Noah Webster Educational Foundation

Month: June 2021

  • Podcast Episode 56 “Building a Smart Future: How to Succeed without a College Degree” with guest Gary Feazell

    Podcast Episode 56 “Building a Smart Future: How to Succeed without a College Degree” with guest Gary Feazell

    Today we meet Gary Feazell, a Virginia resident who owns and leads a Top 500 Class A construction company that serves the Roanoke, Lynchburg, Smith Mountain Lake, and New River Valley areas. 

    When Feazell was 11 years old, his dad passed away. His older brother stepped up to be the guiding beacon for his life and employed him to work at a construction site each day after school.

    During his teenage years working for his brother, the art of construction captured Feazell’s long-term attention. He went on to start his own business, F&S Building Innovations, in 1976—a business that has been growing and thriving since its foundations were laid.

    Build Smart Institute 

    In 2020, Feazell founded Build Smart Institute in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia. He noticed a lack of qualified construction workers available for hire and decided to do something about it. Build Smart offers young people from junior high through adulthood the opportunity to learn the methods and techniques of construction. 

    Students trained at Build Smart Institute begin their journey with a course called The Core Fundamentals of Construction. “[When students] come into our facility, part of their classroom time is in the class, then they go to the lab and learn the aspect of framing, plumbing, electrical, laying concrete, drywall finishing, painting—everything to do with construction,” Feazell explains. 

    Build Smart’s training facility is one of epic practicality. It hosts 2,000 square feet of classrooms and 10,000 square feet of lab area where students can put their knowledge into practice.  Build Smart Institute also offers virtual classes that can easily be used as hybrid material in conjunction with classroom training, or simply as a stand-alone opportunity for personal education.

    Filling in the Gaps 

    Feazell has a heart for helping young people pursue a trade. He founded Build Smart to help fill in the gaps in the school system, which typically provides insufficient instruction about the viability of a career in the trades. 

    “For years, it seems like, the trades and the hands-on stuff has been pushed to the background, and if you didn’t go to college and spend a ton of money doing that, you were less than. What we’re trying to do is take the gifts that are already in a person and elevate those gifts and give them the skills and knowledge so that they can go out into the workforce and be a productive part of the community,” Feazell says.

    However, the Department of Education was not so excited about Build Smart’s goals. Feazell explains that the Department tends to develop unrealistic expectations of entities like Build Smart by requiring instructors to have an unattainable number of teaching certifications. 

    To overcome this challenge, he has been working with legislators and the local school systems to bring about needed changes in certification requirements. He simply desires to come alongside the school systems to offer a depth of quality instruction that the schools cannot provide.

    The Construction Trade 

    Feazell focuses on supporting our society’s crucial need for tradesmen and their skills. One common misconception—which has led to a severe shortage of trade workers—is that people assume people in trades cannot earn as much money as college-educated workers can.

    Build Smart, with all the unique opportunities that it provides to students, is seeing the opposite result. “If you have any desire, whatsoever, to work with your hands and become a part of this industry, we need you desperately,” Feazell says. With such high demand, trade workers have abundant work opportunities and the potential for a lucrative career. 

    Build Smart Institute has become a focal point of trade-skill development in the Roanoke, VA area. As word spreads about the quality training, surrounding companies have begun recruiting Build Smart students and offering them apprenticeships with attractive starting pay. 

    Through Build Smart’s efforts, students receive a “boost up” in trade industries. These hard-working trainees can pursue excellence and get a head start on their careers thanks to the hands-on learning environment and a plethora of great opportunities in trade work.

    The Ripple Effect of Build Smart 

    In the future, Build Smart Institute hopes to expand throughout the country. As a new institution that graduated their first class of 29 students in June of 2021, they have plenty of room for growth and expansion. With their founder’s vision and ability to turn desires into reality, Build Smart has inspiring potential to be a magnificent force for good in our society. 

    Already, Feazell says, they are reaching out to “[partner] with a lot of the companies in the Roanoke Valley to give them additional help in their workforce development, such as project management, supervision—all the things that go along with a construction company.  Build Smart wants to be a part of helping developing companies.” 

    Whether it is a construction project, a company, an educational institution, or a student, Feazell is always building something or someone up. His efforts have sent ripples of positive change into his community.

    If you are interested in contacting the Build Smart Institute, or if you want additional information about their courses, events, or programs, you can visit their website here.

    Click here to watch the entire interview between Gary Feazell and NWEF president Melvin Adams, or select one of the short clips below to jump to a specific topic:

    Want to hear more from today’s teachers, parents, administrators, and policy influencers? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive alerts when we post new interviews!

