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Public Schools are Languishing in a Political Dead Zone
By Will Marshall
Founder and President of the Progressive Policy Institute
for The Hill
Stumping for president a quarter-century ago, George W. Bush posed the immortal question, “Is our children learning?” Although his bad grammar elicited much condescending mirth, Bush at least seemed passionate about improving public schools.
Today’s national leaders, not so much.
Despite mounting evidence that our K-12 students are sliding backward, school reform barely registered in last year’s presidential election. Instead, Republicans fixated on ridding schools of “wokeness,” while Democrats lined up behind teachers’ unions defending the status quo.
Since the bipartisan coalition for school reform unraveled about a decade ago, the issue seems to have fallen into a political dead zone in Washington. Among our top leaders, there is no vision or leadership for setting higher standards for our schools and students.
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