{"id":2329718,"date":"2024-08-23T02:56:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T06:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-tout-ed-reform-while-trapping-kids-in-failing-schools\/"},"modified":"2024-08-23T03:00:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T07:00:49","slug":"democrats-tout-ed-reform-while-trapping-kids-in-failing-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-tout-ed-reform-while-trapping-kids-in-failing-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Tout Ed Reform While Trapping Kids In Failing Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-tout-ed-reform-while-trapping-kids-in-failing-schools%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2329718&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On Monday night, delegates at \u2063the 2024 Democratic National Convention approved the party&#8217;s national platform, which includes a specific section on education titled &#8220;Providing \u2062a World-Class\u200d Education in Every Zip Code.&#8221; This title is seen as ironic since the platform\u2062 opposes school choice, \u200da \u2063key\u2063 policy that can grant students access to better educational opportunities regardless of their \u2064geographic \u200dlocation. Critics argue \u2063that the platform conflates public school funding with overall educational \u200cquality, suggesting\u2062 that more money alone \u2063will resolve issues in education\u2014a claim \u200dthat lacks \u2063supporting evidence, particularly as American public schools \u200balready spend \u2063an average of\u200b $17,280 per student\u2064 each year.<\/p>\n<p>Despite\u200b these high expenditures\u2014significantly greater than private school tuition\u2014the platform \u200cmaintains that public \u2063schools are underfunded. It concludes that voucher programs, which allow funding to follow students\u2063 instead of being\u2063 tied to public schools, \u200bdivert necessary \u200dresources, failing to recognize that these programs \u2064would provide families with more choices in education. The\u200d platform&#8217;s stance appears to prioritize \u2062the public school system \u2063and \u200dthe interests of unionized workers over the educational needs of students and families, especially those from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-to-give-10-billion-to-schools-for-covid-testing\/\" title=\"Biden Administration To Give  Billion To Schools For COVID Testing\">low-income backgrounds<\/a>. Additionally, the platform opposes rulings \u2063like the \u200dSupreme Court&#8217;s Espinoza decision, which\u200d supported the inclusion\u2063 of private religious schools in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hypocrisy-top-dems-including-biden-pelosi-oppose-school-choice-but-send-their-kids-to-private-school\/\" title=\"Hypocrisy: Top Dems Including Biden, Pelosi Oppose School Choice but Send Their Kids to Private School\">school voucher programs<\/a>, further limiting the choices available to vulnerable families while contradicting its stance against inequities in education.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Monday night, delegates of the 2024 Democratic National Convention <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/democratic-platform-harris-biden-dnc-e255d5f2939b5d35adf68ab734d5af98%2523\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voted<\/a> to approve the Democrat Party&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2024 national platform<\/a>, with a stand-alone section dedicated to education policy: &ldquo;Providing a World-Class Education in Every Zip Code.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The title is ironic given that the platform opposes school choice, the one policy that allows students <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/2023\/02\/14\/stop-allowing-zip-codes-to-dictate-where-kids-go-to-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regardless of ZIP code<\/a> to get the education they deserve. Opposition to school choice is not an isolated policy, however; the platform conflates public schools with all education and assumes that the only way to improve education in this country is to throw more funding at public schools rather than find different avenues that allow students, teachers, and communities to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For too long,&rdquo; the platform <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/where-we-stand\/party-platform\/providing-a-world-class-education-in-every-zip-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">states<\/a>, &ldquo;we have short-changed our children by underinvesting in our nation&rsquo;s public schools and in our higher education system.&rdquo; One problem: There is no evidence suggesting that U.S. schools are in any way underfunded, despite the persistence of the <a href=\"https:\/\/freopp.org\/whitepapers\/americans-think-schools-lack-funding-but-new-spending-reports-will-open-eyes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">myth<\/a> that they are. <\/p>\n<p>As of July 2024, per the Education Data Initiative, American schools <a href=\"https:\/\/educationdata.org\/public-education-spending-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spend<\/a> an average of $17,280 per student per year, which amounts to $857.2 billion a year in total spending. For context, the average U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.privateschoolreview.com\/tuition-stats\/private-school-cost-by-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">private school tuition<\/a> in 2024 was just $12,832 per year.<\/p>\n<p>If public schools are <a href=\"https:\/\/heartland.org\/opinion\/the-average-cost-of-public-school-education-is-58-percent-more-than-private-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spending far more<\/a> per student than private schools are, how can they be underfunded? If more funding were the answer, why would test scores have stayed flat or even dropped over the last two decades as inflation-adjusted <a href=\"https:\/\/edunomicslab.