LAWRENCE, Kan. 鈥� The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education announced a plan for increased enforcement measures against two Kansas school districts for their gender-inclusive policies. 

In April, the department found four public school districts 鈥� Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas 鈥� were in violation of federal Title IX civil rights protections. Reasons included allowing students to change their name or pronouns used at school without clear communication to parents and allowing transgender students to use the restroom, locker room and changing room that aligns with their gender identity.

On Tuesday, the Education Department announced it would work alongside the DOJ鈥檚 Civil Rights Division to take 鈥渆nforcement measures鈥� against the Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts for failing to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.

The Education Department said that failure to comply could lead to legal action and potential loss of federal funding.

鈥淭hese policies encourage schools to conceal from parents whether their child uses different pronouns and even permits schools to print a different name on students鈥� diplomas without parental knowledge or consent,鈥� the release said. 鈥淲ithholding such sensitive information from parents when they request their children鈥檚 records is a clear violation of FERPA.鈥�

The Education Department issued letters Wednesday to local and state education agencies with reminders about FERPA guidelines as a new school year begins. A news release from the department said the reminder comes amid 鈥渞ampant reports鈥� of schools withholding records related to a child鈥檚 gender or gender transition from parents. 

The Education Department said it proposed resolution agreements with Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts earlier this year, and that the Shawnee Mission district never agreed to a resolution. 

In a letter addressed to the Education Department鈥檚 Student Privacy Policy Office, the Shawnee Mission school district鈥檚 legal representation said the office鈥檚 findings did not violate FERPA. The letter also said the office鈥檚 findings ignored that the district requires proof of parental involvement in official student name change requests.

鈥淣othing about SMSD鈥檚 approach to student names, pronouns, or gender violates or even implicates FERPA,鈥� the letter said. 鈥淪MSD has been and remains in compliance with FERPA.鈥�

The Olathe district signed a 鈥渧oluntary resolution agreement鈥� in May outlining the district鈥檚 commitment to giving students access to gender-specific facilities 鈥渟trictly on the basis of sex.鈥� The was rejected by the Education Department. 

The Olathe district has said throughout the department鈥檚 investigation there have been no Title IX or FERPA violations in its schools, and outlined district communication with the department as well as any legal correspondence on

鈥淭he unfortunate continuation of this drawn-out political display continues to rob time and resources from the work that matters most as a public school system: educating our children,鈥� said a district press release. 鈥淥lathe Public Schools will continue to defend the integrity of its people and practices, and remains committed to serving students, supporting families, and complying with all applicable federal and state laws.鈥�

The Education Department announced Tuesday that its Student Privacy Policy Office entered a resolution agreement with the Topeka school district to uphold parental rights and come into compliance with federal law. 

The agreement鈥檚 guidelines include not creating gender support plans, allowing any gender support plans on file to be reviewed by parents, adding FERPA content into staff training and revoking any guidance that prevents schools from keeping parents informed about their students.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

The divide also shows up in who actually uses school choice. Charter schools 鈥� the most widespread form of publicly funded options 鈥� serve black, Hispanic and lower-income students, especially in urban areas. In many cities, the number of kids on charter school waitlists reaches into the thousands, reflecting intense demand among families seeking alternatives to the schools they are assigned.

, author of , coined the term “” to describe ideas that cost their holders nothing while imposing real burdens on others 鈥� positions that are easiest to maintain when one is insulated from their consequences. Debates over policing have often followed this pattern, with calls to enforcement carrying far in high-crime neighborhoods than in more affluent ones.聽

Opposition to school choice is another clear example of this pattern. Many of the most vocal critics oppose school choice politically while enjoying it privately. Widespread school choice already exists for families with means.

Affluent parents have long exercised school choice by paying a premium to buy homes in desirable school districts or by sending their children to private schools. They have already secured the outcome that families with fewer resources are still fighting for. For them, the debate is shaped more by ideology than by the realities faced by parents without the same educational options.

For lower-income families, access to better schools through the housing market is often out of reach. Policies that expand school choice 鈥� charter schools, vouchers or open enrollment 鈥� are among the few mechanisms that allow these parents to exercise the kind of educational agency that affluent families already enjoy. The real debate over school choice is not whether it should exist, but who gets access to it.

Choice critics that the should instead be on traditional public schools. For students assigned to underperforming schools, this means waiting indefinitely for reforms that may never arrive, while viable alternatives are blocked. It also assumes that equalizing school quality is both feasible and sufficient 鈥� a concept at odds with decades of uneven reform and a large body of showing that peers and community environments shape long-term outcomes.

Another common concern is that school choice from traditional public schools. But this argument confuses institutional interests with student welfare. When a child leaves a traditional public school, the district is responsible for educating one fewer child. Funding that follows students to schools that are serving them better is not a loss to education 鈥� it is education working.

Importantly, find that expanding school choice actually leads to improvements in nearby public schools. When families have options, traditional public schools have stronger incentives to respond. 

None of this is to suggest that school choice policies are without trade-offs. Program design matters, and poorly designed systems can create real problems. But broad opposition to school choice, especially from those who have already secured educational options for their own children, rests on a position that carries little personal cost while limiting opportunities for others. 

Opposing school choice while overlooking who bears the consequences is a luxury belief that many families cannot afford to hold.

Their bill, titled the , is being framed as a defense of public education. It is actually something else: a revealing glimpse into the mindset that is holding Democrats back.

A decade ago, Democrats were more willing to challenge the status quo. On education, they pushed for higher standards, greater accountability and new models like charter schools. They believed public education wasn鈥檛 just something to defend, but something to improve. They were willing to take on districts that weren鈥檛 delivering for students, even when it meant challenging teachers unions.

That spirit is hard to find today. 

The federal scholarship tax credit program, enacted last year, lets states direct federal dollars 鈥� potentially billions 鈥� to a wide range of student needs, including tutoring, afterschool programs, transportation and services for kids with disabilities. In states that opt in, families have the choice to use these scholarships to fill the gaps in their children’s education.聽

That is something denied to states that opt out. And yet, the majority of Democrats in the Senate are trying to repeal the program 鈥� not because those uses fall outside their priorities, but because the funding flows outside traditional public school systems. 

Even though the tax credit program would provide significant new resources to advance priorities Democrats themselves have championed, its support for private school scholarships crosses a line in the sand for them. To most families, turning down new funding for students doesn鈥檛 make sense. But for Democrats, it follows a clear chain of logic, one that prioritizes the preservation of existing school systems over students鈥� needs, defers to the interests of teachers unions and applies ideological purity tests that treat any nontraditional learning environment as a threat.聽

That way of thinking carries real consequences, especially at a moment when students need more support, not less.

The country is in the midst of a decade-long education depression, one marked by historic learning loss, widening achievement gaps and growing disengagement. Families see it, educators feel it and districts, facing acute financial strain, struggle to meet students鈥� needs.

For years, many on the left have that the United States always finds money for other priorities but refuses to invest meaningfully in education. President Donald Trump’s proposed record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget underscores the point. But for the first time in a long while, there is also, finally, new money for education. And Democrats want to turn these dollars away.聽

That choice is even harder to justify when you consider the broader fiscal reality. The federal government has run deficits for more than two decades; if lawmakers are going to keep borrowing against the future, the least they can do is invest in the generation who will inherit their debt.

Democrats鈥� reflexive opposition to the tax credit program reveals how much their policy imagination has narrowed, leaving them unable to see how it helps their constituents and advances their priorities. Some of their critiques are substantive: Questions about accountability, oversight and whether private school scholarships are subject to the same civil rights protections as traditional public schools deserve serious answers. But those are arguments for getting in the room and shaping the program, not walking away. Repealing the program would only ensure that the students who need those dollars most 鈥� low- and middle-income families, children with disabilities, communities of color 鈥� would end up with nothing. Democrats should be fighting to make this program work for those families, not fighting to take it off the table. 

Democrats long held a clear advantage over Republicans on education. That advantage has in recent years as voters have grown more skeptical that the party is delivering results. Trying to repeal the tax credit program will only make matters worse.

Polling across multiple states shows strong support for participation in the scholarship tax credit program, including among Democratic voters. In many cases, support approaches or exceeds , particularly among working-class families and families of color.

What some Democratic politicians see as an unacceptable departure from orthodoxy, many families see as a practical way to get their children the help they need. At some point, the gap between how policymakers view the issue and how families experience it demands a reckoning. Democrats should focus less on defending what exists and more on exploring what could be. 

When Colorado鈥檚 Jared Polis became the first Democratic governor to announce that his state would opt into the scholarship tax credit program, he framed it perfectly: 鈥淸I]t鈥檚 only our own creativity that can hold us back. Anything we can envision, this is a very powerful funding mechanism.鈥� He called the decision a 鈥渘o-brainer鈥� and said he 鈥渨ould be crazy not to鈥� participate.

That is the mindset Democrats need right now. Not a defensive posture, but an expansive one 鈥� grounded not in scarcity, but in abundance. 

An starts from the premise that the goal is an educated public, not the preservation of any particular school model or the adults employed within it. It recognizes that public funding can support a wide range of tools, strategies and approaches, so long as they serve students well. And it invites educators, families and policymakers to imagine different ways of organizing learning, rather than assuming the century-old model designed for an industrial economy is the only one capable of serving today’s students.

The tax credit program is not a cure-all, but it is a meaningful new investment. At a moment of real need, real disruption and real opportunity, Democrats should not be narrowing the conversation. They should be expanding it.

That line may sound like a crude throwback to James Carville鈥檚 famous Clinton-era mantra, but it captures a meaningful dilemma inside the Democratic Party鈥檚 current approach to education.

Since the party鈥檚 defeat in 2024, several Democrats have urged a return to the Obama-era emphasis on accountability for student outcomes, arguing that Democrats have ceded the education issue to Republicans and, in the process, squandered a longstanding advantage.

鈥淚n education, you need 鈥� accountability,鈥� former Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan argued recently. 鈥淸Our side isn鈥檛 offering that]. We鈥檙e adrift, it鈥檚 killing us politically, and it鈥檚 killing our kids.鈥�

Meanwhile, former Providence, Rhode Island, mayor Jorge Elorza and Democratic education activist Ben Austin say that their party has become too deferential to teachers unions. Democrats must 鈥渁dopt an abundance mindset鈥� and stop allowing organized interests to dictate the party鈥檚 agenda, so that 鈥渨hen families and special interests want different things鈥� there should be no doubt about whose side Democrats are on.鈥� Elorza and Duncan blue-state governors to participate in the new federal school choice tax credit in President Trump鈥檚 One Big Beautiful Bill.

Finally, in the Wall Street Journal last fall, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel chided his union critics while touting the academic gains made on his watch. 鈥淭he teachers union brass disagreed with my approach in Chicago,鈥� Emanuel wrote. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 fine 鈥� the results speak for themselves.鈥�

The fundamental challenge for these Democrats, however, is that the electorate they hope to persuade has changed. Put simply, today鈥檚 Democratic voters are much closer to the very interest groups these reformers hope to confront.

Combining and survey data stretching back to the 1990s, I find that Democratic voters have become wildly more supportive of teachers unions over the past decade. Relying on three decades鈥� worth of near-identical survey about teachers unions, I plotted net favorability toward these unions by party and year, calculated as the share of survey respondents expressing positive views toward unions minus the share expressing negative views.

Several patterns stand out.

First, Republican attitudes toward teachers unions have remained remarkably stable over time. Republicans were net negative toward unions in the mid-1990s, remained net negative throughout the Obama years, and are similarly negative today. The story here is not one of Republicans suddenly turning against teachers unions.

Second, Democratic support for teachers unions rose steadily during the first Trump administration before accelerating sharply after the pandemic. Democratic favorability climbed steadily during Trump鈥檚 first term, rising from roughly +15 in 2015 to nearly +40 by 2020. After the pandemic, however, Democratic support for teachers unions exploded upward again, peaking above +60 by 2023. 

Third, Democratic voters were once far more ambivalent about teachers unions than today鈥檚 politics might suggest. During the Obama years, their net favorability hovered in the low teens 鈥� almost identical to where Democratic opinion stood in 1996, even as GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole made the unions a of his campaign attacks. In other words, the Obama-era was not a historical anomaly but followed a period when many Democratic voters still held mixed views about teachers unions.

