states.
The idea is to expand the use of tools such as 529 plans and Education Savings Accounts so that they will, for the first time, “support Homeschooling Families equally.”
This is a huge advance, considering the popularity of homeschooling spiked as teachers unions hid behind COVID while padlocking the schoolhouse doors. In Florida, the number of homeschoolers doubled in the past decade and continued growing as the pandemic receded from the headlines.
The Sunshine State has been a leader on choice. Lawmakers realized the best way to keep the distraction of today’s left-right divide out of the classroom is to go back to the basics and teach using texts and techniques that have worked for hundreds of years. The state’s public universities now accept the Classic Learning Test as an alternative to the SAT and ACT entrance exams. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, also signed legislation in April allowing teachers to certify proficiency with a classical curriculum.
The net result is parents who want the best for their children are no longer left out simply because they can’t afford private school (tuition averages $10,000 a year and can run as high as $50,000). Public charter schools, for instance, offer a free education that is also free of drag queen story hours and other attempts to push an ideology on children.
Homeschooling, the classical curriculum, private schools and charter schools are alternatives specifically designed to improve outcomes. Let’s hope the GOP, if successful in November, keeps its promises on education.
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