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/30-min_Spending-and-Scores.-Eras-Tour.6-6-24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spending has doubled<\/a>? Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz knows something about this; in his state of Minnesota, elementary test scores <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GrageDustin\/status\/1826477351674192275\/photo\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dropped<\/a> below the national average for the first time in decades in 2022 despite the Walz administration having <a href=\"https:\/\/educationminnesota.org\/news\/minnesota-educator\/education-budget-federal-dollars-create-equitable-investments-in-minnesota-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">thrown more state funding<\/a> at public schools.<\/p>\n<p>Voucher programs don&rsquo;t reduce education spending. Instead, they reallocate the funds taxpayers contribute to a child&rsquo;s education so that it follows the student, rather than the school system. Yet the Democrat platform opposes this solution, claiming that &ldquo;private school vouchers and other policies &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pennsylvania-democratic-governor-candidate-makes-unorthodox-nod-to-school-choice-in-final-weeks-of-campaign\/\" title=\"Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Candidate Makes Unorthodox Nod To School Choice In Final Weeks Of Campaign\">divert taxpayer-funded resources<\/a> away from the public school system&rdquo; without acknowledging that the student retains the funds and is just using them in a way her parents decide is best for her education.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Democrat platform, it is public school systems that deserve taxpayer funding rather than students. Indeed, Democrats and teachers unions often seem to see the primary purpose of our K-12 public school system as a jobs program for unionized workers, rather than as serving students and families.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The platform also specifically mentions opposing &ldquo;the program at issue in the recent <em>Espinoza<\/em> decision.&rdquo; The reference is to <em>Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue<\/em> (2020), a landmark Supreme Court decision that <a href=\"https:\/\/constitutioncenter.org\/the-constitution\/supreme-court-case-library\/espinoza-v-montana-dept-of-revenue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> publicly funded school voucher programs could not discriminate against private religious schools.<\/p>\n<p>I should note that the Montana voucher program up for debate in the case was designed for low-income students. This means, effectively, that in the name of protecting public education, the Democrat platform seeks to rob the most vulnerable families of choosing where to send their children to school &mdash; and of the religious freedom the <em>Espinoza<\/em> decision protects &mdash; all while wealthier families can send their children wherever they wish. This clearly contradicts the platform&rsquo;s supposed opposition to &ldquo;inequitable treatment for students in low-income school districts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>For Democrats, more money, not reforming our obviously failing approach to K-12 education, is always the answer. And it&rsquo;s not just to public school systems that the Democrat Party wants to give even more money. The federal Department of Education&rsquo;s Office of Civil Rights is also on the Democrats&rsquo; list of bureaucracies that ostensibly need more funding. This is the same Office of Civil Rights that oversees the enforcement of Title IX, a law that was designed to protect students and staff in educational institutions from sex-based discrimination. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris administration has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/2024\/04\/29\/female-athletes-college-students-parents-state-attorneys-general-join-independent-womens-forum-lawsuit-bidens-title-ix-rewrite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unlawfully rewritten Title IX<\/a> to repurpose this act to equate &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; with sex &mdash; therefore undermining the very concept of girls as a distinct category &mdash; and to gut due process protections from sexual harassment adjudication. Although the Biden-Harris rewrite faces many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/2024\/08\/19\/supreme-court-leaves-biden-harris-illegal-rewrite-of-title-ix-blocked-in-26-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legal challenges and injunctions<\/a>, it is telling that the Democrat Party wants to direct funding toward the Department of Education&rsquo;s Office of Civil Rights in the name of promoting so-called equity when, in reality, that federal funding would most likely go to increase the left-wing politicization of U.S. educational bureaucracies.<\/p>\n<p>All of this goes to show that the Democrat Party&rsquo;s education agenda, as approved in their party platform, is ultimately incoherent and works against what it claims to care about most. In theory, the Democrat platform supports students getting a solid education independent of their ZIP code and for low-income students receiving equal treatment. But in practice, by opposing school choice and promoting mindless, unaccountable funding to already failing school systems, the platform values systems over students and kills educational freedom.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Neeraja Deshpande is the Education Freedom Center engagement coordinator at Independent Women&rsquo;s Forum (iwf.org).