Taken together, these political trends create several major obstacles for Democrats hoping to the Obama-era reform agenda.

First, many Democratic voters now appear to view teachers unions not simply as education interest groups or mere political allies, but as progressive bulwarks against Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Over the past decade, some teachers unions have expanded their political agenda well beyond traditional workplace concerns like compensation or class size. From immigration enforcement and racial justice campaigns to anti-Trump mobilization and 鈥渃ommon-good bargaining,鈥� they have increasingly positioned themselves as key actors within the party鈥檚 progressive coalition. And this approach has been popular with Democratic voters.

It is also quite visible in one of the nation鈥檚 largest teacher-union affiliates, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). I recently more than 350 CTU social-media posts published this year on X. Roughly one in five focused on Donald Trump or immigration enforcement. Not a single post addressed improving student academic achievement.

Second, the Democrats most actively engaged in education politics are also the Democrats most supportive of teachers unions. Four of the 18 surveys that I analyzed asked respondents if they voted in their most recent school board election, allowing me to examine how Democratic voters who participate in these low-turnout elections feel about teachers unions. Among Democrats who report voting in school board elections, favorable views of teachers unions rose from roughly two-in-five voters in 2009 to more than three-in-five in 2018 and approximately four-in-five by 2023鈥�24. 

Finally, the political alignment between Democratic voters and teachers unions appears strongest in the nation鈥檚 deepest-blue locales, precisely the places where Democratic education policy is most likely to be shaped. For example, last month a new found that 83% of California Democrats approve of teachers unions (a 70% net favorable rating). A recent exception came in Virginia, a more moderate state where Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a collective bargaining bill favored by the teachers union.

Veteran education advisor Andy Rotherham recently that school reform has historically succeeded only when it wasn鈥檛 coded purely in red-versus-blue. Education politics, he argues, traditionally resembled 鈥渃onsumer versus producer鈥� politics more than conventional ideological conflict: parents and students on one side, school systems and unions on the other. 

Rotherham is surely right that education politics have become increasingly . Yet the data suggest the shift has been far more asymmetric than a simple story of partisan sorting would predict. Republican attitudes toward teachers unions changed relatively little over time. The major shift occurred among Democrats, whose support for unions surged during the Trump years and accelerated further after the pandemic. 

In other words, teachers unions did not merely become caught in partisan crossfire. They became more deeply integrated into the institutional identity of the Democratic Party itself.

That dynamic also extends far beyond education. Writers such as , , and legal scholar have each argued that Democrats increasingly struggle to reconcile an 鈥渁bundance鈥� politics focused on building and institutional effectiveness with a coalition deeply intertwined with organized producer interests, particularly in the public sector. 

Education may be one of the clearest examples of that broader tension. Reform-minded Democrats that the party should care less about the governance model of a school and more about whether students are actually learning. But that shift is politically difficult when the most powerful education interest group inside the Democratic coalition enjoys record levels of support among Democratic voters.

During the Obama years, Democrats could plausibly balance support for organized labor with a reform agenda centered on accountability and school performance. Today, that balancing act looks far more difficult. Teachers unions are no longer merely one stakeholder among many inside the Democratic coalition. For many Democrats, they have become symbolic defenders of the broader progressive project itself.

On Nov. 5, 2024, men and women around the U.S. headed to the polls to decide a race hyped as a battle of the sexes.

By evening鈥檚 end, Kamala Harris鈥� quest to punch through and become America鈥檚 first female president lay in shambles. Donald Trump, the Republican Party鈥檚 undisputed since 2015, would return to the White House. And voters, especially the youngest ones, were themselves divided starkly on lines of gender.

As in each of the three previous federal elections, women鈥檚 support for the Democratic ticket considerably exceeded men鈥檚. But the gulf separating Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 was historically wide: According to , a data and analytics company that contracts with progressive organizations, Harris won the backing of 63% of women and just 46% of men.

The 17-point gap cleaving through Generation Z was not only bigger than that of every other age group; it was comfortably the largest Catalist had measured across four presidential cycles. of Trump鈥檚 approval conducted corroborated the same trend the following year, showing disparities between the men and women of Gen Z that eclipsed smaller splits among Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers.

Jennifer Benz, a political scientist who leads the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, said findings like that were consistent across surveys she administered prior to the Trump-Harris contest, as well as exit polling conducted at the end of the campaign. Men and women for roughly a half-century, but it was unusual for newly minted voters to lead the way, she added.

鈥淲hat’s been notable about this younger generation is that the gender divide is already shaping up now, as opposed to when they age into the more typical partisan patterns we’ve seen over recent years,” Benz said.

While Gen Z鈥檚 gender gap is a relatively new phenomenon, its features can already be seen in K鈥�12 schools. They spring from the rancorous gender politics of the 2020s, which have left girls repelled by Trump鈥檚 policies and boys disaffected by Democrats鈥� seeming indifference to their concerns. 

As the youngest 鈥淶oomers鈥� enter high school this year, they appear to be accelerating toward the political 鈥� and often social 鈥� estrangement already evident among their older brothers and sisters. Their stories, based on interviews with 社区黑料 and supported by the insights of educators and public opinion researchers, offer a rare snapshot of that polarization as it takes shape. In America鈥檚 college dorms and high school homerooms, young adults are , occupying separate online spaces and even demonstrating an aversion to dating.

Sarah Campbell, a high school teacher in Brunswick, Maine, said she鈥檇 noticed a pronounced change in her social studies classroom. Earlier in her career, students broadly approached discussions of politics and public policy with open minds. But over the past 10 years, a growing number have entered those conversations 鈥渁lready aligned with certain ideas.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e had girls talk about things like safety, rights or future opportunities in very real, personal ways, and in the same conversation, boys are questioning whether those issues are still relevant,鈥� Campbell wrote in an email. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not just disagreeing, they鈥檙e experiencing these issues from completely different realities.鈥�

鈥楩eminism rooted in me鈥�

Those distinct worldviews may have origins stretching long before adolescence. Celeste Lay, a professor at Tulane University who studies how young people acquire political beliefs, noted that their beginnings overlap with children鈥檚 early attempts to fashion adult identities for themselves. 

“At the same time young people are going through political socialization, they’re also going through gender socialization,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o as they’re developing their politics, they’re learning what it means to be a boy or a girl and what society says those concepts mean.鈥� 

In , Lay and several co-authors used survey data from more than 1,500 children to determine when they start to examine the world through the lens of partisanship. They discovered that kids as young as six are already tottering down the path to the ballot box, and nearly half the study鈥檚 participants affiliated with a party by the age of 12. 

A high school senior named Lily was once such a novice partisan. Raised in South Lyon, Michigan, along the outskirts of Metro Detroit, she was encouraged by liberal-minded parents to take an interest in U.S. history and current events. When she was eight, the Democrats nominated the first woman to lead a major party鈥檚 presidential ticket. After that, her course was set. 

鈥淭his sense of feminism rooted in me because my parents were letting me educate myself,鈥� Lily recalled. “When Hillary Clinton was up against Trump, I was like, ‘There’s never been a female president! I have to support her.鈥欌��

A decade after that formative electoral heartbreak, she spoke to 社区黑料 while taking part in the , a for-profit summer program offering learning experiences in a range of fields. Alongside a few dozen others with similarly arcane interests in bicameralism and campaign finance, Lily 鈥� whose last name has been withheld to allow her and her peers to speak freely about political matters 鈥� spent nine days last July at the Georgetown University campus. In between sessions role-playing as U.S. congressmen, the group made field trips to walk the halls of the Capitol in person.

Lily and her fellow government enthusiasts might reasonably be called some of the most civically engaged high schoolers in the nation. But countless girls her age followed a similar trajectory to both political consciousness and the political left. 

In the years spanning the Clinton and Biden administrations, the youngest female voters steadily warmed to the label of 鈥渓iberal鈥� ( ideological category). By 2023, Gallup research shows, the proportion of women aged 18鈥�29 who described themselves as liberal had leapt from 28% to 40%, while liberal men of the same age stalled at 25% over the same period. 

The evolution was not merely rhetorical. Teenage and 20-something women adopted on the environment, abortion, gun rights, marijuana access, the Israel-Palestine conflict and an array of other cultural issues. Today, the women of Gen Z are commonly regarded as voter demographic. 

Marie Sarnacki, an English and history instructor in South Lyon, contrasted recent waves of female students with those in her own graduating class of 2009. While stipulating that she spoke only for herself, Sarnacki added that girls in 2026 had far fewer reservations about voicing feminist beliefs on some of the most pressing questions of the day. 

鈥淚 don’t know if they would give themselves the label, but it’s safe to say they’re more open about their concern for reproductive rights or supporting classmates who are gay,鈥� she said.

The elephant in the room

Sarnacki believes that the ideological shift she has witnessed throughout 11 years in the classroom can be substantially explained by a corresponding development unfolding on the Right. 

Trump鈥檚 presidencies, each achieved through , have repeatedly pushed debates around sexism and women’s rights to the center of the national agenda, she argued. From the Women鈥檚 March to the #MeToo-inflected Kavanaugh hearings, the stunning demise of Roe v. Wade, and the president鈥檚 demeaning comments about various female antagonists, the Trump era may have hastened a leftward drift that was already in progress.

Daniel Cox, director of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI)鈥檚 , agreed with Sarnacki. While women have lately gained or even in some professional and educational spheres, he continued, many of the most 鈥渕omentous cultural events鈥� of the last 10 years led them to the conclusion that their rights were imperiled.

鈥淭hey were doing really well in higher education and high schools in terms of AP courses and graduation rates, and tons of statistics suggest that young women were comparatively doing better than men,鈥� Cox said. 鈥淏ut when they looked around politics and the culture, they were upset about a lot of things and became politically active.” 

Public opinion research provides clear signs that their dissatisfaction remains high during the second Trump presidency 鈥� and is equally vivid among those too young to participate in elections. revealed that, within a representative panel of children aged 13鈥�17, girls were vastly more negative than boys in their assessments of Trump (-38 from females versus -7 favorability from male respondents) and the GOP (-16 from girls and +2 from boys), while also much warmer toward the Democratic Party (+13 from girls and -5 from boys).

Trump鈥檚 macho stylings and media omnipresence play a crucial role in expanding the rift. Lily remarked that he has become an inescapable figure, whether in school or on social media. If anything, the president鈥檚 ubiquity was actually heightened by his reelection defeat in 2020, which lengthened his time in the spotlight.

“He’s so loud, with all the scandalous things he’s done,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou can avoid the news, but you can’t avoid him.”

Another participant in the NSLC鈥檚 Georgetown session was Cate, a junior enrolled at a small private school in Louisville, Kentucky. Like Lily, she said she was motivated by societal injustice to become involved in politics. Her father is gay, and his experiences were part of what spurred her to activism. 

But whether engaged in private discussions with friends or public outreach through her school鈥檚 Human Rights Club, Cate felt frustrated by her male classmates鈥� lack of interest in the politics of Kentucky or the wider world.

She expressed particular disappointment with boys in her school who, she suspected, held views similar to hers but would not voice them out of fear of losing face with friends who 鈥渋dolize鈥� Trump鈥檚 brash manner. The gush of on platforms like TikTok helped foster a hero worship that was difficult to puncture.

It was understandable that young men would seek to emulate a powerful personality, Cate said, specifically citing the 2024 assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The moment after that attack, when the then-candidate rose to his feet and exhorted his audience to 鈥渇ight,鈥� has become a centerpiece of at teenage boys, she said. Yet his influence heightened a dynamic in which 鈥渆mpathy is seen by this generation of men as weak, feminine.鈥� 

鈥淚t gets into all this misogyny,鈥� she lamented. 鈥淏ut women, who don’t care about that and can be empathetic loudly, are more able to share their political opinions.”

鈥榃here am I in this equation?鈥�

Girls were not alone in observing the stridency of gender conflict. Nor were self-described progressives the only ones to complain about its occasionally personal nature. 

