From "Are public schools unconstitutional? A Nebraska court will decide. The challenge to compulsory education combined with public-school-only funding could lead to universal school choice" (WaPo)(gift link).
The headline is bad. The argument is about compelled public schooling, and the Supreme Court recognized long ago that parents have a right to choose to send their children to private school. The lively dispute is over whether privately schooled children are entitled to their share of public spending. If public school is the only free choice, then the choice is heavily weighted toward the government's preferred speech.
The Hamburger article, in the WSJ, is "Is the Public School System Constitutional? Education consists mostly in speech, and parents have a right under the First Amendment to exercise authority over what their children hear." The word "system" makes that headline less bad. The system is that if you pay your own way you can control your child's schooling but government schooling is free.
The old Supreme Court case is Pierce v. Society of Sisters, a unanimous 1925 case. Memorable passage: "The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."
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44 comments:
We are all forced to pay for the governement schools, yet, we mostly have no say in what is taught there. I know, we can elect school board members and the like. There are also state and federal laws thart govern the curriculum.
Refunding at least a portion of the school funds to parent for alternative schooling seems just and prudent.
Arguing that the first amendment entitles parents to determine what their children hear seems like an argument that proves too much. Parents can't control what their children hear, with or without public schooling.
While I don't think the public interest in educated children justifies compelling a specific type of schooling (the neighborhood public school), I don't see the constitutional argument for the government to subsidize whatever schooling option parents want to choose.
I support school vouchers; I just don't see it as a constitutional right.
After considerable thought, we've decided on private school for our kids. But it absolutely feels like theft having public school taxes levied on us for something we will neither receive as well as having to participate in paying for something we genuinely believe to be harming someone else's children. It should not be legal to mandate participation in something that is arguably the economic definition of 'diminishing returns'.
That first headline would seem to make this recent ruling something to be considered: https://eji.org/news/federal-court-confederate-names-cannot-be-divorced-from-racial-discrimination/
If wearing a school name on a uniform or jersey is compelled speech (and racist in that case, but the issue is compelled government speech of any kind, right?), then what about any other state school required recitations in the classroom?
And we must also inject them with experimental vaccines to protect the teachers.
Isn't homeschooling the alternative to public schools?
We don't need "Universal School Choice" by judicial fiat based on some fake interpetation of the 1st admendment nobody thought of for 200 years.
If you want U.S.C. - vote for representatives who'll put it in practice.
Yes, RSM. The state of edumacation will be greatly enhanced by defunding the schools so that we can more easily stratify our free market caste system. Let's also defund police and fire because I don't youse them either. Anti-war... Defund the military.
I'm sure elite opinion is now in favor of school choice, and they'll do what they always do, impose it by judicial fiat and do an end round democracy.
That how we got the "Separation of Church and state" and the application of the Bill of rights to the states - aka Roe v. Wade. And before that, demanding states use one man, one vote. and elect their state senates based on population.
serious question:
IF the public HAS TO pay for the "public school system"..
shouldn't that public have SOME say as to what is taught?
OR, should only the teacher's union be allowed to determine what is taught?
The danger of "School choice" is that the Government will use it as an excuse to implement de facto control over private shools. "Oh you're not letting in Student X, why not? Our stats show you're only Z percent of your students are green. And we demand 10 percent".
Or "We see you have a class in X. Under title blah blah, that's not allowed. Get rid of it, or you'll lose funding".
In the next couple of decades, this controversy will be rendered moot, as AI makes Brick + Mortar education mostly obsolete.
what IS being taught in the "public school system"?
does it have ANY THING to do with reading/writing/thinking?
or does it ALL have to do with a strange combination of Trans PRIDE! and sharia law?
if you'd need to send your kids to a private school for them to be able to read.. WHAT is it that you are paying school taxes for?
Yes, vouchers or any other public financing will eventually make all other options as bad as the public schools. You can see it already in states like California, where homeschooling is becoming conformist.
Tim Maguire beat me to it, as my first take.
For the record, my own son attended private school from pre-k through 2nd grade, and then I homeschooled him through 12th grade. He was homeschooled in two very different states, so I'm quite conversant with different models. (I also know very well the homeschooling systems in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.)
All nine of my nieces and nephews attended public school. Three of them were in a state that provided extensive choice/charter (some quite competitive) within the public school system. That was in Delaware. The other six were in "regular" schools in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
When I said models with reference to homeschooling, I meant the requirements of the relevant states, what documentation was required, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Welcome to Florida.