    Note from the Editor: We thank all our contributors for their insights and expertise. However, the views of guest authors or interviewees are not necessarily those of Noah Webster Educational Foundation.

  • Virginia Department of Education Implements Transgender-Inclusive Policies

    Virginia Department of Education Implements Transgender-Inclusive Policies

    The Virginia Department of Education has made some recent changes to statewide public school policies to be more inclusive for transgender and non-binary students. You can download the full pdf of the new policies here.

    NBC 12, a local station in Richmond, Virginia, shares some of these policies. They include “Schools shall allow students to use a name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence” and “Access to facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to a student’s gender identity shall be available to all students.”

    The policy also makes provisions for children to keep their gender identity a secret from their parents.

    Virginia Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle says, “The 2020 legislation requires local school boards to ‘adopt policies that are consistent with but maybe more comprehensive than the model policies developed by the Virginia Department of Education by the start of the 2021-2022 school year.’”

    State Senator Barbara Favola believes the policies were needed, reports ABC 13, a local station in central Virginia. Favola told the news station that “77% of LGBTQ students felt depression, they felt isolation, they felt they were bullied and that’s just not acceptable….We’re promoting the value of equality, and we’re saying we need to treat each other with respect and dignity.”

    Yet, some Virginia senators believe there are better ways to handle the situation, such as Senator Steve Newman. “It’s important to know that we can fix this problem,” he said. “We can love on children of all natures without having a radical left-wing policy that’s intended to open up the restrooms and open up the locker rooms to the opposite sex.”

    Newman added, “If someone needs a special location, then I think most school divisions would be prepared to deal with that.”

    Parents Are Speaking Up

    With this new policy on the horizon in Virginia, many parents are getting involved. Citizens across the nation have rallied to push back against several local and state policies in their children’s schools. 

    The Washington Examiner discusses how the pandemic has enabled parents to unobtrusively discover what their children are learning in schools. Many parents didn’t like what they found and have taken their concerns to school board meetings.

    One school board meeting recently made headlines in Loudoun County, Virginia. CNS News, part of the Media Research Center, says that about 300 people came to that meeting to discuss the school’s pending transgender rights policy created in response to the statewide mandate. Policy 8040 requires teachers and staff to call students by their desired names and pronouns. The policy also allows students to use the restroom that corresponds to their chosen gender identity.

    While some came to support the policy, many came to voice their opposing views. However, after continual outbursts during the public comment session, the school board decided to end the commenting. Parents were outraged that the meeting ended so abruptly. 

    The board will reconvene to vote on the policy.

    Ian Prior, a parent in Loudoun County, told The Washington Examiner, “This has been going on under our very noses, and whether it’s distraction, apathy, focus on other issues that may not be as relevant to our day-to-day lives, like the things going on in the national political ecosystem—we have failed to be the watchdogs of our school systems that we need to be, and it did take a pandemic, but now there has been awakening.”

    Nationwide, parental involvement has impacted school policies. In New Jersey, parents managed to change the school board’s policy to drop holiday names from the calendar.

    Berks-Mont News, a local newspaper for the Berks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, says that parents recently fought against a new school equity policy in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. As a result, the board revised the policy. 

    —

    As parents continue to voice concerns at school board meetings across the United States, they help keep public schools accountable to the taxpayers who fund them. What do you think about these new school policies? Who gets to decide what your children learn?

  • Inescapably Religious: Why Ignoring Character Training in School Doesn’t Work

    Inescapably Religious: Why Ignoring Character Training in School Doesn’t Work

    Whatever happened to faith and morality in American education?

    Here at the Noah Webster Educational Foundation, our fourth core principle is faith and morality. 

    We believe faith and morality are essential elements for character development, human flourishing, and civil society. Not only are these principles an integral part of America’s history and culture, but denying their importance is harmful to our schools and communities. 

    Have you wondered about what role faith and morality should play in American education? Do you know why they are important? 

    We’ll tackle these questions in today’s post. But first, let’s talk about what we mean by faith and morality and how the two go hand in hand.

    Defining faith and morality

    To break down the definitions of faith and morality, there’s no better place to start than Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary.

    Webster defines faith as “the assent of the mind to the truth of a proposition advanced by another; belief, or probable evidence of any kind.”

    He describes morality as “the doctrine or system of moral duties, or the duties of men in their social character; ethics” or “the practice of the moral duties; virtue.”

    To compare the two definitions, faith is a system of beliefs, while morality is a system of moral obligations directing how we interact with our neighbors and society. The two coincide because what you believe inevitably shapes your morality.

    Until recently, people believed faith and morality were inseparable.