Nathan, a junior from the prosperous suburban enclave of Westfield, New Jersey, struck a note of bemusement when describing an of the online right: left-leaning white women, a category encompassing many of the students he鈥檇 met that week at Georgetown. 

鈥淭here’s a stereotype that liberal white women are self-hating,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd supposedly it’s not feminine, and it’s not attractive, and it’s not manly if you support it.鈥�

Voluble and direct, Nathan described himself as a 鈥渞ight-winger,鈥� one of the few participating in the program. But he professed no admiration for political harangues mingled with sexism, and he objected to the treatment suffered by some of his gay classmates at home, who he said were frequently mocked in private. 

Instead, along with several other male students, he spent much of an hour-long conversation with 社区黑料 lampooning the fixation of social authorities 鈥� including his school鈥檚 leaders 鈥� with identity politics. A multitude of perceived sins drew their attention, including the proliferation of various 鈥渉eritage months鈥� across the school calendar and the alleged maligning of the Founding Fathers in history curricula. The most annoying of these were dismissed as 鈥渧irtue signalling.鈥� 

Many politically engaged young men share Nathan鈥檚 perspective on the newfound prominence of equity-focused language and policies. 

This is, in fact, a key distinction between male and female Zoomers. According to , Gen Z men and their Millennial counterparts were only about half as likely as women to 鈥渃losely follow鈥� news coverage of social issues. And while the rising salience of such causes, including LGBT rights and abortion, have clearly played a role in politically activating many American women, they do not appear to have galvanized men to support Democratic candidates.

Catalist鈥檚 overview of the election results shows that both men and women became more likely to vote Republican between 2020 and 2024, but the gender gap across all ages was principally driven by men abandoning the Democratic Party. 

Monty, a junior from deep-blue San Diego, said that students attending his private high school were 鈥渆xtremely left,鈥� and typically surrounded by friends and family members of the same mindset. A strong impulse to activism also pervaded the halls, he added, attracting a number of his peers to Pride marches and No Kings rallies over the past year.

As Monty described it, the somewhat airless ideology of his school mirrored that of the larger progressive movement: Just as he鈥檇 periodically felt isolated during a long stretch of school assemblies commemorating the historic contributions of women and minority groups, a groundswell of 鈥渟tranded people鈥� were successfully targeted by the Trump campaign .

鈥淵ou have all these other groups represented, and then you have a generation of these young white males saying, ‘Okay, where am I in this equation? Because I’m not Black, I’m not a woman, I’m not LGBTQ, and I don’t know where I’m going to fit into this,’鈥� Monty said.

Rachel Janfaza is an independent researcher who writes the newsletter , which aims to surface the attitudes of Gen Z for a national audience by convening focus groups and listening sessions around the United States. In an interview, she said Democrats had 鈥渇umbled鈥� in 2024 with a critical group of potential male supporters.

鈥淚 don’t think the Republican Party necessarily set out to attract young men from the start, but the Democratic Party being so coded as being friendly to women made it hard for young men to see themselves in that party,鈥� Janfaza said. 鈥淎 lot of the men I spoke to who voted for Trump in 2024 felt like they were still not being messaged to by the Democratic Party.鈥�

鈥楾his system doesn鈥檛 benefit us鈥�

Part of the difficulty in communicating to Gen Z is the fact that, beneath the level of partisan affiliation, perceptions of society and gender often differ significantly. 

Nowhere is this clearer than in the respective views of men and women toward feminism, a cause that has since the 1960s. Women have always been more keen than men to accept the label of 鈥渇eminist,鈥� but showed that over half of male Millennials said the term fit them personally; that figure was actually higher than the proportion of women from preceding generations who agreed with the description.

Yet far fewer of the youngest male respondents agreed. Zoomer men were only as likely as those in Gen X 鈥� a group more than twice their age 鈥� to call themselves feminists. Between that striking reversion and the leap in self-described feminism among younger women, Gen Z saw the widest gender gap on the issue of any age cohort. 

In the same survey, 23% of Gen Z men said they had experienced gender-based discrimination, a nearly fourfold increase over the oldest men included in the sample. Women are also increasingly likely to express this belief, with half of all Gen Z females saying they鈥檇 been discriminated against (compared with just 38% of Boomer women). 

Some fear that such sharp departures on fundamental questions will foment mutual resentment. Nathan, the New Jersey high schooler, said that boys his age were becoming embittered by a lack of recognition from the political left. In particular, he said that white males could be alienated from the Democratic Party in the same way that African Americans in the 20th century. 

鈥淚 think a similar situation is happening with young white men,鈥� Nathan said. 鈥淭hey’re like, ‘This system, this establishment, doesn’t benefit us in any way. We have no stake in maintaining it.'” 

Meanwhile, dramatic developments in the political realm can leave residue in the social one. The interpersonal relations of men and women are under greater strain than at any time in the past few decades, epitomized by exploring romantic relationships. While almost 90% of high school seniors reported that they鈥檇 gone out on at least one date in 1987, according to a recent poll by the Institute for Family Studies, only about half said the same in 2024. 

Competing partisanship seems to be at least partially responsible for the decline. In a by NPR and PBS News, 60% of Zoomers agreed that it was 鈥渋mportant to date or marry someone who shared your political views鈥�; by contrast, 62% of respondents aged 60 or older said that politics didn鈥檛 carry much weight in matters of the heart. A published last year on the American dating scene found that fully three-quarters of single women with a college degree said they would think twice before dating a Trump supporter.

Campbell, the Maine social studies teacher, said she had seen both sides of the dichotomy in her high school class. Girls are increasingly hesitant to pair off, or even socialize, with male classmates. Boys jokingly attack one another as “simps” 鈥� a slang term for men desperate for the attention of women 鈥� and have become “much more likely to push back” in class discussions of gender differences.

鈥淭here is almost a defensiveness in their attitude, as if I am trying to tell them they aren鈥檛 important and girls are,鈥� Campbell wrote. 鈥淚t is genuinely a shift that is concerning to me.鈥�

Lily, who now attends high school in State College, Pennsylvania, didn鈥檛 address her dating life. But she opined that the apparently right-wing outlook expressed by some boys may simply reflect their wish to fit in 鈥� an instinct with which she sympathized.

“The same way we find ourselves in social situations where we’re pressured to join some clique, that’s present in our political positions too,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd guys experience that too. I just think they’re better at hiding it.”

What comes next?

Neither students, teachers, nor researchers could guess whether the gender gap would reverse with time or continue to grow.

In his sixth year in office, young women haven鈥檛 relented in their loathing for Donald Trump. In fact, it might be said that American women and the Democratic Party have , both measurably more feminist, more liberal, and more credentialed than they were a generation ago. According to Gallup data, is now a college-educated woman.

On the other hand, it is far from clear whether a sufficiently large number of today鈥檚 high school boys will reverse course and embrace the Democratic candidate in 2028. A of the semi-annual Yale Youth Poll showed that 68% of voters aged 18鈥�22 disapprove of Trump鈥檚 performance in office, a four-point increase since the previous fall; still, men in that age range actually became less favorable toward the Democrats during that same five-month span.

If national Republicans hope that disenchantment brings them an army of converts, they may find themselves disappointed. AEI鈥檚 Cox said the evidence from most polling and election results shows only that young men have become hostile toward Democrats 鈥� not that they have become doctrinaire conservatives.

鈥淚’m not even sure they like the Republicans that much, honestly,鈥� Cox said. 鈥淚t’s not so much that they’re attracted to the whole GOP agenda 鈥� it’s that, between the two parties, they’re looking at which one seems more receptive to the concerns they have.鈥�

Asher, visiting NLSC鈥檚 summer program from Pennsylvania鈥檚 solid-blue Delaware County, said he would have voted for the Democratic ticket in 2024 had he been old enough. The measured junior particularly came to admire Tim Walz after he was selected as Harris鈥檚 vice-presidential pick. 

Yet he critiqued the way in which the party sought to woo men as 鈥減andering,鈥� including launched to rally 鈥淲hite Dudes for Harris,鈥� and Walz鈥檚 . (The Minnesota governor later disclosed that he saw his ability to 鈥溾�� as one of his major contributions to the campaign.) 

Nathan recalled an episode that saw Walz join Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in streamed on the popular service Twitch. “They had the most artificial attempts to win over men,鈥� he marveled. 鈥淭im Walz and AOC playing video games, and you could tell they weren’t actually playing. No one related to that!”

Asher 鈥� happy to number himself among the relatively scarce white dudes for Harris, albeit one without a vote 鈥� said he hadn鈥檛 personally felt excluded from political debates with left-leaning classmates, but acknowledged that such conversations sometimes hinged on participants鈥� personal 鈥渃redibility鈥� to speak on specific issues. 

鈥淚 have seen that happen with people: ‘You don’t have female genitals, so you don’t get to have an opinion about abortion,’鈥� he said.

The Up and Up鈥檚 Janfaza said that similar complaints are a hallmark of her listening sessions with college undergraduates. Many feel as though their sentiments, goals and desires are so diffuse that they are 鈥渢alking past each other.鈥� 

鈥淲hen I ask young men and women, ‘Do you see a gender divide in your community?鈥� they are so quick to tell me that they feel men and women are on different playing fields,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his isn’t fun for anyone.” 

Once the populist force 鈥� suspicious of institutions and champions of those too often overlooked and left behind 鈥� the party is now widely perceived, and increasingly operating, as the party of elites and institutional insiders. Meanwhile, Republicans, long the party of the establishment and elite-oriented, that once defined the left.

Nowhere is that reversal more glaring or more costly than in America’s K-12 schools. Since the end of the Obama years, Democrats have defended the system despite evidence of mounting failure. Reading and math scores . Achievement gaps . Chronic absenteeism surged. And the Democratic Party’s answer has been to default to a system-protection mindset, rather than question whether that system is working. The party has deferred to administrators, shielded unions and told frustrated families to trust a system that has repeatedly failed their children.

Those families, particularly in working-class Black and Latino communities, don鈥檛 want a better defense of broken systems. They want something new. Here鈥檚 where to start.

Trust the People

For too long, Democrats have acted as though families must be protected from making bad schooling decisions for their children rather than trusted to make good ones. This paternalistic impulse has led to a . Even as working-class Black and Latino families, the backbone of the Democratic coalition, have they want in their children’s education, the party has remained tethered to teachers unions and district administrators 鈥� the adults who run the system 鈥� rather than the families the system is supposed to serve. after working-class and favoring more school options. Rebuilding trust begins with trusting the judgment of the people. That means , not as a concession to the right, but as an expression of the Democratic Party鈥檚 original commitment to expanding opportunity for all.

Close the Culture Gap

Democrats have compounded this disconnect by Across the country, Democratic-aligned school boards and administrators have pushed curriculum and programming 鈥� on race, gender identity and social-emotional frameworks 鈥� that moved of where most parents, including most Democratic-leaning parents, actually stood. In the words of polling analyst Ruy Teixeira, the between the cultural views of the party’s leaders and those of the median working-class voter is, 鈥渟creamingly obvious.鈥� The party鈥檚 response has largely been to deny it exists.

On transgender student policies in particular, Democrats allowed themselves to be defined by the maximalist positions of activist organizations rather than staking out a principled, humane middle ground. Pew Research data from early 2025 showed Americans have. Democrats didn鈥檛 create the controversy, but they frequently failed to acknowledge legitimate public concern, which ceded the entire issue to Republican framing. As former Chicago mayor and potential 2028 presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel has , 鈥淲e’ve become so obsessed with bathroom access that we’ve ignored classroom excellence.鈥� Democrats need to move away from politics that trades public consensus for activist approval and back toward liberal principles: the belief that dignity and opportunity belong to everyone, equally, without exception.

Focus on Results

There is a real crisis in American education 鈥� what education researcher Timothy Daly calls 鈥� 鈥� yet the party has had to say about it. Democrats have defined success by inputs 鈥� dollars spent, programs launched, constituencies satisfied 鈥� rather than outcomes for students. The question 鈥渄id this work?鈥� rarely gets asked. Democrats must change their definition of success, focusing not on what they fought for, but on what children actually learned.