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday evening, delegates at the 2024 Democratic National Convention approved the party&#8217;s national platform, which includes a dedicated section on education policy titled \u201cProviding a World-Class Education in Every Zip Code.\u201d This title is ironic because the platform rejects school choice, a policy that enables students to access quality education regardless of their ZIP code. The opposition to school choice is not an isolated stance; rather, it reflects a broader belief within the platform that equates public schools with all forms of education and assumes that simply increasing funding for public schools is the sole solution to improving education in America. <\/p>\n<p>The platform asserts, \u201cFor too long, we have short-changed our children by underinvesting in our nation\u2019s public schools and higher education system.\u201d However, there is no evidence supporting claims that U.S. schools are underfunded; this myth persists despite data showing American schools spend an average of $17,280 per student annually\u2014totaling $857.2 billion each year\u2014as reported by the Education Data Initiative as of July 2024. In comparison, private school tuition averaged just $12,832 per year in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>If public schools are spending significantly more per student than private institutions do, how can they be considered underfunded? If increased funding were truly effective, why have test scores remained stagnant or declined over two decades while inflation-adjusted spending has doubled? Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate from Minnesota, experienced this firsthand when elementary test scores fell below national averages for the first time in decades despite increased state funding for public schools.<\/p>\n<p>Voucher programs do not decrease overall educational spending; instead they redirect taxpayer funds so they follow students rather than being tied solely to specific school systems. Yet the Democratic platform opposes such measures by claiming that \u201cprivate school vouchers and other policies\u2026 divert taxpayer-funded resources away from the public school system,\u201d without recognizing that these funds remain with students who use them according to their parents&#8217; choices regarding their education.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic stance prioritizes funding for public school systems over individual students\u2019 needs. Often it seems Democrats and teachers unions view K-12 public schooling primarily as a jobs program for unionized workers rather than focusing on serving students and families effectively.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the platform explicitly opposes \u201cthe program at issue in the recent Espinoza decision,\u201d referring to Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue (2020), where it was ruled that publicly funded voucher programs could not discriminate against private religious institutions. Notably, this Montana voucher initiative was aimed at low-income families\u2014indicating that by opposing such programs under pretexts related to protecting public education rights while denying vulnerable families educational choices\u2014and infringing upon religious freedoms upheld by Espinoza\u2014the Democrats contradict their stated commitment against inequitable treatment for low-income districts.<\/p>\n<p>For Democrats, increasing financial support\u2014not reforming what many see as failing K-12 educational strategies\u2014is always deemed necessary. Their agenda also seeks additional funding not only for traditional schooling but also directs resources toward federal agencies like the Department of Education\u2019s Office of Civil Rights\u2014a body responsible for enforcing Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination within educational settings.<\/p>\n<p>Regrettably though under Biden-Harris administration changes have redefined Title IX&#8217;s scope around gender identity\u2014diluting its original intent regarding female categories\u2014and eroding due process protections concerning sexual harassment cases\u2014this push towards further financing indicates an inclination towards enhancing leftist political influence within U.S educational bureaucracies rather than genuinely promoting equity among all students.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately these points illustrate how incoherent and counterproductive aspects exist within Democrat Party\u2019s approved educational agenda: While professedly advocating equitable access irrespective of ZIP codes or socioeconomic status through solid learning opportunities\u2014it simultaneously undermines those principles through its rejectionist approach toward viable alternatives like school choice alongside unaccountable financial boosts directed mainly towards already struggling systems thereby sacrificing true student-centered progressions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3383,"featured_media":2329719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Governor-Tim-Walz-at-Lake-Middle-School.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3685,35136,37383,39037],"class_list":["post-2329718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-democrats","tag-education-policy","tag-education-reform","tag-failing-schools"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Governor-Tim-Walz-at-Lake-Middle-School.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2329718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2329719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2329718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2329718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2329718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}