PARKER: Breaking public-school monopoly on education overdue

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The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been pursuing, on two fronts, the critical objective of fixing America’s broken education system. 

One, an executive order by Trump, issued shortly after he assumed office, is to dismantle the Department of Education. Outright closing of the department is only possible by an act of Congress. However, the president is moving to accomplish the same objective administratively by closing offices and major staff eliminations. The Supreme Court recently upheld the president’s authority to do this. 

The second front is the advancement of parental choice in education. Give parents the power and authority to educate their children as they choose and send their children to a school that reflects their values. 

One need not look further to see the problem than by examining the so-called Nation’s Report Card, the biannual test results administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. 

Results from 2024 are as follows: Grade 4 math, 39% at or above NAEP proficiency standards; Grade 8 math, 28% at or above proficiency; Grade 4 reading, 31% at or above proficiency; Grade 8 reading, 30% at or above proficiency. 

To those parents who think these are good results, I invite you to continue to allow public schools and teachers’ unions to control your child’s education. 

But recent Gallup polling shows most understand there is a problem with our public schools and major change is overdue. Only 29% say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in our public schools. 

The beginning of important change was recently passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The new law contains a provision allowing taxpayers to direct funds to support school choice vouchers. The provision allows a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction up to $1,700 that can be sent to a qualifying Scholarship Granting Organization that can distribute scholarships to qualifying applicants (households earning no more than 300% of their county’s median income) who have been accepted and registered in a private school. There is no limitation to the total funds that can be disbursed through the program and no expiration date for the credit, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2027. 

Although Trump and congressional Republicans deserve major kudos for getting this passed, it still falls short of the mark. 

It’s not enough. The version in the House bill had the credit up to $5,000, but this got whittled down to $1,700 in the bill that finally passed. Per the Education Data Initiative, average tuition in private schools, combining both primary and secondary schools, is $13,302. So, it will take eight $1,700 contributions to reach this. Further, there are some 50 million students in elementary and secondary public schools. To get just 5% out, at an average private tuition of $13,302, means $33.3 billion. That’s 19.5 million individual $1,700 contributions. Can this happen? We’ll see. But, again, we’re just talking about 5%. 

How about using the $82.5 billion discretionary budget of the Department of Education to fund scholarships? 

Another major obstacle is the provision that requires states to opt into the program. Many believe that blue state governors won’t do it. Sad, but possibly very true. 

Of course, education is more than math and reading. It is a platform of 12 years in which values are transmitted to our youth. If you want to know the values being transmitted, log on to the websites of the two major teachers’ unions — the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers — and the hard-left agenda emerges loud and clear: DEI, LGBTQ, Trump being called a fascist, advocating liberation from the public schools being called an attack on democracy, etc. 
With all the horror about what’s happening at our universities, Kindergarten-Grade 12 is where it starts. 

It’s time to break the public-school monopoly and give parents control over educating their children. 
  

Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education