Listen to Voters, Not Special Interests

When pressure from organized labor kept schools closed during COVID long after the costs to children had become clear, Democrats mostly stood with the unions. In a healthy political party, special interests know their place: They are welcome at the table, but they don’t . When families and special interests want different things, there should be no doubt about whose side Democrats are on.

Adopt an Abundance Mindset

The biggest constraint on education policy isn鈥檛 funding, it鈥檚 mindset. Democrats have spent too much energy warning about the risks of reform and too little energy driving it. Too often, education debates get framed as zero-sum: If charter schools grow, district schools suffer; raising the bar sets kids up to fail. That defensive crouch has made the Democrats the party of no. 

Instead, Democrats must think expansively about what is possible. District, charter, private and hybrid schools are not competitors for a single prize. They are complementary contributors to a common goal: an educated public. More good options simply means more kids served. A scarcity mindset looks around and sees danger; an abundance mindset sees opportunity. 

Build a Bigger Tent

America’s system of government is designed to force compromise across divisions, to require that lasting change be built on durable coalitions and broad agreement rather than narrow majorities. Both parties have resisted those structural pressures for a decade, each pursuing its priorities through executive action and party-line votes rather than durable legislative consensus. The result has been policies and executive actions that reverse with every election cycle and leave little lasting impact for the families who need it most. Reformers who moved the needle on education 鈥� on charter growth, accountability and family empowerment 鈥� did so by and finding common ground across party lines. That is still the path. 

Families who feel abandoned by institutions they were told to trust are looking for a party that will stand up for them. Democrats were once that party 鈥� the populist force that challenged entrenched power on behalf of the overlooked and left behind. That changed not because the country stopped needing it, but because the party stopped doing it. The response to Republican grievance and authoritarian impulse cannot be caution or reflexive defense of the status quo. It must be the rediscovery of that North Star. The place to start is America’s schools.

The late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes urged 鈥渘ot free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought that we hate.鈥� Abraham Lincoln mused, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like that man; I must get to know him better.鈥�

These days, many Americans not only lack respect for those with different views, but actually think they are worse people. Opinions of one鈥檚 opposing party are . A found that large majorities of both Republicans and Democrats considered members of the other party immoral, dishonest and closed-minded.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, such dislike for and dehumanizing of people with different views has taken root among young people. According to , half of college sophomores would not room with someone who voted differently than they did, most wouldn鈥檛 date such a person, and almost two-thirds did not think they would marry one.

Saddest of all: Researcher has found that young people are as polarized as adults by , and the roots of pernicious us-and-them thinking emerge as early as .

Some observers believe increased division if anger at 鈥渢he other side鈥� drives civic participation or clarifies people鈥檚 positions. However, animosity also fuels hatred and violence, and leads some people to withdraw from shared decision-making and public conversation. At an October , a high school senior reported that many young people simply won鈥檛 voice their thoughts for fear of backlash.

How can adults ask Gen Z, Gen Alpha and those who come after them to engage thoughtfully across differences when grownups themselves do not work across divides? Here are five strategies for adult mentors:

• Give young people opportunities to explore ideas. Classrooms and school hallways have become high-risk places for disagreement. Students fear being judged in ways that cost relationships and permanently mark them on social media. But conversations may also be difficult with family members, who may be unavailable or unprepared for tough discussions. Young people need forums where they can test ideas without consequences, with trusted, well-prepared adults who won’t treat them like children.聽

Youth organizations and community centers can offer those forums. Leaders 鈥� mentors, clergy, coaches and program directors 鈥� must create thoughtfully designed discussion opportunities. Afterschool or weekend programs can be especially valuable in helping socioeconomically disadvantaged young people explore ideas when family, school or social resources are less available.

• Be vigilant when airing perspectives and creating space for discussion. Even when teachers, mentors and clergy try to frame things benignly, there is almost no neutral discussion of sociopolitical issues right now. Being well-intentioned is not enough. Leaders who engage with young people must recognize the difficulty, be clear about their own biases, sharpen their own preparation to navigate difficult conversations, show courage and signal and model openness. National initiatives such as ,, and can give adult leaders their own opportunities to observe, practice and model open discussion.
• Talk to young people directly about your own changes of heart. While vulnerability takes courage, it is important for leaders and mentors to admit to young people that they were once firmly convinced of something that later seemed like the dumbest thing they ever heard. They can tell the story of how they developed opinions, checked sources and learned from others. Young people say it is daunting to approach mentors who are firm and eloquent in their convictions. Help them understand how perspectives evolve and model building confidence in a viewpoint that starts from uncertainty.
• Begin with a low-stakes topic. Start by discussing issues that are not so charged: the best candy, the coolest game, the worst TikTok challenge. If the young people are ready, move on to more complex approaches that still allow non-threatening progress 鈥� like , in which participants assess different values, needs and options rather than quickly seeking one right solution to a thorny issue. This gives them a trial run at thinking about stakeholders and perspectives. Building this muscle in a group when the stakes are low can make more complicated conversations 鈥� like discussions of climate change and politics 鈥� possible.
• Dispel zero-sum thinking. Being certain that 鈥渙ur鈥� side winning is best for everyone while 鈥渢heir鈥� side winning is bad for everyone is a terrible binary habit of mind to pass along. Leaders, mentors, teachers and family members who engage with young people can help them develop the 鈥測es and鈥� approach as opposed to the constant 鈥渂ut鈥� response. This models empathy, a willingness to explore common ground and an openness to hearing varied perspectives.

It’s the leaders of today who created the situation young people are now struggling to deal with. It is the responsibility of all adults to help tomorrow’s leaders find a better path.

Roxanne Martinez moved back to her neighborhood in Fort Worth so her kids could attend the same schools she did.

The mother of two was on the booster club. And on a walk one day with students to a polling location 鈥� she鈥檚 always encouraged civic involvement 鈥� one asked her why she hadn鈥檛 run for school board. That question sparked a campaign, and she was elected in 2021.

But the board seat Martinez won in the Fort Worth Independent School District may not come with any power for very much longer. Texas education officials announced in October that they would take control of the district and replace locally elected board members with a board hand-picked by the state, a move triggered by the academic failures at a school that has since closed.

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鈥淚 take parent calls almost every night, almost every day, and so to lose that local voice, removing the voice of my constituents, of our voters, is just deeply concerning to me,鈥� she said.

State takeovers are having a moment. For decades, state officials have taken over school districts, citing academic and financial calamity. In some cases, the calamity was real: School districts were bankrupt. Very small fractions of students read at grade level. But while those reasons are still the most commonly cited, officials鈥� rhetoric to justify the tactic has become more overtly political as the country鈥檚 political divides have deepened, according to those who study the phenomenon.

In Texas, the state has seized control over seven school districts since 2023, four of those announced in the past six months. Nationwide, Chalkbeat tracked at least 21 new school district takeovers in the past three years, with additional takeovers threatened. These come after what some experts said was a lull in the practice. This year already, Texas鈥� schools chief , while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at unions while .

鈥淎t this point, states don鈥檛 really care about having to justify this action,鈥� said Domingo Morel, a professor at New York University. 鈥淏ack in the 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s, states really went out of their way to make it look like they really wanted to come in to improve the district.鈥�

Conservative governors and education commissioners have said they鈥檙e taking a hard line on academics, targeting entire districts over a few schools, or progress they say is not fast enough.

Some argue that outside intervention is the only way to break up entrenched political interests that stagnate learning. Researchers also say the revival of takeovers in some states may reflect alarm over flagging academic achievement and financial distress in COVID鈥檚 wake.

鈥淧eople are really concerned, especially post-pandemic, about student achievement,鈥� said Josh Bleiberg, an education professor at the University of Pittsburgh. 鈥淚 do think there鈥檚 an emergency mindset aspect of here like, 鈥榳ell, we鈥檝e got to do something.鈥欌��

There are examples of takeovers that , but they are the minority, according to research. More often, research shows the loss of control disproportionately affects communities of color in exchange for meager and short-term gains in academic achievement.

Some welcome change in the Fort Worth district, where . For others, like Martinez, the takeover is a flex of Republican political power over a district in , and in a school district that primarily serves Hispanic and Black students. To them, the entity that will come out ahead could be the state鈥檚 new private school choice program, not public schools.

And for a third set 鈥� people like Ale Checka, a longtime teacher in Fort Worth 鈥� two things can be true.

Yes, Fort Worth鈥檚 schools deserved to be taken over, Checka said. But that doesn鈥檛 mean she likes it: 鈥淕od, I wish we could get taken over by literally anybody else.鈥�

State takeovers gaining momentum in Republican-led states

States run by Democrats have , in several instances for financial reasons. But Republican-led states are leading the charge on recent takeovers, although the strategy looks different from state to state.

In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers want to install a state-appointed oversight board in Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in the state, .

Tennessee Republicans argue a state-appointed oversight board could better turn around lagging academic achievement than the current school board. Opponents of the GOP plan say Memphis schools are not only improving, they鈥檙e

has taken over two school districts in the past year, after a lull since 2021. The state has had broader authority since 2024, when lawmakers removed a requirement for the governor to first declare a state of emergency in a school district to initiate a takeover.

GOP leaders in and are pushing takeovers for more state control over local districts.

Not all recent state interventions in local school districts amount to a direct takeover. Indiana GOP lawmakers have , but the board鈥檚 members would be picked by the mayor, who鈥檚 currently a Democrat.

But the state that鈥檚 arguably become the clearest blueprint for the current crop of takeovers is Texas.

In Texas, just one school in a district can trigger state intervention for that district. In Houston, the trigger was Wheatley High School where more than 90% of Wheatley鈥檚 students are Latino or Black and many are from low-income backgrounds.

Wheatley was deemed unacceptable in the state鈥檚 rating system for seven straight school years, which state schools chief Mike Morath , along with languishing achievement in other Houston schools, which educate about 180,000 students and constitute the state鈥檚 largest district.

In 2023, Morath was necessary in part because the district had allowed chronic low achievement in multiple schools for far too long.

鈥淧arents, teachers have high expectations for kids,鈥� Morath said at the time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for me to maintain high expectations for school boards. So this is ultimately about an intervention action for the school board.鈥� (The Texas Education Agency did not respond to requests for an interview with Morath for this story.)

State officials put Mike Miles 鈥� a longtime lightning rod in education 鈥� in charge of Houston as superintendent and replaced the elected board with an appointed one. Miles, the former Dallas superintendent who also founded a charter school network, made school hours longer, , , and .

The results have been a mixed bag. Houston now has fewer struggling schools, under Texas鈥� school rating system. But the number of students enrolled . And the share of teachers remaining on their campuses between school years fell from 70% before the takeover to 58.6% from the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, according to .

Still, Houston has produced enticing results. 鈥淧eople from all over the country, including Alaska, are calling us to ask how we鈥檙e doing this,鈥� Miles told 社区黑料 last year, touting the district鈥檚 academic gains. 鈥淏oldness is what鈥檚 called for, and people are starting to have some hope that big turnarounds can be done.鈥�

Republicans in Tennessee of Memphis鈥� district, critical of flagging academics and school board dysfunction.

Parents and teachers in Fort Worth, a district of roughly 70,000 students and the 10th-largest in the state, have eyed the changes in Houston closely.

, according to the Fort Worth Report. Two middle schools , just shy of the state intervention threshold.

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins is a Fort Worth mother of two and founder of Parent Shield, a grassroots group pushing the message that Fort Worth鈥檚 kids deserve a high-quality education.

Despite the political undertones of the takeover in Houston, the new management is 鈥渃hanging the trajectory for a lot of kids鈥� there, she said, and Fort Worth is in need of some 鈥渢rue momentum.鈥�

The truth is, many schools across Texas are failing, and they鈥檝e been failing kids for a long time, she said.

Checka acknowledged that Fort Worth is in a literacy crisis that warrants outside intervention, she said. But she鈥檚 watched Houston eliminate school librarian positions with horror.

鈥淭he moves that the state is making are not moves that are for literacy,鈥� Checka said. While Houston has improved reading scores, educators have been critical of.

Martinez, the board member, notes that the district already adopted higher-quality instructional materials and added teacher training. Just this month, .