    Faith and morality in American education

    Take a step back in time to the Revolutionary War period when our nation came into being. There we meet Noah Webster, the Father of American Scholarship and Education.

    Webster served as a soldier during the Revolutionary War and supported the birth of the new nation. As a lexicographer, his most notable works include his dictionary and his textbook “The American Spelling Book.”  Traditionally published with a blue cover, it was often simply referred to as the “Blue-Backed Speller.”

    According to Britannica.com, “Webster was instrumental in giving American English a dignity and vitality of its own. Both his speller and dictionary reflected his principle that spelling, grammar, and usage should be based upon the living, spoken language rather than on artificial rules. He also made useful contributions as a teacher, grammarian, journalist, essayist, lecturer, and lobbyist.”

    From America’s inception, faith and morality featured in education. In the following sections, we will examine faith and morality in education in the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s to compare each century’s approach.

    Faith, morality, and education in the 1700s

    Noah Webster published his Blue-Backed Speller in 1783. Teach US History describes it as a popular textbook for children, selling 100 million copies by the end of the century!

    “It not only taught students how to read and spell, but also provided lessons on subjects such as morality and the principles of American government,” Teach US History explains. “This last was particularly close to the heart of Webster’s work, for through his dictionary, speller, and other educational work, he hoped to create a distinctly American culture and language.”

    In Webster’s Blue-Backed Speller, students found sentences such as the following: 

    • “God will bless those who do his will.”
    • “The preacher is to preach the gospel.” 
    • “God made the ear, and He can hear.”
    • “The wicked know not the enjoyment of a good conscience.” 
    • “Men devoted to mere amusement misemploy their time.”

    As you can see, students in the 1700s were no strangers to the concepts of faith and morality. 

    Without a doubt, America was founded by individuals who supported faith and operated on strong morals.

    Faith, morality, and education in the 1800s

    In the 1800s, American families were introduced to public schools. While the Blue-Backed Speller continued to make an appearance, another popular set of books came into popular use: the McGuffey Readers. These textbooks further contributed to the American emphasis on faith and morality in education.

    According to The Edvocate,

    “The McGuffey Readers became cornerstones in establishing America’s moral values. Although the books were not overtly religious, they did stress religious values and emphasize moral lessons intended to develop students into good citizens. For more than a century, the books encouraged moral values and conveyed a distinctly American cultural framework, with an emphasis on allegiance to the nation. To illustrate the concepts, the McGuffey Readers presented stories emphasizing strength of character, truth, and goodness. The stories distinguished between good and bad by introducing varying viewpoints on many issues and topics, and they concluded with morals, often concerning goodness, truth, and untruth.”

    Faith, morality, and education in the 1900s

    The Pew Research Center provides a look into the 20th century’s view of faith and morality.

    In the 1940s, “the high court invalidated the practice of having religious instructors from different denominations enter public schools to offer religious lessons during the school day to students whose parents requested them.” 

    The article goes on to state that four years later, “in Zorach v. Clauson, the court upheld an arrangement by which public schools excused students during the school day so they could attend religious classes away from school property.”

    Many other religious battles surfaced in the court system during the 1900s. For better or worse, the 1900s opened a conversation about where to draw the line between individual beliefs and public education. 

    Faith, morality, and education in the 2000s

    Now, in the 2000s, the news is full of reports of parents and children at odds with school administrators on the issues of faith and morality. 

    For example, some people think that permitting biological boys who identify as female to use girls’ restrooms is a moral issue. Other parents find themselves shocked at the images shown to their students under the banner of education. Today, parents of all beliefs have the difficult job of navigating these polarizing cultural issues with their children. What does one do when the teacher is positing one thought while you’re trying to teach the opposite?

    Of course, this review of the 1700s to the present day is a mere glimpse of the history of faith and morality in American education. 

    Why faith and morality matters

    Faith and morality are inescapable per their definitions. Even for those who consider themselves non-religious, we all hold to some system of ideas about the world around us. We all have obligations to our neighbors. 

    If everyone carries around a system of beliefs inside them, character formation is a critical part of education. 

    Why should moral behavior be taught in school? Consider the following thoughts:

    • Intellect, without the basis of morality, is counterproductive for a healthy society.
    • Education, without the application of faith and morality, fails to inform the whole human experience. (People are not just minds or just bodies; we are whole beings with a spiritual component.)
    • Instruction in faith and morality is primarily the responsibility of a child’s parent/guardian. Home values must be supported—or at the very least, not undermined—at school. 

    As a parent, it’s your job to seek out an education for your kids that reinforces your values. School should serve as an extension of your family, not an adversary whose teachings you’re constantly having to fight against. 

