The campaign to undermine public schools has taken a new turn with North Carolina’s passage of Education Savings Account legislation. Passed with support of enough Democrats to make it veto-proof, the law will provide up to $7500 per child, depending on family income, to pay for private school tuition.  According to The 74, a right-leaning on-line education site, “Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Utah and West Virginia now have ESA programs open to all. Oklahoma has a universal tax credit program. Ohio has a universal voucher program and in Indiana, the family income ceiling for a voucher is set so high that it’s nearly universal.”

Even strong supporters of ESA’s agree that the amount available doesn’t cover tuition and that most beneficiaries already enroll their children in private schools; however, every dollar for every ESA comes from public school funds.

So what can public schools do in the face of deep hostility from many state legislators and activist groups like Moms for Liberty?   A strong clue comes from an ESA advocate, who told The 74 that “We know that parents are hungry for an education system that recognizes the uniqueness of their children…”

Sadly, those words should be the mantra and guiding philosophy of every public school educator, who could and should ‘recognize the uniqueness’ of children by asking one essential question about every child entrusted to their care, “How is he or she intelligent?”  Unfortunately, the system they work in, and perhaps their own training, leads most public educators to ask a very different question, “How smart is he or she?”

And then systems rely largely on scores on standardized bubble tests to provide the answers. That leads to sorting, stratification, inappropriate competition, humiliation, and more. 

So the simple (but not easy) step is to always ask the right question about every child: “How is he or she smart?”  Rephrase it if you wish: “What is this child curious about, and how can we harness that curiosity to achieve the core goals of helping him/her become literate, numerate, capable of working with others, and confident?” 

This step would be easier if reasonable class size limits were policy. Treating children as individuals is difficult enough with, say, 25 students; it’s probably impossible with 38.

The same people (Moms for Liberty, Christopher Rufo, for-profit Charter Schools, etc)  who are complaining that public schools don’t recognize the “uniqueness” of their children are also working overtime to undermine and underfund public schools. 

But it’s not enough to fight them. Public schools need to be proactive, and they need to get better. That’s why I hope at least some of you are taking these small steps seriously and sharing them with educators and others in a position to make changes.

Here are links to the seven previous steps, which endorse Looping, Play, Democracy, Business Cards for Teachers, Involving Outsiders, Frequent “Talent Nights,” and Expanded Homeroom.   Share them with others if you are so inclined.  And please stay tuned for more steps….