鈥淚f the state had some magic bullet that was going to just come in and significantly improve schools, one: why haven鈥檛 they already shared it?鈥� she asked. 鈥淭wo: why are they not partnering with us?鈥�

Political rhetoric around school district takeovers has changed

As students walked out earlier this year to protest federal immigration policy, Texas Education Agency officials warned that .

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for investigations into multiple districts, implying that protests were taking kids away from academics.

Texas hasn鈥檛 initiated any takeovers since Abbott鈥檚 comments. But the state did place the Austin district under investigation. Austin was , and several middle schools are one failing grade away from triggering intervention.

Morel, who studies state takeovers, said he believed the country would witness a decline in the practice nearly a decade ago.

Yet Houston marked an 鈥渙utright political power play on the part of the state,鈥� given that the state used a single school鈥檚 shortcomings as the reason for intervention, even when the district itself was not failing in the state鈥檚 rating system.

鈥淵ou can anticipate that if this type of trajectory continues, that it鈥檚 really not about improving schools, that it鈥檚 about undermining the political power of these communities,鈥� he said.

There鈥檚 inherent political friction in a takeover, said Johnny Key, a former Republican Arkansas schools chief who oversaw the state intervention in the Little Rock School District from 2015 to 2021. Key acknowledges the takeover wasn鈥檛 a 鈥渟mashing success鈥� but said it stabilized leadership and helped the district plan for the end of desegregation aid, a major funding source.

Key said any takeover is inherently political, because the state is claiming responsibility for something typically controlled locally. But that doesn鈥檛 mean takeovers aren鈥檛 necessary, or that state officials are simply dismissing communities.

鈥淭o paint state takeover with any type of broad brush ignores the nuance and the differences in the communities that are affected,鈥� he said.

But ultimately state takeovers must be sensitive to politics and get support from key groups, including teachers, to ensure changes can endure, said Ashley Jochim, a political scientist with the Center on Reinventing Public Education.

鈥淵ou go in and do a bunch of stuff that鈥檚 super controversial, even if it benefits kids, if it doesn鈥檛 have political support, it鈥檚 not going to be sustained over time,鈥� she said.

Recent controversy over Texas education policy isn鈥檛 confined to state takeovers. In conversations about the pending Fort Worth takeover, Martinez and others raised Texas鈥� .

There鈥檚 no evidence to suggest Texas is somehow using state intervention as a way to promote vouchers. But critics like Martinez are skeptical of a government touting a , while also claiming it鈥檚 trying to raise achievement for already-stretched public schools.

鈥淭he reasoning behind the strong interventions has less to do about student outcomes and more about shifting of power,鈥� Martinez said.

For Checka, the state鈥檚 motivation for taking over Fort Worth Schools matters. The idea that students will learn more every day is what gets her up in the morning. She wishes she felt confident Texas officials had the same motivations.

鈥淭he things that are important to me are my students being able to read and write 鈥� my students being able to access opportunities after high school and go to college,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is just not important to them.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Chalkbeat Ideas is a new section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. to follow our work.

Democrats are in disarray on education 鈥� according to a growing chorus of Democrats.

A variety of left-leaning , , and have all recently claimed that voters have become disillusioned with the party鈥檚 approach to schools. Often, these commentators cite anger over pandemic-era closures and argue that Democrats need to embrace tougher academic standards or school choice.

鈥淔or decades, when pollsters asked voters which party they trusted more on education, Democrats maintained, on average, a 14-point advantage. More recently that gap closed, then flipped to favor Republicans,鈥� former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel last month.

Is this emerging conventional wisdom true, though? This assertion has typically relied on one or two surveys, rather than a comprehensive look at the data. So I compiled all publicly available polls I could find that asked voters which party they preferred on education.

The verdict was clear: In more than a dozen surveys conducted this year by eight different organizations, all but one showed Democrats with an edge on education. This ranged from 4 to 15 points. Among all 14 polls, the median advantage was 9 points. Although Democrats appear to have briefly lost this edge a few years ago, voters again now tend to trust Democrats on the issue of education, broadly defined.

The narrative that Republicans had wrested the issue of education from Democrats emerged in 2021, after Virginia鈥檚 Glenn Youngkin won a in the governor鈥檚 race after campaigning on parents鈥� rights.

Long-running the Winston Group, a political consulting firm, showed that in late 2021 and early 2022 Republicans really had eroded Democrats鈥� lead on education. The parties were even briefly tied for the first time since the early 2000s, when former President George W. Bush was championing No Child Left Behind. Polling commissioned in and by Democrats for Education Reform, a group that backs charter schools and vouchers, also showed Democrats falling behind on education.

Since then, though, Democrats appear to have regained their edge. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the party held at least a 10-point lead, according to Winston Group. Other from last year found that more voters preferred Democrats鈥� approach on education, even as the party lost the presidency.

Emanuel pointed me to polling from 2022. 鈥淒emocrats have not gained ground as much as Trump has cost GOP gains they have made,鈥� he says when asked about the more recent surveys.

This year in Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger easily won in her bid to replace Youngkin. Education was one of her stronger issues, according to a

Some argue that these disprove the idea that Democrats are losing on schools. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not what panned out at all,鈥� says Jennifer Berkshire, a progressive author who writes and teaches about education. She notes that the Republican governor candidate in New Jersey to make schools an issue and lost badly.

The Winston poll shows Democrats鈥� advantage is currently below its peak between 2006 and 2009 but is comparable to many other periods, including the tail end of the Obama administration and part of the first Trump administration.

Keep in mind: These surveys ask about education broadly, not just K-12 schools. When given the option, a good chunk of voters don鈥檛 endorse either party鈥檚 approach. For instance, a YouGov found Democrats up 39%-32% on education with another 29% saying they weren鈥檛 sure or that the parties were about the same.

The one public in which Democrats did not have an advantage came from Blue Rose Research, a Democratic-aligned firm. Ali Mortell, its head of research, says different survey methodologies can lead to different results.

Regardless, she wants to see Democratic politicians lean into the issue more. 鈥淪ay they do have that trust advantage right now, [education] is still not something that they鈥檙e really talking about a lot,鈥� Mortell says.

One of the top messages that resonates with voters focuses on addressing teachers鈥� concerns about stagnant pay and large class sizes, Blue Rose polling finds.

Democrats鈥� lead on education doesn鈥檛 appear to have grown much over the last year, according to surveys from Winston, YouGov, and Ipsos. That鈥檚 somewhat surprising since Trump鈥檚 approval has sunk generally and is low on education .

Jorge Elorza, the CEO of Democrats for Education Reform, points to it commissioned showing the two parties tied when it comes to making sure schools emphasize academic achievement. 鈥淒emocrats should be focused on delivering results,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen we ask voters about that, it鈥檚 a toss up.鈥� A separate DFER found the party with only a 1-point lead on who voters trust to ensure 鈥渟tudents are prepared for success after high school.鈥�

Democrats鈥� overall polling advantage on education does not necessarily speak to the substantive merits of their policies, however. One found that Democratic-leaning states have seen bigger declines in student test scores in recent years. At a national level, Democrats have a particularly clear message on K-12 education, unlike Trump.

鈥淔or the last six years there鈥檚 [been] no proactive agenda for Democrats on educational excellence,鈥� says Emanuel.

The party鈥檚 approach to schools has clearly lost a segment of America鈥檚 political tastemakers including center-left nonprofit executives, political strategists, and even some Democratic politicians. Yet, despite insistent assertions otherwise, regular voters don鈥檛 seem to share this view, at least at the moment.

I relied on the following polls from this year, with Democrats鈥� lead in parentheses: Blue Rose Research (, tied); Fox News ( +15); Ipsos ( +6, +4, +7); Napolitan News Service ( +9, +6); Navigator ( +9); Strength in Numbers ( +11, +15); YouGov ( +7); Winston ( +15, +14, +11). To find these surveys, I conducted my own search and asked a variety of large pollsters, as well as a number of advocates. Differences in results between polls can come from random error, as well as differences in sampling and question wording. Although the precise wording varied, each poll asked voters which party they preferred on education.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

The researchers analyzed four decades of data on 7 million first-year college students and found that, since the 1980s, political polarization on college campuses has grown. Schools that traditionally enrolled more liberal students have become even more liberal, while conservative-leaning colleges have become more conservative. These shifts cannot be fully explained by changes in student demographics, academic readiness or state-level political trends, suggesting that enrollment choices and political self-sorting are playing a role. 

To better understand how ideology shapes enrollment, the researchers surveyed 1,028 undergraduates, presenting them with hypothetical colleges that varied in cost, type, location and political leanings of both the schools鈥� student bodies and the states in which they鈥檙e located. Using this experimental design, Acton, Cook and Araya found a strong willingness to pay for political alignment. 

Liberal students were willing to pay $2,617 more to attend a college with fewer conservative classmates, $1,162 more for campuses with more liberal peers and $3,064 more to attend a college in a state with a higher share of Democratic voters.

Conservative students were willing to pay $2,201 more to avoid liberal classmates and $2,720 more for colleges in states with fewer Democratic voters. But conservatives did not show a statistically significant preference for attending schools with more conservative students. Moderates, meanwhile, showed little political preference, though they tended to favor colleges in Democratic-leaning states. 

The research says these results suggest that students are increasingly uncomfortable with political differences on campus. Assuming that survey participants鈥� stated preferences reflect real-world decision-making, political identity appears to influence college enrollment choices alongside academic and financial considerations 鈥� a development with consequences not just for higher education, but for the nation more broadly.  

As the authors note, decreased political diversity on college campuses limits opportunities for students to engage with and be challenged by different perspectives. Exposure to diverse viewpoints has long been considered a core component of the college experience, helping students sharpen their reasoning skills, question assumptions and develop empathy. A more homogenous campus, by contrast, risks reinforcing echo chambers and discouraging the kind of debate upon which democratic societies depend. The Trump administration has criticized colleges for diminishing conservative voices, but as the new study suggests, homogeneity on campus doesn鈥檛 run in a single direction. 

Political self-sorting may also reinforce geographic and demographic divides. Political identity is correlated with factors such as race, income and whether students come from urban or rural areas, and these patterns could deepen the divides that already shape where Americans live and learn. And since college experiences strongly influence students鈥� long-term civic engagement, social networks and political identities, such self-sorting could further entrench polarization. 

鈥淚f colleges seek to ensure that students interact with others with opposing views,鈥� the authors write, 鈥渙ur findings imply that they will need to actively work to attract a politically diverse pool of applicants and enrollees.鈥� That is no easy task. As colleges face declining enrollment and intensifying political scrutiny, deliberate steps toward ideological diversity will require both resources 鈥� including outreach and recruitment efforts and scholarships 鈥� and political resolve. Efforts to promote free expression or diversity of viewpoints are often cast as political statements themselves, and recent federal restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs have made universities more cautious about launching initiatives that touch on identity or representation.

But if colleges are to remain places for open inquiry and civic preparation, campus leaders may need to聽make a more concerted effort to foster political diversity just as they do with racial, socioeconomic and other forms of representation. Otherwise, the sorting in higher education may further reinforce the social and political divides currently shaping the country.

One could be forgiven if, upon reading the above, one thought that Spiller finished a close second or third in the Democratic primary 鈥� that he ran a strong campaign, connected with voters in New Jersey, parried attacks from a hostile press, and fought valiantly against his opponents, only to lose by a handful of votes. 

But that isn鈥檛 remotely what happened. 

Spiller finished fifth, earning less than 11 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the winner, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, raked in 34 percent. And that was despite the union, through a combination of super PACs and independent expenditure organizations, spending to elect Spiller 鈥� about twice the amount spent by the second-highest-spending candidate in the race.

How did the largest teacher鈥檚 union in New Jersey take tens of millions of dollars of their members鈥� dues and essentially light them on fire in an abortive attempt to get its own president crowned as the Democratic candidate for governor? A number of explanations are possible, but one seems most compelling: simple incompetence. The more urgent question now is whether the union will learn from its mistakes 鈥� or whether it will continue to suffer in political obscurity.