    What happens if your local school doesn’t cooperate? While you should certainly teach your kids to show respect, kindness, and courtesy toward those who disagree with them, you have the right to raise your children according to your family’s beliefs. This right includes your ability to remove your children from a negative or unhelpful educational environment if necessary.  That’s why school choice matters. 

    That’s also why you need to advocate for your child and know your family’s rights. Here at NWEF, we want to provide you with the information and tools you need to stand up for your kid’s education. 

    Sign up for updates to learn more about the new resources we’re sharing every month!

  • STEM, Immigration, and Smart Asian Kids with Vinson Palathingal

    STEM, Immigration, and Smart Asian Kids with Vinson Palathingal

    In today’s interview, we meet Vinson Xavier Palathingal, a resident of Fairfax County, Virginia for over 22 years.

    Originally from Kochi in Kerala State, India, Vinson is a serial entrepreneur, Asian-American community leader, and a free-market advocate. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering while living in India. Later, he immigrated to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno. Over the years, he launched multiple small businesses in the US and was the winner of the SBA Small Business Exporter of the Year award in 2013.

    Vinson is also a proactive leader in the national Indian-American community. In 2015, he started the Indo-American Center, a nonprofit think tank spreading the message of liberty, free market, and small government ideals.

    As an advocate for public schools, he promotes K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and technical career education. His wife Asha is also a STEM graduate and a technology professional. Following in their footsteps, both of their children are computer engineers and graduates of the University of Virginia. 

    In today’s interview, Vinson underscores the importance of STEM studies and discusses why so many foreign students immigrate to America. He also explores principles of Asian-American educational success that can be used to reduce the minority achievement gap. Watch now for these topics and more!

    Immigration and STEM

    When Vinson graduated college in 1988, India wasn’t producing enough jobs to employ all of the well-trained engineers pouring out of its colleges. Many of these graduates went to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, or the United States in search of work.

    Like many immigrants, Vinson applied to study in the US and moved away from his homeland in search of a better economic future. “No one really wants to leave where they were born to [go to] a foreign land just for the sake of traveling,” Vinson says. “That is called tourism. [Immigrants] leave because they need to.”

    In the 80s and 90s, America’s technological prosperity created more STEM jobs than Americans could fill. As a result, many other immigrants like Vinson flooded in, particularly from STEM-heavy Asian countries.

    The Secret behind Smart Asian Kids

    Today, as a result of America’s reliance on Chinese and Indian workers, many non-Asian Americans have stepped back from studying STEM. Unfortunately, public schools have also allowed STEM to take a back seat.

    While American children as a whole lag behind the world’s STEM scores, Asian-American kids hold their own. This begs the question:

    Are Asian kids inherently better at math and other STEM subjects than other kids?

    Of course not, Vinson says. He believes the widespread success of Asian students is due to the serious approach of parents. It’s not that their kids are naturally good at math. Rather, Asian-American parents go out of their way—often with great financial sacrifice—to provide after-school education programs that focus on fundamental arithmetic and phonetic-based English.

    Vinson suggests that integrating this approach into public education would go a long way in reducing the minority gap in low-income areas.

    “Schools are supposed to understand what needs to be done for minority children; but instead of doing that, they’re saying we should distribute resources from the successful Asians….Why don’t we just figure out why they’re doing better? Schools are playing politics with this discrepancy,” he says.

    “If we know that this is what’s needed for poorer areas to get better, then why don’t we use these techniques in public schools?” Vinson asks.

    He continues, “I grew up middle class, my dad had a government job, and I attended public schools in India. My engineering degree was from a public institution in India. Quality public institutions make ordinary, middle-class people like me be able to cross over into more abundance and more success. We can do whatever we want now that we have moved up in the economy. [That is] all possible because of good public schools.”

    He fears that America’s current preoccupation with racial outcomes will distract from true solutions and weaken STEM. “Why can’t we think beyond skin color and try to understand the root cause—and try to repeat it for other communities?”

    “School boards are not doing this. Ordinary citizens have to step up to get into these school boards…so we can influence the policy and make change happen. I think a good public school system is so essential for America to remain on the cutting edge and to be the leader of the world.”

    What Parents Can Do in Public Schools

    Vinson believes that parents are the first line of defense for their children’s futures. Recalling his days as an involved public school parent, he confesses, “I didn’t understand how [the school system] operated…We have to pay more attention to what’s going on around us….If ordinary parents are sitting on these boards, then what they do will be in the best interests of the children and the community.”

    While many people pay close attention to national elections, many forget that local politics influence everyday life—“kitchen table issues,” as Vinson calls them.

    Unfortunately, as he points out, local elections typically have poor voter involvement. For example, only a third of Virginia voters participated in the last election for local officials.

