Conservative parents say they are looking to get out of public schools after an anemic performance by right-leaning candidates in school board elections this week.
With public school enrollment already down across the country, frustrated parents say they expect the trend to pick up after hopes of a red wave quickly recede as the votes are counted.
“If what we’ve seen in recent years isn’t enough to drive drastic change, then nothing will,” claimed one mother from Loudoun County in Virginia, a divided county at the center of the nation’s education culture war.
“I hate to say it, but people are giving up at this point.”
Schools in Loudoun County have been mired in controversy in recent years, with parents clashing at board meetings over a range of issues — from transgender bathroom policies to educational priorities to student overdoses of fentanyl.
Tensions came to a head with the arrest of Scott Smith’s parents during a Loudoun school board meeting in 2021.
A father was handcuffed after recounting the sexual assault on his daughter by a transgender student in a school bathroom and demanding answers.
Smith was later pardoned by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Loudoun County parent Scott Smith was arrested in 2021 at a school board meeting after his daughter was sexually assaulted. Fox News
“Many of us thought that was the turning point,” said another local father whose son will graduate out of the district this year.
“If that doesn’t turn your stomach, if that doesn’t wake you up, then what hope is there? I’m glad we’re done in a few months. God help those who are just starting out.”
With all nine seats up for grabs this year, left-leaning candidates are poised to hold a 6-3 majority.
Local Moms for Liberty leader Cheryl Onderchain said conservatives won some key board races, but thinks the public school exodus will continue without major repairs.
“Parents are tired of dealing with it,” he said. “We need candidates who can make radical changes. We need to abolish the Department of Education. We need to get rid of the grip of unions on schools. We need confidence restored in public education. Because right now it’s at an all-time low.”
Students walked out of a Loudoun County high school last week to protest gendered bathroom policies.7News
Controversy in the district continues into 2023, with students walking out over gender-based bathroom policies last week and shocking nine students overdosing on fentanyl at a school in September.
According to the latest data from the National Education Center, enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools dropped by more than a million students with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic — from 50.8 million in the fall of 2019 to 49.4 million in the fall of 2020.
While a variety of factors are driving the decline, parental dissatisfaction with what some perceive as too much progressive influence in public school classrooms has increased the dropout.
The Washington Post found that homeschooling has become increasingly popular with frustrated parents in both liberal and conservative circles.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is riding a wave of parental discontent into office.AP
Over the past six years, the number of home-schooled students has increased by 51% in states with comparable public school populations, much higher than the 7% increase in private school enrollment, according to the report.
The outlet found that the public school population decreased by 4% during that period.
But while conservative groups bemoaned Tuesday’s decision, American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten prevailed.
An avowedly progressive education leader said the election was a clear rebuke to advocacy groups seeking to reorient school boards to the right.
Moms for Liberty endorsed about 130 candidates across the country, with the vast majority of them failing to win seats.
Teachers Union boss Randi Weingarten celebrates the election results.Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
“The reality is that the culture war agenda is toxic and painful, and voters agree that the path to a brighter future for children and families is through our nation’s communities and public schools,” he wrote on X. “That’s the message tonight, really. all over the country.”
Others argue that voters don’t want to align themselves with conservative advocacy groups with controversial stances on issues like abortion and transgender rights.
Right-leaning candidates suffered defeats in contentious education culture battlegrounds in various states, including Pennsylvania, Iowa and Minnesota,
A Loudoun parent says the shrinking number of conservative-leaning public school families will make it harder for right-leaning school board candidates to advance.
Onderchain argued that only those with the means to exit the system would be able to do so, leaving disgruntled parents with little choice.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