It鈥檚 important to note the scale of NJEA鈥檚 failure. Politico that 鈥渘o other special interest group has ever spent as much in state history to promote a single candidate鈥� as the NJEA did with Spiller. The NJEA spent about $8 million more in one primary race in one state than the National Education Association, NJEA鈥檚 parent organization, spent at the national level between 2023 and 2024. (Spiller鈥檚 poor showing is a good reminder that it takes more than money to win an election 鈥� even in a post-Citizens United world.)

Another concerning stat: A lack of union turnout. The NJEA boasts around 200,000 members, yet Spiller received less than 90,000 votes total. Some back-of-the-envelope math suggests that, even if all of Spiller鈥檚 votes came from union members (a dubious assumption), he would have received fewer than half of their votes. John Napolitani, a local mayor and head of the teachers鈥� union in Asbury Park, : 鈥淚 think it was a very poorly calculated and piss-poor decision by the NJEA to blow that kind of money.鈥�

Indeed, Spiller seems to have been a uniquely bad candidate in this race. The proof is in Spiller鈥檚 fifth-place showing in his hometown of Montclair, where he was mayor from 2020-2024 (including during a of union-induced extended school closures). But this poor showing should not have necessarily been a surprise: In Montclair, Spiller was embroiled in a scandal involving potential health-insurance fraud, during which he suspiciously his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination over 400 times. (Spiller announced his intention to not run for a second term as mayor the transcript of his deposition became public.) If voters in your hometown reject you so thoroughly, then you鈥檙e probably not a great candidate in a statewide race.

It could also be the case that Spiller, as the public face of the largest teacher鈥檚 union in New Jersey, was a painful reminder of extended COVID-19 school closures in 2020-21. Indeed, the NJEA (of which Spiller was then the vice president) against Gov. Phil Murphy鈥檚 November 2020 for schools across the state to return to in-person instruction. At the time, one found that less than half of New Jersey parents were satisfied with virtual instruction. Today, almost nobody seems willing to defend the extended school closures during the pandemic, especially considering the growing body of showing that the more time students spent outside of the classroom, the more they fell behind academically. 

Five years after the pandemic, the NJEA might hope that New Jersey voters would have forgotten the school closures, or at least forgiven the union for them. But parents may have a longer memory of being locked out of classrooms while nearly every other school in America was back in session. 

Still, even if unpopular with New Jersey parents, the NJEA could have spent its money more wisely by supporting a candidate other than Spiller. A competent organization seeking to have a tangible political impact considers a variety of candidates, weighs their strengths and weaknesses, and supports the one it deems most likely to win the race. If the union had conducted such a process, it would have surely rejected Spiller outright, especially considering its knowledge of Spiller鈥檚 rocky mayoral tenure in Montclair. But instead, the NJEA funneled $40 million of teacher dues toward a candidate who earned a fifth-place finish in a gubernatorial primary.

A competent organization also learns from its failures. Which raises the question: What will the NJEA learn from its failure here? Will its leaders look carefully at the decisions they made so they can avoid a similar fate in the future, or will they bury their heads in the sand as they face uncomfortable headlines and inquiries from their members? 

In the long term, it鈥檚 deeper questions about influence and efficacy that may haunt them, such as: Can the NJEA still connect with voters? Will its leadership continue to waste tens of millions of union dues on long-shot primary campaigns? Is the largest teachers union in a deep-blue state like New Jersey losing political clout? 

Judging by the semi-triumphant tone of the statement released after Spiller鈥檚 resounding defeat, it seems that current NJEA leadership sees little to be concerned about. But refusing to take ownership of such a colossal defeat will likely only make things worse for NJEA and its members. 

If the union has any hope of remaining politically relevant in New Jersey, then it must treat the Spiller campaign 鈥� and collapse 鈥� as a $40 million wake-up call.

This juicy prize is up for grabs, for both Dems and the GOP, but they better move fast. Think of playing Monopoly and landing on Reading Railroad, failing to buy it 鈥� and regretting it for the rest of the game.

How big is the prize? Imagine the politically decisive universe of soccer moms, half of whom have boys, who have been fretting for years over why the girls in their classes, and even their own daughters, do SO much better in school than their sons. 

And why so many of their sons, in later years, qualify as The clearest signal of that problem: the rising number of stories about young men () still living at home, often feeling .

Could the 鈥渂oys鈥� vote matter? Oh yeah, at least where I sit as a Virginia resident. Glenn Younkin got elected as governor in 2021 here by stirring up parents in places such as prosperous Loudoun County over discipline, masking and transgender students鈥� bathroom and locker room use. That鈥檚 small potatoes compared to the broader boy problems.

The reason this issue has such political potential is there鈥檚 a relatively simple explanation for the male school dilemma. And, there鈥檚 a fix for the problem that鈥檚 somewhat difficult, but definitely doable.

A bit of background. Thanks to the that drew 49 governors and then-President George H. W. Bush, a decision was made to push academic rigor earlier, by about two grades, as I document in my 2011 book, . Bottom line: First graders soon got handed the work that third graders had been doing. 

The governors鈥� intentions were spot on. The U.S. was slipping behind other countries in academic comparisons. Something had to be done to boost college readiness. This reform should do it, right?

The result, however, was something no one expected. Boys, whose brains aren鈥檛 wired for early literacy rigor, fell behind. In short, those same boys looked at the girls, exulting in their comparative literacy excellence, and said, 鈥淣o thanks. We find video games far more attractive.鈥�

Teachers, who should have known better, in many cases just shrugged their shoulders. Aren鈥檛 there meds available for hyperactive boys who can鈥檛 adjust to these new standards?

The result, by the numbers, is bracing. I suggest a look at the data by the American Institute for Boys and Men. 

Some quick examples: At age 5, there is a 14 percentage point gender gap in school readiness favoring girls, who are poised to soak up those early academic challenges. Where does that lead? Two-thirds of those in the top decile of high school GPAs are girls; two- thirds of those in the bottom are boys. There is a 15 percentage point gender gap favoring women in students earning bachelor鈥檚 degrees.

There are multiple small fixes schools can undertake to correct the boys鈥� problems. Educators already know what to do: Roughly the same things they did for girls years ago to successfully correct for math and science academic deficiencies. By making math and science into participatory projects, bringing female scientists into their classrooms as role models and focusing on encouraging more girls to take an interest in those subjects, they turned it around. Before being reopened with the pandemic, the disparity between boys’ and girls’ middle school math and science scores had disappeared. 

But I digress.

Again, the question is: Who鈥檚 going to get there first and claim the political rewards? My current betting is on Donald Trump, who polls well among young men. A lot of struggling guys find a kindred spirit in the chip-on-the shoulder president. 

For Trump, this is a perfect fit: Confront the mostly female teachers unions, who have historically insisted the 鈥渂oy problems鈥� are exaggerated. How bad can it be when men dominate Congress and top business jobs? Then claim that 鈥渨oke鈥� school administrators prefer to focus on girls and minorities. He could demand changes such as an intense focus on boys in elementary school literacy instruction. The exact changes may be less important than the mandate to pay attention, which is what happened with girls and science. 

What鈥檚 to lose? They aren鈥檛 his supporters. This is such an easy 鈥漡et鈥� that I鈥檓 surprised that Trump鈥檚 staffers haven鈥檛 thought of it.

My sentimental bet, however, is on the Democrats, who could potentially use it to help win back the lead they long held 鈥� and then lost 鈥� as being seen among voters as the more trusted party on education. It鈥檚 the ideal issue for moving the party away from the woke wing. I鈥檓 thinking former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, currently floating himself as , could run with this, along with centrist Democrats, such as Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who recently described herself as being on

On the surface, this would appear to be a no-go issue for the Democrats. The teachers unions remain among their most valuable allies. Unless, that is, a candidate such as Emanuel gains momentum. Remember ? They called him a bully, a liar and an 鈥渋mperial mayor.鈥� Exactly the credentials needed to take this on and win the soccer mom votes in affluent suburbs.

The midterm elections aren鈥檛 far away, so the race is on. Which party will seize the ripe, vote-rich boys issue?

California Health Report spoke to four high school students. In order to protect the identities of the students who fear repercussions based on their immigration status, it has withheld their full names and the name of their school, in addition to generalizing the area where they live.

High school seniors around the country are graduating, a rite of passage that marks a profound shift. It can feel as if everyone is asking them what comes next. For immigrant students, these discussions have an extra layer of complexity this year.

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At one northern California school, recently arrived immigrant students are thinking about safety, politics, and the culture of belonging 鈥� considerations that weren鈥檛 front of mind as they filled out their applications in the fall, before President Donald Trump took office.

In addition to fears about being deported or being separated from family members, the students now worry about financial aid complications and whether their immigration status will prevent them from getting professional licenses in the fields they hope to study. Some have changed their plans, deciding to stay close to home and attend community college instead of attending a four-year university. Others feel grateful they live in California, which has historically provided more resources and what many feel is a more welcoming environment for undocumented students than some states.

But all of the students interviewed expressed some concern about what their next steps could mean for their safety.

The stress of worrying about immigration issues can make it more difficult to focus in class, said Beleza Chan, communications director at Immigrants Rising, a nonprofit organization that helps undocumented college students in California. It can be hard to stay motivated when the future feels so uncertain, she said.

And yet, 鈥渃ontinuing to pursue your dreams is one way to fight back,鈥� Chan added.

A California safety net for immigrant students, interrupted

When A., who is 18, came to the U.S. alone four years ago, his eyes were set on college. To him, that meant enrolling directly into a four-year university. But for most of this year, A had started letting go of that dream. His legal protections are only temporary, and without a green card, he wondered if straying far from the home he鈥檚 built with his aunt and cousins was the best idea. 鈥淚 have a lot of mixed feelings,鈥� he said.

Then, A. learned that he had been accepted to California State University, Chico, and a local organization would cover part of the cost. With encouragement from his advisors, A. decided to enroll.

But just as A. was wrapping his head around the idea that his dream of attending college and living on campus was coming true, he learned that a special agent from the Department of Homeland Security had visited his old address, where the agent left his business card with a relative who still lives there. A. is working with his attorney to figure out his next steps, but in the meantime, his fears feel closer than ever.

S., 18, has similar concerns. She entered the country on a temporary visa with her mother, a green card holder, nearly three years ago. She immediately applied for her own legal permanent residence, but the application is still pending. In the meantime, her temporary visa has expired, leaving her in a delicate legal situation.

Her lawyer has recommended that if her green card doesn鈥檛 come through soon, she should go to her home country and wait. But that would mean putting her college dreams on hold and returning to a country where she has few family members left. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the average wait time for this type of green card application is 7.5 years.

Before this year, S. had no problem talking to others about her immigration status. Her application was pending, and even though she knew she had overstayed her visa, she believed it would be fixed soon. But she鈥檚 felt the culture shift.

鈥滻 feel like now I cannot be really open and talk about my experience because of how things have changed,鈥� said S.

Early on in her college application process, S. was thinking big. Determined to study public health and medicine, she applied to 30 colleges across the country, from schools in the University of California and California State University systems to private universities on the East Coast. But after the election, she started doing more research, trying to understand not just what financial resources each school offers, but how that school does 鈥� or doesn鈥檛 鈥� outwardly welcome undocumented students. She also wanted to know more about how states have responded to Trump鈥檚 deportation agenda.

As the acceptance letters began to pour in, S. learned that she was being offered a full scholarship to the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her excitement has been tempered, however, by the looming question of her legal status. If her green card is approved before classes start in August, she鈥檒l enroll. But she鈥檚 already booked a plane ticket home, realistic about her chances and seeing no other choice.

Community colleges offer solutions for immigrant students

When C., who is 17, crossed the southern border into Arizona with her mother two years ago, she was nearly nine months pregnant. After spending most of her life concerned for her safety, C. said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a huge fan of all calm places.鈥�

She found that in northern California, where she made friends in her high school鈥檚 newcomer program. C.鈥檚 teachers helped her find daycare for her daughter and support with housing and food. 鈥淚 would give anything so that my daughter doesn鈥檛 have to go through the same things that I went through,鈥� C. said.

Going into her last semester of high school, C. had already decided on her plan after graduation: community college.