    “We should not wait until something boils over; we have to be aware before these things come,” he says of parental involvement in schools. “Parental input has to be the primary driving force for school boards to operate. What do the parents in your community want? That’s what the leaders in the system should be doing. That’s not happening because we don’t demand it.”

    For parents who want to get more involved, he recommends a few strategies:

    • Attend PTA meetings
    • Get to know your school board representative and establish a relationship
    • Find out how many board members serve your child’s school
    • Talk to your school board member about education policy issues so they can present your thoughts to the school board

    If you and other concerned parents want to get more STEM programs in your local public school, Vinson believes this is a great place to start.

    Click here to watch the whole interview playlist with Vinson Palathingal, or select one of the short clips below to jump to a specific topic:

    Want to hear more from today’s teachers, parents, administrators, and policy influencers? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive alerts when we post new interviews!

    Note from the Editor: We thank all our contributors for their insights and expertise. However, the views of guest authors or interviewees are not necessarily those of Noah Webster Educational Foundation.

  • Controversy Erupts over Teaching Juneteenth in Schools

    Controversy Erupts over Teaching Juneteenth in Schools

    President Biden signed a bill this past Thursday, June 17th, to establish June 19th as Juneteenth National Independence Day. 

    Lohud., part of the USA Today Network, shares that some school districts in New York City commemorated the new federal holiday by closing on Friday, June 18th.

    Other school districts like Yonkers remained open. They encouraged teachers to add Juneteenth to their lesson plans in all subjects. 

    Mount Vernon schools also stayed open, but marked the occasion with a week full of commemorative activities. As part of the celebration, middle school students created Juneteenth flags. High schoolers wrote laws mimicking the Emancipation Proclamation.

    Now, compare these NYC school districts to districts in South Carolina. Juneteenth is not taught well—if at all—in South Carolina classrooms, according to local station WCNC Charlotte.

    Former principal and retired educator Seberina Myles says, “From my experience, it was not being taught when I was in the district, and I retired three years ago.”

    Myles also reports that Juneteenth is not in the textbooks. She notes, “For the most part, our teachers teach from standards and from textbooks.”

    Why isn’t Juneteenth in more textbooks?

    Myles believes that party lines decide what topics are included in South Carolina textbooks. She continues, “There are only certain parties that write textbooks for schools and of course, our legislatures for South Carolina in Columbia are the ones who are writing our standards.”

    The Sun poses this question: is it illegal to teach Juneteenth in schools? Five states have prohibited the teaching of systematic racism and critical race theory, with others on their way. They are against making students feel guilty about the past or teaching students that a system is inherently racist.

    Of course, slavery is taught in the U.S. education system. The Sun says that what classrooms do not examine is the long-term effects of slavery on a nation.

    With the pushback against critical race theory, The Sun claims that it’s hard to teach about Juneteenth. In other words, supporters believe that to ban critical race theory is to ban teaching the history of slavery.

    Others disagree that the issues are the same. In a commentary for The Epoch Times, Timothy Barton argues that supporters of critical race theory push the narrative that America is fundamentally racist. He says that such lies about America have become widespread.

    Juneteenth is not a negative part of America’s past. On the contrary, it is an immense triumph. 

    On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas and announced the freedom of slaves. That day, 250,000 slaves in Texas became free men and women. It had been two and a half years since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. On a day that would come to be called “Juneteenth,” the United States moved closer to attaining the promise of freedom for all contained in the Declaration of Independence.

    Barton notes that some educators and political narratives choose not to acknowledge that America led the way in abolishing slavery across the globe. In his view, critical race theory is just an attempt to rewrite history for political reasons.

    Kay C. James, President of The Heritage Foundation, says that Juneteenth is meant to honor America’s history. “Juneteenth is a perfect answer to those who are promoting critical race theory,” James told Fox News. “Juneteenth says, no, we do not need to destroy the very structures of this nation, the things that make us great. That while there were issues or problems in our history, look at how we overcame and are overcoming them.”

    —

    Do you celebrate Juneteenth? How do you think this holiday should be taught in schools?

  • 3 Ways to Improve Government Involvement in Education

    3 Ways to Improve Government Involvement in Education

    From local schoolboards to the Department of Education, the government is involved in every aspect of public schools.

    However, governments like the United States do not simply fund education out of the goodness of their hearts. Education provides invaluable results to governments. The most significant of these results is strong economies.

    Employing 6,704,281 people in 2021, the US public education system provides a huge job market for teachers, administrators, and other school support personnel. The childcare services provided by schools enable more parents to work during the school day, freeing up discretionary income and boosting the national employment rate.

