Welcome to the third inaugural War on Education. In this issue, I discuss the assaults on public education by the right wing crazy contingent in this nation. If you are asking about corporate charters which have support in both parties, I am covering why they are attacking schools in this article as well. They are looking to pick the bones clean of the public education system once it has been destroyed by the right wing. In every instance a red state has a GOP trifecta, crazy coordinated laws attacking public schools can be found.
Just know that 2/3rds of the articles I have to wade through are from right wing propaganda sources. The other third are fluffing charter chains or the latest buzzword corporate programs for schools. Usually, the mainstream news is silent on the issue of education or slightly pro-charter. Very few actually defend public schools. This is alarming with public schools being attacked on a near daily basis.
1) Arizona is trying to pass a last second, virtually unread bill that would starve public schools of funds at the expense of corporate charters. Expect all of these measures to start making the rounds nationwide in red state trifectas. For instance, Kentucky has revived their zombie charter school funding bill once again. The corporate charter lobby is a powerful one, with its hooks in both parties.
2) Michigan is an educational battleground because of Betsy DeVos, one of the most pernicious influences in education both in the state and across the nation. Her voucher schemes are being pushed in state after state to kill public education in favor of corporate charters, segregated religious schools, and homeschooling. Every time public education defenders win, the ideas come back just like a zombie to be pushed again by another state in an even more pernicious fashion. Others use them as a front for homeschooling or re-segregation.
3) No one is talking to teachers to see what is actually needed to retain teachers and actually attract people to the profession. In red states, this is by design, but even blue states are having trouble retaining and attracting teachers. What do teachers need to actually be successful? It’s complicated, and the list of demands gets longer the more that education gets neglected.
4) Curricula are still under attacks in many states, with diversity training, books, and even social-emotional learning under attack by red state trifectas. They want their own brand of indoctrination, supplied by schools such as Hillsdale College.
- For instance, the likely 2024 presidential frontrunner Ron DeSantis signed his “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law over this past week. Other states have followed suit.
- More and more states are pushing library books bans, regardless of how actual librarians and educators feel about the books.
- Some states are priming the pump for even more anti-diversity attacks by forcing teachers to post lesson plans and other materials online 72 hours before each lesson or punish them for teaching “controversial topics”.
- Others are literally pushing courses that are taught by the NRA for "gun safety”. How Orwellian!
5) Liberals are fumbling on the issue of education, traditionally one of their strongest, right in front of our very eyes. Polling indicates that more and more people are starting to turn to conservatives as better protectors of educational issues. It started with the Virginia governor race, and now it will be weaponized against us nation wide. Wealthy white liberals want to maintain the status quo on education, no matter what — which is not helping when COVID has changed everything.