As many of her peers are excited to embrace their independence for the first time, C. is experiencing something that educators say many of their newcomer students feel: a hesitancy to uproot themselves after years, perhaps a lifetime, of seeking a safe, stable place to live. C.鈥檚 community college of choice has a Head Start program for her daughter, and staying at home means she can pursue her education while continuing to live in a community she knows and trusts. C. expects to be eligible for in-state tuition; in addition, she has received a scholarship from a local philanthropic organization that will help her with living expenses.

C. plans to eventually transfer to a university to complete her bachelor鈥檚 degree and become a teacher in her northern California town. One day, she hopes to teach at the same high school she鈥檚 enrolled in now and help other newcomer students feel welcome.

For some students, though, the decision to attend community college can feel like a bit of a disappointment.

J., 18, came to the U.S. with her parents when she was just a few months old, and growing up, she鈥檇 always felt like an American. She didn鈥檛 think much about her legal status until she needed a Social Security number 鈥� to hold a job, get a driver鈥檚 license, or apply for college. She dreamed of higher education, not just for herself but to make her parents proud.

鈥淓ven if I don鈥檛 know what I want to do yet, I know that I am going to get that education,鈥� she said.

J. is one of approximately 14,000 undocumented students who will graduate from California high schools this year. Only 10% of those students will pursue higher education, compared with 63% of students statewide who enroll in college after high school, according to the .

鈥淔inancial aid has always been a big part of undocumented students鈥� decisions,鈥� Chan said. These students are not eligible for federal financial aid, but California and 23 other states allow some undocumented students to pay in-state tuition or access state financial aid. Now, those local decisions could be usurped by the federal government.

The Trump administration has said it will on April 28, pressuring California officials to cooperate with the administration鈥檚 agenda, though no changes have yet been made.

To navigate these complexities, J. and her classmates have been working with advisers through her school鈥檚 Upward Bound program, part of the federally funded TRIO programs, which provides resources and guidance to students from low-income backgrounds pursuing higher education. Oregon and California had waivers that allowed students to participate in the program regardless of their immigration status. But in late March, the .

All of the students interviewed for this story have been told they can keep participating because they鈥檙e already enrolled, but going forward, schools will need to verify all students鈥� immigration status and only enroll U.S. citizens, , and legal residents.

When J. was first accepted to California State University, Sacramento, she was thrilled, but then she began to worry about her safety. Her family worried that being hours away from home in a bigger city could put her at greater risk of deportation, and J. began considering her local community college as a safer and more affordable option. For now, J. has enrolled in her local community college, in the hopes that, by the time she finishes her associate degree, the doors to a bachelor鈥檚 degree will open for her.

Being undocumented is hard, but community helps

For A., the stress of entering the next phase of his life can feel isolating: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard because you鈥檙e trying not to think about that, instead of just thinking about school stuff, you know?鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have a little bit more weight in your mind.鈥�

Amid political uncertainty, educators still have the power 鈥� and the responsibility 鈥� to create a space that feels safe and welcoming for all of their students, said Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez, deputy director of Californians Together, an advocacy group. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, Californians Together launched a project called Support for Immigrant & Refugee Students to train educators on immigration policy and ways they can create safe spaces for their students.

Chan says that a big part of creating that safe space is providing accurate, up-to-date information. Immigrants Rising has recently launched a new that helps college-bound immigrant students and educators wade through complicated eligibility information.

Chan has found that undocumented students鈥� mental health affects their academic performance. She鈥檚 been compiling research showing that depression and anxiety can lead to lower grades, higher dropout rates, decreased motivation, higher levels of self-harm and worse physical health among undocumented students. But despite the well-studied need for mental health services, a 2019 from the University of California, Irvine showed that undocumented students in higher education use such services less frequently than their documented peers.

鈥淪tudents expressed low perceived need because they normalized mental strain as a natural product of their unstable immigration status,鈥� wrote the study鈥檚 authors. 鈥淢any viewed treatment as futile because it could not address underlying immigration-related issues.鈥�

But that doesn鈥檛 mean students have to face those challenges alone. Immigrants Rising hosts regular virtual for undocumented students around the country to share openly with one another. Many college campuses in California do similar work through UndocuAlly and UndocuLiaison programs that assign college staff members to be the official points of contact for undocumented students.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 solve all the aggressive immigration policies that are out there,鈥� Chan said. 鈥淣o amount of breathing exercises is going to get rid of that. But having community helps.鈥�

It鈥檚 increasingly clear that universal pre-K is coming. It probably won鈥檛 arrive in 2015. It might not be for a few more years. But this longtime progressive dream is going to happen 鈥� you can take that to the bank.

If any of you happen to be longtime readers who did, in fact, take my optimism to the bank, I鈥檓 sorry. Here in 2024, universal pre-K remains a distant dream 鈥� the National Institute for Early Education Research reports that just 35% of all 4 year olds were enrolled in public programs. U.S. pre-K enrollment actually dropped from to . 

I was hardly . Pre-K had relatively good political prospects. Washington, D.C.鈥檚 universal pre-K system 鈥� where I already had one child enrolled (and would eventually have three) 鈥� was about three years into full implementation, wasn鈥檛 far behind, and New York City鈥檚 and expansions were imminent. It wasn鈥檛 just the big blue cities getting in on the act! States like , and were investing in large pre-K programs. Almost every year, President Obama would introduce universal pre-K proposals 鈥� and by 2014, they were . 

Pre-K also benefited from solid research backing 鈥� children鈥檚 brains have particularly high levels of neuroplasticity in the early years, meaning that their developmental trajectories are than they will be in later years. Early education programs that expose young children to high-quality learning environments full of rich language and engaging activities can make the most of this moment and help advance children鈥檚 development.

A has found that early education investments help kids prepare for kindergarten; develop stronger academic, social, and linguistic abilities; and get better long-term life outcomes. Further, these impacts save the public money by helping schools work more efficiently 鈥� for instance, pre-K programs can . In 2022, researchers even found that the appeared to have because of the program: higher high school graduation rates, greater college enrollment rates, reduced criminal behavior and the like. 

Given our growing about how to make it , it鈥檚 especially relevant to note that well-funded universal pre-K programs can help parents . New research has corroborated these findings, showing that . Shoot, even at a macroeconomic level, pre-K鈥檚 a good policy bet 鈥� it鈥檚 overall more efficient and cheaper to have kids in quality early learning classrooms with student-teacher ratios around 8:1 than it is to have kids at home with one parent and only a sibling or two. 

Not coincidentally, other developed countries have already devoted considerable resources to a suite of . 

Nonetheless, like , , renaming Twitter as X,  universal pre-K hasn鈥檛 taken off. There are bright spots: is pushing towards universal coverage, 厂别补迟迟濒别鈥檚 pre-K program is , and the Biden administration, while it still could, large federal early education investments. But on balance, a decade after my misbegotten prediction, pre-K鈥檚 political prospects are somewhat less rosy. has been uneven, and even New York City鈥檚 established pre-K program is . 

Washington, D.C.鈥檚 pre-K program that many 鈥� 鈥� believed was uniquely helpful for raising its quality. Some cities, like , are struggling with pre-K expansion, while pre-K class sizes are going up . Tennessee鈥檚 pre-K classrooms have been under increased scrutiny after of their effectiveness. 

What happened? Why hasn鈥檛 policy tracked the evidence that compelled so many of us a decade ago?

Let鈥檚 not overthink this. The main problem is politics. During the campaign, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris her party鈥檚 support for large national early education investments. If she鈥檇 won and Democrats had enough votes in Congress, universal pre-K would already be rolling out. This could still be true if Michigan鈥檚 Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, were to run and win the White House in 2028. 

National conservative leadership on pre-K has largely evaporated. Republicans who supported universal pre-K 鈥� like 鈥� have been more or less pushed out of the party. The campaign of president-elect Donald Trump didn鈥檛 take a clear position on any early education investments 鈥� let alone pre-K 鈥� but as president, , the federal government鈥檚 largest investment in early learning for 4 year olds. Furthermore, writing in the Heritage Foundation鈥檚 much-discussed 鈥�,鈥� usually referred to as 鈥淧roject 2025,鈥� Trump鈥檚 conservative allies have called for Head Start to be defunded.

Back in 2015, it was possible to look forward and see a world where local, state and federal policymakers across the political spectrum would turn to universal pre-K as 1) a powerful intervention for improving kids鈥� linguistic, social and academic development; 2) a way to ease financial pressures for families and 3) a way to use public education dollars more efficiently. While it鈥檚 always a fool鈥檚 errand to trust strong data to deliver political progress, universal pre-K seemed like such a good fit for so many challenges facing U.S. public education 鈥� and American families. 

Obviously I was wrong. Wiser heads knew it right away. Soon after I wrote that TPM column, I met the late early education expert Ruby Takanishi for coffee. She pulled out a printed copy of my piece, plopped it on the table, and told me that I was not the first progressive to prophesy a major pre-K expansion just around the corner. 

鈥淚 hope you鈥檙e right,鈥� she said with a wry smile, 鈥渂ut I bet you won鈥檛 be the last.鈥� 

PPI Senior Advisor Bruno Manno is set to interview Governor Jared Polis, Chair of the National Governors Association, about his year-long 鈥淟et’s Get Ready: Educating All Americans for Success鈥� initiative, which emphasizes work-based learning, dual and concurrent enrollment, skills-based education and non-degree credentials. Alison Griffin will then moderate a special panel conversation, featuring such local experts as Colorado Succeeds President Scott Laband and Michael Macklin, Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Solutions at the Colorado Community College System.

Sign up for the Zoom or tune in to this page Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Recent work-based learning coverage from 社区黑料: 

• Indiana Banking Apprenticeships and Academy to Break the Mold for U.S. Training
  
• New York City鈥檚 First Hybrid School Gives Students Flexible, Real-World Learning
  
• Supe鈥檚 View: How My Colorado District Is Helping Students Find Their Life鈥檚 Path
  
• Indianapolis High School Carves Time Away from Class for Internships for All

Join 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute for a special conversation about the ways in which community service programs and school curriculum and practices can help strengthen social cohesion among students of different backgrounds. 鈥淭eaching Common Democratic Values in a Divided America鈥� will stream Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Joining moderator Tressa Pankovits from PPI will be American Exchange Project Co-Founder and CEO David McCullough III, Maryland Secretary of Service and Civic Innovation Paul Monteiro, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Robert Pondiscio and Richard Kahlenberg, director of PPI鈥檚 American Identity Project. 

Sign up for the Zoom or tune in to this page at 2 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Explore more civics education topics from 社区黑料: 

• It鈥檚 Time for a Ceasefire in the Civics Wars

• Opinion: Teachers in All Subjects Must Help Prepare the Next Generation of Voters

• 5 Lessons From Civics in How to Achieve Agreement Across the Political Divide

• There is Agreement on Civics Education 鈥� If You Know Where to Look

• How Texas Lawmakers Gutted Civics

鈥淒oomed.鈥� 鈥淏affled.鈥� 鈥淪cared.鈥� 鈥淗appy.鈥� 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care.鈥� 鈥淲e are so cooked.鈥�

Those were the reactions to the presidential election result that students scrawled on a white board Wednesday morning inside Joshua Ferguson鈥檚 11th grade government class at Ypsilanti Community High School in Michigan.

Before he knew that former President Donald Trump had won a second term, Ferguson thought he would do a lesson on disinformation in politics. Instead, he gave students room to talk. The most important piece of this lesson, he said, was for his students to feel safe and heard.

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鈥淚 think that鈥檚 my job as a teacher,鈥� he said.

Educators across the country awakened Wednesday to the , then headed into school buildings where students were feeling everything from elation to shock to despair. Some had carefully scripted lesson plans at the ready. Others, like Ferguson, scrapped what they prepared and simply listened.

For civics and social studies teachers who had been monitoring the 2024 presidential election, Wednesday presented both a pedagogical challenge 鈥� and opportunity. Chalkbeat reporters fanned out to schools across the country to see how teachers approached this monumental day.

This story was reported by Caroline Bauman, Gabrielle Birkner, Hannah Dellinger, Jessie Gomez, Dale Mezzacappa, Amelia Pak-Harvey, Carly Sitrin, and Alex Zimmerman.