    Public education also contributes to the future success of the national economy by creating well-informed people who advance business, science, technology, art, defense, and other key fields in America. Our children will one day run this country, and the government considers it a good investment to help equip them for that task.

    Critics question the appropriateness or even the necessity of government involvement in education. Some think that education should be completely privatized, while others call for drastic reforms.

    Here at the Noah Webster Educational Foundation, we recognize the important role that the government plays in offering free public education. But—while public education is a valuable part of our country—it isn’t always run in the best interests of citizens, particularly parents and their kids.

    In this post, we will explore the history and structure of public education and discuss the current approach that the government takes to the schooling of our children. A review of the modern education scene leads to a few areas that need definite improvement—a job that all taxpayers must attend to in order to preserve the futures of American kids.

    The History of Government in Education

    The United States of America is a constitutional republic. “Constitutional” means we have a governing document to keep the government in line. “Republic” means that our people choose representatives through elections.

    In other words, the government’s power comes solely from the people and the Constitution.

    Reflecting the educational priorities of its citizens, the American government has a long history of involvement in education. It helps facilitate and empower the education of citizens by:

    • Making public schools available to everyone,
    • Allocating tax dollars to education, and
    • Creating education laws that protect equal access, prevent discrimination, and support the public good

    Pennsylvania was the first state to establish free public schools in 1790. Now, every state has its own constitution with articles governing public schools.

    The Constitution says that all power not specifically given to the federal government belongs to the states and the people; interestingly, it has nothing to say about public education.

    Despite these facts, the federal government started making provisions for public education early in America’s history.

    Several land ordinances in the 1780s encouraged and set aside land for public schools. In 1867, President Andrew Johnson created a limited Department of Education. The people pushed back, concerned about federal overreach.

    From then until the 1970s, the federal government monitored education from inside other agencies. Finally, the current Department of Education was established in 1979. It was designed to further government programs, federal funding, and desegregation.

    As of 2018, there were 130,930 public schools in the United States, serving 50.8 million children.

    The Structure of Public Education

    Today, control of public education spans each level of our government: federal, state, and local. Each of these spheres has a specific responsibility in governing public schools, and each contributes tax dollars to fund local school districts.

    Federal

    People disagree about who should have more power in education: the national government, the states, or the local government.

    Currently, these three parts of the government share authority. The national Department of Education researches education data, prevents discrimination, raises national issues, and decides how much federal funding gets dispersed to states.

    Our national leaders also create education legislation such as No Child Left Behind of 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 in attempts to increase the national education level and keep states accountable.

    State

    While the central government has a good deal of influence over education, states have the most power.

    The Teach-nology website explains, “The system works on the premise that if it was the state taxpayers who paid for the schools, they should be the ones who direct how that money is used.”

    States are in charge of many educational decisions, including:

    • Allocating a percentage of state taxes to education
    • Deciding what school choices are available to their students (i.e., public, private, charter, homeschool, etc.)
    • Mandating a state testing and curriculum standard
    • Establishing teaching methods
    • Licensing teachers and administrative staff
    • Setting graduation requirements
    • Overseeing the election and/or appointment of state and local school boards

    Local

    Local governments used to have more power in education. However, in the early-to-mid 1900s, states began consolidating school districts in hopes of more efficiency, fair access, and improved quality.

    Today, a local school board still has a measure of control over the education process in its district. School board members are typically elected by local citizens, but some states allow for appointed school board members (taking the power out of taxpayer’s hands).

    Typically, school boards handle district-wide budgets, curriculum choice, hiring decisions, facility needs, and local education policies.

    What Needs to Improve

    As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, education is an extremely rewarding investment for the government. However, while the government benefits from educated citizens, students do not flourish when their only opportunity is government education.

    Education reform is always a hot topic in the media. However, when it comes to governmental involvement, a few issues come to the forefront.

    1. Monopolization and Lack of School Choice

    Our government has a responsibility to protect us from the economic and societal risks of monopolies. In reality, though, they have created their own monopoly via public schools.

    Taxpayers must fund them or risk eviction from their own private properties. Parents must send their children or bear the additional thousands of dollars of annual private school/homeschool costs for daring to choose a different path.

    One writer asks an interesting question of the government’s insistence on protecting this monopoly: “Do you think nobody would willingly entrust his children to you or pay you for teaching them? Why do you have to extort your fees and collect your pupils by compulsion?”

    Many states, pushed by local parents, have adopted school choice measures to loosen the firm grip of public schools on their children. Choice proponents offer a variety of solutions. The essence of these ideas is to allow parents to choose the best school for their child. To make this possible, the government would allocate that child’s public school tax dollars (something like $14,439 per student per year as of 2017) to follow them to the school of their choice.

