Trump’s new federal school choice program includes an irresistible pathway for taxpayers to help kids.
You DO have choices you know!!!
As we kick off National School Choice Week, there’s never been a more exciting time for families who seek educational freedom. Governors across the country now have a golden opportunity to opt their states in early to President Trump’s innovative federal tax credit scholarship program embedded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, unlocking scholarships for millions of kids without touching a dime of public school funding. Continue reading
So long as the government controls the “public” schools, there are bound to be conflicts over what should be taught there. Only if all schooling is supplied by the free market will the problem end. In a free market, parents can get schools that supply them with the sort of education they want for their children. 
Democrat-run cities are failing when it comes to education. The unsatisfactory results have worsened through the years. Too much taxpayer money has been thrown toward the problem, without seeing any improvement whatsoever. Too many students in the big blue cities graduate while being functionally illiterate. Teachers can’t be fired due to teachers unions. The curriculum has been dumbed down in order to allow students to pass. This is also happening in red states. 
A good number of Esperanza High School students carried signs depicting their opposition of the policy early this month, reported California Family Council (CFC). Led by junior Lesley Ledesma, they staged a walkout after finding out the school administration is allowing a biological male to use the girls restroom.
Through public records requests, Kendall Tietz says Arlington Public Schools provided Defending Education documents about Richard “Riki” Cox, a tier III sex offender who reportedly visited a number of female private spaces in 2024.
Public schools depend on a degree of consensus from parents and taxpayers regarding the basics of what their students are being taught. This trust is especially important in these chaotic times when many parents across the country have discovered that their schools are teaching children in a way contrary to their family and religious values by indoctrinating them with creepy views on gender and sexuality. 
But wait there’s more… It was not just Ritalin and Adderall being prescribed for so-called learning and behavior disorder but also Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) were becoming popular. I was on the Colorado State Board of Education when the Columbine massacre happened. One of my fellow board member’s daughter went to Columbine and was hiding from Eric and Dylin (the shooters) in the library closet. She had phoned her dad as it was happening.
Five years ago, public schools across the United States closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Students in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other large school districts were locked out of classrooms for 18 months. These prolonged public school closures harmed a generation of children. According to University of Arkansas professor of education policy Harry Anthony Patrinos, school closures in developed countries reduced students’ lifetime earnings by $21,000. 
The Department of Education has operated as a costly experiment in federal overreach for too long – expanding bureaucratic layers, weakening local control, and spending billions without improving academic outcomes.
It’s been 25 years since my last opinion piece covering ADHD, ADD and prescription medications like Ritalin and Adderall. I thought I would never write another piece on this specific issue, but things have evolved since 1999. When I learned Illinois Governor Pritzker signed into law a new bill making it mandatory for yearly psychological exams on schoolchildren starting in 3rd grade, I had to write again on this issue. 
Almost one-third of government schools nationwide are now surveilling the mental health of students. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed a bill to bring “universal mental health screening” to two million Illinois students as part of his Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative. But this rescue effort will ravage many students and is a warning shot to parents across the nation. Manhattan Institute fellow Abigail Shrier warned that the new Illinois law will mean “tens of thousands of Illinois kids get shoved into the mental health funnel and convinced they are sick. Many or most will be false positives.”
A strategist working to restore schools from harmful agendas isn’t surprised that federal spending didn’t improve kids’ math and reading scores.