Of all the policy issues on which Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have tough choices, perhaps the most surprising is education. Mr. Trump fully agrees with his parents’ choice. She is committed to serving the interests of the teachers union.
And polls show that a majority of Americans support Democrats, after decades of their dominance in education.
But the pandemic has been a huge eye-opener for millions of us. Not only did we see unions and the people in their positions loudly demanding that schools remain closed as fully and for as long as possible. It was long after science showed it was having a pandemic effect. Zero risk of spreading COVID-19 — “distance learning” offered in place of physical schooling has given us the opportunity to see what public schools are teaching.
Strong proponents of abstract public education recognized how negatively it was impacting their children because so many teachers didn’t even try to actually teach online.
The bitter result: American children are falling behind children around the world.
For example, 15-year-olds in the United States ranked 28th out of 37 industrialized countries (OECD) on the International Student Assessment Program’s 2022 mathematics exam, despite spending much more per student than their peers. Ranked.
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Let’s be clear: While there are still many dedicated educators in public schools, too many are there just for the paycheck and benefits. Thanks to the power of unions, it’s nearly impossible to fire even a bad teacher.
Their eyes were opened and hundreds of thousands of families decided to do what was best for their children and choose alternative options such as public charter schools, private schools (including Catholic and other faith-based institutions), and even homeschooling. I chose the one.
From the 2019-20 school year to the 2021-2 school year, U.S. public school enrollment decreased from 50.8 million to 49.4 million students. However, this also includes an increase in public charter schools.
Meanwhile, enrollment in private schools increased from 4.65 million to 4.73 million.
The outflow will be even larger, but many families have no means of escaping the “free” public system.
And in states like New York, the power of teachers unions prevents charter schools from growing to meet the demand for functioning public schools because unions do not control schools.
Labor unions are firmly aligned with progressives who promote extremist diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, racist nonsense that treats traits like “being on time” as tools of white supremacy. Being allied doesn’t help.
Nor does this partnership mean to disparage standardized testing, which is the main measure that parents use to know how their children are actually learning.
This is an average figure, even as we know that school closures due to the pandemic have cost the nation’s children progress in maths and English for years.
But for the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, all that matters is the pay and benefits of union members. Despite their claims that they care about children, AFT Director Randi Weingarten has used his claims to prove otherwise during the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden-Harris administration has reversed the decision of health officials and issued very strict guidelines for reopening schools “safely.”
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Most schools in Western countries did not close or reopen just a few months later, with zero health impact. (And don’t even get me started on the mask-wearing mandate madness.)
Of course, it wasn’t just the federal government. Teachers unions are also a major political force in many states and cities, and union power has been a major factor in determining the length of public school closures across the country.
To be clear, Mr. Trump has long been a supporter of school choice, which is why he chose Betsy DeVos, a big supporter of choice, to be his first-term secretary of education.
And Harris, a committed California progressive, is a staunch ally of teachers unions. Weingarten still campaigns furiously for her. The NEA and its AFT affiliate have overwhelmingly (more than 10-to-1) supported and donated to Democrats for decades.
This year’s Democratic Party platform is staunchly opposed to school choice.
By the way, this is a change for the worse. To his credit, President Barack Obama supported choice in the form of public charter schools, despite fierce union opposition.
And here’s a memo to the self-proclaimed “true conservatives” who pooh-pooh Trump: He intends to shut down the federal Department of Education, which has been a union power (and union power) since Ronald Reagan. He is the first presidential candidate to say so. Nothing else) since President Jimmy Carter created the program in 1980 to reward AFT and NEA support.
President Trump is not trying to end federal support for education. In fact, he supports the Educational Choice for Children Act, a bill that would create a nationwide school choice program that would not be administered or regulated by the federal Department of Energy.
(Incidentally, making sure the bill gets to his desk is another reason to vote Republican in Congressional elections.)
Unions and their allies claim that school choice destroys public education, but the reverse is also true. Forcing public schools to compete with other options is the best hope for saving them.
Consider Florida, which launched a school choice tax credit scholarship program in 2001. Since then, nearly half a million children have benefited from it, even though the state has added other school choice options.
Over the past few decades, Florida’s education system has risen to the top of national rankings despite spending 27% less per student than the national average.
New York State spends more than twice the national average, but remains mediocre.
Schools, especially public schools, should not be employment programs for adults, but unions and Democrats view them that way.
For decades, this alliance has gotten away with pretending to care about children, but now that mask is off.
Voters’ choices regarding education are clear. Trump wants change for the better. Harris is just a tool to maintain the failed status quo.