    School choice continues to be a hot-button issue nationwide, particularly in the aftermath of COVID-19.

    2. Accountability

    In theory, public schools are accountable to taxpayers. Many local and state school board positions are filled via election. While the Secretary of Education is an appointed cabinet position, voters also have the opportunity to impact this choice through presidential elections.

    However, in reality, few taxpayers ever engage with their local or state school board. Over 30% of school board candidates win by default because they had no opposition; even when there are multiple candidates, most school board elections have a notoriously-low voter turnout (often only 5-10% of the voting population).

    To compound the issue, school board officials often stop listening to what their constituents want. Political pressure and disagreements can quickly overwhelm campaign promises.

    3. Education as a Local Business

    Despite the nonprofit status of public schools, education is a business.

    As control migrates to state and federal legislation, the fact remains: citizens are best served when education is local and consumer-based. When school districts fail to give parents what they want, it’s no wonder that parents are withdrawing their children in droves.

    Strategic EdTech says,

    “Educators typically take issue when their schools are called businesses. Nearly all schools are non-profit, and educators take pride in working purely on behalf of the public good. But we are, in fact, businesses. Rather than deny reality, we should seek to embrace what other enterprises have done to succeed and incorporate them, where possible, into making our service offerings better meet the needs (current and future) of our customers. At the very least, we must learn to maximize our efficiency and effectiveness as teachers by beginning to view our schools as competitive businesses offering a precious service- namely, education.”

    Educator and school board member Dr. Karen Hiltz talks with NWEF president Melvin Adams about the business side of public education in this interview segment:

    Public education isn’t a magical place that turns tax dollars into well-educated children without the need for oversight. In many ways, the system is very broken and requires locally-informed solutions in order to improve.

    This will only happen as taxpayers—and parents in particular—step up to challenge the status quo and require publicly-funded schools to offer the quality instruction that their children deserve.

    Now that we’ve talked about the role of government in education….what about your role? Here at NWEF, we provide articles and actionable resources so you can start taking a stand in your local school district.

    Sign up for updates to stay informed about ways you can make a difference.

  • An Interview with Yesli Vega

    An Interview with Yesli Vega

    Yesli Vega is a military wife, mother, former police officer, and Prince William County Sheriff’s Deputy who has dedicated her life to public service. Born to immigrants from El Salvador, she learned principles of hard work, integrity, and personal faith from her parents. She is a graduate of American Military University and the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy.

    After local law enforcement and first responders helped her family through a tragic event, Vega decided she wanted to give back to her community by becoming a police officer. She went on to serve in the Alexandria Police Department and the Manassas Park Police Department. In addition to working the “street beat,” Vega became a Field Training Officer, a certified Hostage Negotiator, and a member of the Crisis Intervention Team. 

    She now serves as an elected member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, representing about 70,000 citizens.

    In today’s interview, Vega discusses Critical Race Theory (CRT), her view of racism, and the importance of parental involvement in school board decisions. She closes with a charge to other elected officials to serve with integrity and represent their voters well.

    Critical Race Theory

    In Vega’s county, the school board approved an equity statement to make sure all county staff members “rid themselves of implicit bias.” While Prince William County has not experienced a full-blown equity/CRT curriculum controversy like neighboring Loudoun County has, she expects the battle to eventually make its way to her local school boards. Parents across party lines are already pushing back against CRT in Prince William County.

    She says that proponents of Critical Race Theory “view unequal outcomes as proof of discrimination.” As a member of a minority ethnic group herself, Vega disagrees with the idea that all problems come from racial differences. Her immigrant parents never let their skin color or country of origin get in their way, and neither will she.

    Racism is blown out of proportion in America, Vega contends. She points in disbelief to recent media coverage of black college students who think that today’s racism is worse than it was in 1920s America. This alleged discrimination is used to justify why minorities cannot succeed.

    “I will never allow anyone to lump me into a category of victim mentality,” she asserts. “If America is so racist, if America is so bad, why do people—by the thousands—continue to flood our borders because they want to come to this country? You know why? Because this is the greatest country [on] the face of the earth. That’s why.”

    Parents Must Stand Against Rogue School Boards

    She encourages local parents to take a stand when school boards enact concerning policies. “Education doesn’t start at school, it starts at home,” she reminds listeners. It’s the responsibility of parents to help children logically analyze the information they get at school, especially when school boards push policies that are at odds with parents’ personal values.