You are responsible for getting your kid to the public school's doorstep, and then they have to take him/her in until he/she gives them a reason not to do so. District, smistrick.
This keeps a lot of teachers employed, so they can then complain about the system that keeps them employed and in competition with each other for sustenance (i.e. students). It's not like any of them voted for this.
Nevertheless, it is what it is, and it seems to be working.
Sorry! I didn't include the two states within which I homeschooled for years: Iowa and Delaware.
My kids have attended public charters most of their schooling. I have very strong preferences on school curriculum. We moved out of state at one point and enrolled in regular public school until COVID. It was for just over a year. My own mother lied about our address for years so I could go to a better school. So I'm a big proponent of school choice.
However, I do feel sad that the community that comes with neighborhood schools will end with universal school choice. I'm friendlier with the moms I met at the school bus stop for that year. It takes longer to meet other families in the neighborhood who don't send their kids to the neighborhood schools.
A desire for community is not an adequate reason to leave kids in bad schools though. And without competition, public schools will continue to underperform.
I will say something here that I have said for many, many years in IRL. Private schools are NOT necessarily better than the public schools. After all, in the first place, teachers are trained by the same system, and they can carry all the same baggage that public schools teachers have.
This was my direct, personal experience and that of numerous homeschooling families that I have talked with over those many homeschooling years, and also before and afterward.
Private schools and even charter and choice schools are not a panacea! Just a word of caution... .
Captive audiences in captured institutions limit expression measured in degrees of freedom, thus the competing interests clause in social constructs.
Mezzrow, I have lived in Florida for 40 years and did not realize that what you described was in place until I saw the Broward County superintendent of schools on the news recently issuing a clarion call for people in Miami-Dade County to bring their kids to Broward public schools.
In recent years the school districts in Broward and Dade have closed - excuse me - consolidated a lot of schools because of declining enrollment.
I first became interested in homeschooling long before my son was born in 2000. I was a local reporter for a local newspaper in the 1980s when the legal fight for homeschooling in the state of Pennsylvania ensued. At the time, among other things, PA required that parents who wished to homeschool their kids hold a valid teachers certificate from the state so that they could act as a private tutor.
During that period, I talked with a bunch of underground, technically "illegal" homeschooling families. (And, yes, most were granted anonymity because they feared prosecution--a very legitimate fear.)
Litigation resulted in homeschoolers winning the case. The private tutor requirement was struck down, and later that year the PA legislature passed Act 169.
It made a big impression on me, and--along with Christina Hoff Somers' book, "The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies Are Harming Young Men," among others--directly led to my ultimate decision to embrace homeschooling for my own son.
The successful litigation and the new Act in PA took place in 1988.
@Shouting Thomas - they are dead now. They just don’t know it yet
This case was assigned to Judge Ryan S. Post. He has only been a judge since 2021. He was appointed by Republican Governor Pete Ricketts. Judge Post worked for the AG's office.
All of the Justices of the NE S. Ct. were appointed by Republicans.
The AG is a defendant. He can't defend himself so that means outside counsel for him.
The Lincoln Public Schools is a defendant. It is a failed and liberal organization.
The Nebraska State Education Association is the most powerful lobbying organization in the state. The NSEA is so powerful that it got onto the ballot via referendum, a law to repeal a tiny voucher bill that the Legislature passed. The teachers went nuts and got the signatures. And then they won at the ballot box.
LPS and OPS are failed school systems. The flagship HS of OPS is Central high school. Not even 50% of the students are proficient in math and reading. The other OPS high schools are below 30%.
The school districts outside of Omaha are actually good. It is Omaha and Lincoln that are terrible. Both cities are solid Dem strongholds. I now live outside of Omaha.
You held me as a captive audience. Show me the fitness function!
I went to the Tim Walz for VP rally. Full of public school teachers. Public school teachers are the most reliably liberal voting bloc in America.
Trump got passed that $1,700 federal tax credit for education, but the states have to approve it. Nebraska did right away. I thanked Gov. Pillen last Fall for doing that. He was very excited about it.
Federal income tax credits created the renewable energy business. Federal tax credits for private education can transform the American education system. I know for sure that next year, my $1,700 is going to Creighton Prep, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart and St. Cecilia's grade school.
Some things are so clearly wrong that they seem like they would be impossible in this nation: things like asset forfeiture with no crime, squatter's rights, and some eminent domain cases. Public education has become one of those.