    Vega lists a few first steps for parents who want to speak up:

    1. Identify and network with other parents in your neighborhood or community who share your concerns about local school policies or curriculum.
    2. Thoroughly read your kids’ curriculum and their school board’s proposals. “You have to read between the lines, because they present [certain new policies] as a nice gift. But once you start to open it, you realize it’s really not a gift,” she says.
    3. “Start showing up. Your vote puts those people in place.” Parents must work together to create respectful dialogue and put school leaders on the spot. To make a difference, you can write emails to the school board, ask for meetings with your school board representative, show up for parent/teacher meetings, ask for town halls, and more.
    4. Be proactive. Don’t wait on other people to question the status quo in your child’s school.

    A Message To Fellow Elected Officials

    “We are not in these seats forever,” Vega reminds her fellow elected officials. She believes that many school officials are failing to represent the wishes of the voters who put them in office.

    Vega places the authority back on parents. “We have to continue to advocate for our children because they are the future and they are worth it.”

     

     

    Click here to watch the whole interview playlist with Yesli Vega, or select one of the short clips below to jump to a specific topic:

    Want to hear more from today’s teachers, parents, administrators, and policy influencers? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive alerts when we post new interviews!

    Note from the Editor: We thank all our contributors for their insights and expertise. However, the views of guest authors or interviewees are not necessarily those of Noah Webster Educational Foundation.

  • Will $20 Billion Fix Discrepancies in Low-Income School Districts?

    Will $20 Billion Fix Discrepancies in Low-Income School Districts?

    The “Education for the Disadvantaged” Plan

    The Biden Administration has introduced a $20 billion plan aimed at curbing the national funding disparity between wealthy and poor school districts.

    The New York Times reports that the program would assist high-poverty school districts. States will receive more funding if they can demonstrate that they’ve taken steps to reduce discrepancies between rich and poor districts.

    According to the Times article, the American public school system is divided into 16,000 school districts. Most resources are in areas with a majority of white people. 

    School districts “where more than 75 percent of students are white receive $23 billion more per year than districts where more than 75 percent of students are not white — even though there are more students in predominantly nonwhite districts.”

    The Times quotes Zahava Stadler, who works on education funding at The Education Trust. In her opinion, the Biden plan “wouldn’t just add money where it’s needed; it would also offer an important push for states to change the policies that create inequity in state and local funding.”

    American schools have been working to improve by focusing attention on test scores and academic standards. However, schools have been building upon an unequal financial structure. Many politicians, parents, and teachers alike look with concern on the growing gap in test scores between white upper-income and poorer minority students. The Biden plan intends to fix these inequities.

    The Biden Administration has not explained how the funding plan will work. The $20 billion plan is intended to supplement Title I’s $16 billion.

    The School District Funding Debate

    Others offer alternative explanations and solutions to school disparities. 

    National Review says that school problems are mostly unrelated to funding. For example, in Providence, RI, public schools are in poor condition in spite of the district spending close to $18,000 per student. 

    Poor discipline and ineffective teaching continue to banish progress in these schools in spite of large amounts of funding. Pouring money into a failing district was not the answer. In fact, the United States spends more on education than any other developed country. 

    Local politics, housing choices, and community values also play into school district funding differences.

    In his article “The School District Boundary Problem,” scholar Aaron Saiger recognizes the political nature of school districts. He suggests regular redrawing of school districts to balance tax resources and prevent the economic fallout of “real estate choice.” In his mind, the same fairness principles behind reapportioning voter districts should apply to local school districts too.

    He writes, “In such an environment [that is open to reconsidering school district boundaries], district boundaries are not understood to be [fixed] like rivers or streams. People realize that they reflect political decisions, and that political decisions therefore can be taken to change them.”

    While there are pros and cons to his proposal, the fact remains: funding issues are more complicated than simple economic or racial disparities. Solutions must go beyond either wholesale condemnation of the current system or wholesale acceptance of it.

    Some Americans argue that segregation and district inequalities can be addressed by simply giving parents the option of where to send their kids. Students do not have to be stuck in assigned districts.

    The Good News in Florida, a monthly column from the legal community, discusses the improved educational opportunities available to students with school choice. For instance, Florida’s charter schools have higher grade performance than the traditional public school setting. They also have a lower achievement gap between white and nonwhite students.

    In this article, Ed Pozzuoli, CEO of Tripp Scott, PA, says,

    “The law is all about upholding individual rights and freedoms. It’s important to preserve these freedoms, especially of parents in communities of color, to allow them to choose the best solutions for their children – particularly in the face of relentless efforts by certain politicians, teachers unions and other special interests to take that choice away.”

    School choice has been shown to increase opportunities and reduce inequalities for all students, but it is still not available nationwide.

    What’s your opinion of the funding plan proposed by the Biden Administration? What solution do you think will make a lasting difference in school districts?