I believe I should have the right to direct my education-supporting tax dollars to the school system of my choice.
A good charter school will actively seek out potential teachers with subject area knowledge, not teaching degrees. If a teacher comes in with an education degree, the school should actively reprogram through professional development. Our school does this.
The thing that slays me about parents who have their kids in OPS is that they think the kids are doing great there. Don't they look at the test scores? By any objective measure, OPS is a failure. The two other Omaha school districts aren't much better.
Hamburger vs. TofuBurger, essentially.
If successful Hamburger’s current effort could be his second revolutionary victory in the 21st century. His book “Is the Administrative State Illegal?” has been vindicated by recent SCOTUS decisions and the fruits are the 1 million furloughed federal employees.
The above being said about the NE judiciary, I thought I'd get a slight edge in my solar zoning case in Lancaster County. All of the Lancaster County judges recused themselves. The Chief Justice appointed a judge from a rural district. She grew up on a farm.
She was very tough on me and I lost. But I think I can win on appeal. I have very good issues. And, in fact, I have taken a tip from Ann Althouse and cited to dictionaries in my brief.
The Supreme Court will have to decide the meaning of the following words: agricultural, industrial, manufacturing and compatible.
I know an illegal immigrant who came here in the 90's at 19 years old. He married a public school teacher, bought a house and had three kids. He worked his ass off at a full time job, and then traveled across town to another job every day for many years and often spent his weekends doing fundraising work for a private school where they sent their three kids. Then they sent them all to college. It took every penny he made his whole life paying for their education. They were that dedicated to keeping them out of the public school where his wife worked. His reward was that his wife kicked him out for another man with more money. He's still very close to his kids though, and still sends them all his extra money even though they all have great jobs. He fears getting deported, since he has no connections or people in Mexico now. He never took a dime of public money, and always paid his taxes including those for schools he never used. Legally, he should be deported, but I whish there was an exception for someone like him.
I’m in favor of ending the public school system. The entire organization has been captured by radical communist-adjacent unions that have as their primary objective undermining parental authority and maximizing indoctrination in government brain camps.
Don’t take my word for it. Ask any teacher who you know as a normal human IRL and they likely send their children to private school. I knew exactly one teacher on one campus in the district that Gahrie and I both worked in who sent her child to public schools (he was stabbed at one but survived) and ALL OTHER TEACHERS known by me personally sent their children to private schools, mostly to the Catholic school in town.
If your doctor won’t use the hospital she works at, or your butcher doesn’t eat the meat he sells that would be a warning sign. Teachers don’t subject their children to the indoctrination they foist upon the children of the community, generally speaking. My 10 years teaching HS spanned mid-1980s to mid-90s. I’m sure it’s even worse now.
Defund public education except for JCs.
"Public education has become one of those."
Property taxes are an archaic European holdover of the feudal system and are fundamentally un-American both in principle and legally as a form of double-taxation.
Prove me wrong.
Begley,
> Federal income tax credits created
> the renewable energy business
You can't possibly think this is a good thing, or an example to follow, can you??
Kirk Parker:
I'm just recognizing the effectiveness of federal income tax credits.
I am Nebraska's leading opponent to wind and solar energy. New victories are coming.
In a fully free society, parents can decide when, how or even whether, to educate their children. In an oppressive society the mostly unaccountable state decides when, how or even whether, to educate the children. In the first, there can be some parents who fail to adequately educate children, and that means we now have the second that fails to adequately educate children. So, in order to prevent a few children from missing out on education, we now have a systemic problem where many children miss out on education. Somewhere along that continuum might be the right answer, but anytime the state steps in, you reduce your freedoms, and eventually the whole camel ends up in the tent despite your good intentions. Best move now is to legislate that parents are the rightful deciders, issue vouchers at the state Per-student rate, and then require competency tests in reading, writing and mathematics. But we still should work toward the better option, a truly free society.
"In all areas of mixed nationality, the school is a political prize of the highest importance. It cannot be deprived of its political character as long as it remains a public and compulsory institution. There is, in fact, only one solution: the state, the government, the laws must not in any way concern themselves with schooling or education. Public funds must not be used for such purposes. The rearing and instruction of youth must be left entirely to parents and to private associations and institutions."
----Mises, Ludwig von (1927). Liberalism
Our society is not too diverse to force people to fund government indoctrination centers, I mean, schools.
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