鈥榃hy do people keep voting for Trump?鈥�

Ahead of his 7:30 a.m. social studies class Wednesday, teacher John Winters had prepared a worksheet to spur conversation.

鈥淎s you know, [fill in the blank] has been elected as the next U.S. President,鈥� the sheet read. 鈥淧lease share your thoughts, feelings, concerns, questions, etc.鈥�

His students at Philadelphia鈥檚 Murrell Dobbins Career & Technical Education High School didn鈥檛 need much prompting.

鈥淗e IS a convicted felon and should鈥檝e never been allowed to run ever again,鈥� wrote one student.

People 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to see a girl/woman be the president,鈥� wrote another.

鈥淲hy do people keep voting for Trump? Especially people that he doesn鈥檛 even like and is racist towards?鈥� still another wrote.

The responses conveyed dismay and fear among some at the 800-student technical school, which is 89% Black and located in the city鈥檚 lowest income ZIP code.

At the end of the class, one junior held back to talk to Winters. Anxiety, even fear, was written all over his face as he struggled for words.

He asked a series of questions, like how many bills a president could pass and how an impeached president could be elected again. Winters answered but sensed there was something larger the boy wanted to know.

鈥淚 was born here, but I鈥檓 scared for my parents,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e from Haiti. It鈥檚 bad there right now.鈥�

Winters reminded him that strongly Democratic Philadelphia has been a sanctuary city, meaning it doesn鈥檛 always cooperate with the federal government in enforcing immigration law. He told the young man to clarify with his parents their status. But then, reluctantly, he added: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 lie, it鈥檚 a concerning situation.鈥�

The boy put his head down, and slowly walked to his next class.

A rightward shift, especially among boys

At The Global Learning Collaborative, a high school situated in the deep-blue Upper West Side of Manhattan, students reacted to Trump鈥檚 victory with a mix of fear, ambivalence 鈥� and support.

More than 70% of the school鈥檚 students are Latino, and many expressed alarm over Trump鈥檚 anti-immigrant rhetoric. But there was still a sizable number of students who supported the Republican candidate during a mock election held during a Wednesday morning assembly: 136 students voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, while 70 supported Trump.

Junior Alix Torres said she has undocumented relatives and worries about his promise to .

鈥淚 woke up kind of angry this morning,鈥� Torres said, noting that she helped persuade some family members to vote for Harris. 鈥淚 hope he hears the public and chooses to not go through with that. We built this country.鈥�

Others at The Global Learning Collaborative said they supported Trump or didn鈥檛 have a firm opinion of him; nearly all were under 10 years old during his first presidency.

Senior Sara Otero, who is 18, voted for the first time on Tuesday, casting a ballot for the former president. A devout Christian, Otero said she believed Trump would preserve religious liberty, though she hadn鈥檛 followed the election closely.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 as educated as I wish I was on the whole thing,鈥� she said.

Harris decisively won New York City, but . Civics teacher Martin Gloster said he has seen a rightward shift in political attitudes in his classroom.

鈥淚 think teenage boys are really attracted to that strongman presence,鈥� he said.

Gloster said he has struggled with teaching contemporary politics, including the presidential debate in which Trump Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs. In a class that discussed the debate, one student had faced an arduous journey emigrating from Guatemala, while others were more sympathetic to Trump.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult because obviously I play it down the middle 鈥� Trump is just a different thing,鈥� Gloster said. 鈥淚鈥檓 learning on the fly. I don鈥檛 have all the answers.鈥�

Taking lessons from Gore鈥檚 2000 concession speech

When Reid Stuart arrived for his first class on Wednesday, he had three goals for students: Give space to process this huge political moment, impart tools to 鈥� and watch Al Gore鈥檚 concession speech from 2000.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible speech, by a Tennessean, after a tense moment that calls for unity,鈥� said Stuart, who teaches at Crosstown High School, a diverse public charter school in Memphis, Tennessee. 鈥淚t feels relevant.鈥�

His students in AP Human Geography settled into class, some joking with each other about the election and others speaking somberly.

Before watching , Stuart asked: What did his students expect from a conceding presidential candidate?

鈥淭o show respect to the other candidate.鈥� 鈥淭o show respect for the system.鈥� 鈥淭o actually concede,鈥� students chimed in.

Stuart then asked, 鈥淚f you are Al Gore, how are you feeling?鈥�

鈥淐heated.鈥� 鈥淢ad.鈥� 鈥淯naccepting of loss.鈥� 鈥淏itter.鈥�

Gore, a Democrat, gave his speech more than a month after the 2000 Election Day and after .

Stuart asked his students what they thought of Gore鈥檚 delivery and message.

鈥淚 think he was being sarcastic,鈥� said one student. 鈥淟ike you could tell he didn鈥檛 really believe what he was saying, and felt like he should have won, but he still called for unity and respect.鈥�

As other students in the room nodded in agreement, Stuart said: 鈥淭his is a hallmark of a free and fair election, that the person who lost, can get up there and offer a unifying message, even if he is bitter. Right?鈥�

He noted that later Wednesday. 鈥淚 encourage you to watch it,鈥� he told students. 鈥淪ee if she has the same message of unification and moving forward, even though you can guarantee she is feeling deeply about the loss.鈥�

An election that turned on grocery prices and utility bills

Philadelphia social studies teacher Charlie McGeehan prepared for every election outcome 鈥� but, he admitted to his students Wednesday morning, 鈥渢his is not what I expected.鈥�

When he went to bed Tuesday night before midnight, McGeehan had anticipated explaining to the juniors and seniors in his classes about how long vote counting can take. About how we might not know the outcome of the election for several days. About the role deep-blue Philadelphia would play in deciding the election.

By the time he woke on Wednesday, that plan was moot. So, he figured, let鈥檚 just give the students 鈥� many of whom had spent long hours working the polls the day prior 鈥� space to decompress.

Together, they combed through the election results guided by students鈥� questions like 鈥淗ow was the polling yesterday so surprising?鈥� 鈥淲hich state did the race ultimately come down to?鈥� and 鈥淒oes Kamala Harris have any path to winning at all?鈥�

To that last question, McGeehan was straightforward: 鈥淣o, she doesn鈥檛.鈥�

Many of McGeehan鈥檚 students at the Academy at Palumbo are first- or second-generation Americans or immigrants. On notecards, students laid out their more personal fears, ones they didn鈥檛 necessarily want to share with the class.

鈥淎s a woman and a child of an immigrant, I鈥檓 honestly scared鈥� read one. 鈥淚 saw a post saying how Trump pledged to launch mass deportation鈥� which makes me feel like not researching more because of how much more sick stuff I might read,鈥� said another.

One said 鈥淚 feel great because Trump鈥檚 [positions] align with what I want. Especially with the issues of censorship, grocery prices, and utility bills.鈥�

鈥楰ind of a very depressing day鈥�

Nehemiah Legrand tried to eat dinner Tuesday but couldn鈥檛 finish. She was glued to her phone. She was up until 3 a.m.

The 13-year-old student at Enlace Academy, a pre-K-8 school in the International Marketplace area of Indianapolis, is an American citizen by birth whose parents are legally living in the country. The family fled Haiti after her older brother was kidnapped in 2020 amid the country鈥檚 political turmoil.

Still, Trump鈥檚 campaign rhetoric around immigration scared Nehemiah 鈥� and made her fear that her family would be deported.

鈥淚 just feel like today 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 feel normal,鈥� she said, sitting in the school鈥檚 hallway on Wednesday, looking out the window at the rain. 鈥淧eople are not talkative or none of that. It鈥檚 very, very strange. It鈥檚 kind of a very depressing day. Because everyone just doesn鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen next, and you can tell everyone is stressed.鈥�

The presidential election has over her and her classmates at the school, where many students come from Latin America and Haiti. At this school, students have to grow up fast. Many carry trauma from their immigration to the United States, said lead social worker Hailey Butchart.

Now, students like Nehemiah are preparing for what the next four years with Trump 鈥� whose platform includes deploying 鈥渢he largest deportation operation in American history鈥� 鈥� will mean for them.

鈥淎 lot of the students I speak with have had a family member that has been deported, and they live with that fear as well,鈥� Butchart said.

The power of social media in elections

On the morning after Election Day, Zy鈥橝sia Weathers rolled over in bed to grab her phone on a nearby nightstand and scrolled through TikTok.

But instead of seeing videos of makeup reviews or the latest trends, Zy鈥橝sia鈥檚 feed was filled with women and girls crying about the outcome of Tuesday鈥檚 election and the potential impact on female reproductive rights.

鈥淧eople were even saying, like, very vague things, like, just thinking the worst of the worst,鈥� added Zy鈥橝sia, 17, a senior at KIPP Newark Collegiate Academy.

Throughout the school day Wednesday, Zy鈥橝sia and her peers talked about other videos they saw, like people celebrating former president Donald Trump鈥檚 reelection and others questioning what his victory would mean for the nation.

Zy鈥橝sia is also the president of her school鈥檚 Student Government Association, and on Wednesday, the group met to discuss the presidential outcomes. Yanibel Feliz, the advisor of the group, walked students through an exercise to discuss the election process, the outcome, and the effect of social media.

Some students said they were shocked about Trump鈥檚 victory because they had seen much support for Harris on social media.

鈥淪ometimes, social media might paint a picture of how elections will go,鈥� said Trinity Douglas, a junior at the school, during class. 鈥淏ut it has a big effect on our generation.鈥�

鈥業鈥檓 afraid what will happen to my family鈥�

The icebreaker in Joel Snyder鈥檚 government classes on Wednesday was to respond to the prompt: 鈥淚 am feeling 鈥� because 鈥︹��

The responses were wide-ranging and included students who were enthusiastic about the election outcome and those who were disappointed the U.S. would not, after all, elect a woman as president.

In the few minutes they were given, students took pencil to paper and wrote that they were 鈥渟hocked鈥� to hear how well Trump did with Latinos, 鈥渇urious鈥� at what they saw as sexism in the results, and 鈥渃oncerned鈥� that America had once again elected a man whose flaws and felony convictions are, by now, well known.

Some answers hit closer to home. 鈥淚 am feeling uneasy,鈥� one student wrote, 鈥渂ecause I鈥檓 afraid what will happen to my family who are undocumented.鈥�

Standing at the front of his class at 脕nimo Pat Brown Charter High School in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood of South Los Angeles, the teacher reminded his students that whether or not they are U.S. citizens, they have 鈥渢he duty to be the protectors of democracy and of each other.鈥� Snyder teaches about 140 students across five government classes, including one AP course. Of the roughly 600 students enrolled at 脕nimo Pat Brown, almost all of them are Hispanic 鈥� their families hailing from Mexico, Guatemala, and elsewhere in Latin America.

Snyder also asked his students to write down one issue that they care about and how they think Trump鈥檚 election might impact it. The students chose abortion rights, the economy, constitutional norms, and, again and again, immigration. They shared their fears of mass deportations and stories of family members who had waited years for green cards they may never get.

鈥淢y main concern is how, even despite being a citizen, I still won鈥檛 be protected because my parents are immigrants,鈥� Natalie, 17, a student in Snyder鈥檚 AP U.S. Government and Politics class, told Chalkbeat.

This was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

While Americans of voting age struggle to navigate the political landscape, educators, parents and community leaders must also attend to the needs of the next generation. Today鈥檚 K-12 students will be tomorrow鈥檚 voters, legislators and civic leaders, and teachers play an essential role in helping them develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes they will need to fulfill their civic responsibilities.

The role of social studies teachers in fostering civic learning is obvious, but educators in all subjects can contribute to building a more informed and responsible citizenry. Science teachers, for instance, can help students about climate change, vaccines, even Vitamin C. Math teachers can provide strategies for the accurate interpretation of statistics or charts. From the earliest grades, teachers are responsible for helping students learn to interact constructively with their peers, be open to ideas that might differ from their own and apply a critical lens to information they receive. This all directly relates to civic learning and engagement.

At the same time, educators face challenges associated with cultivating responsible citizens, including the increasing politicization of school curricula. In a recent Education Week of principals, nearly a third cited the political, controversial nature of civics as a barrier to teaching it. In Wisconsin, educators increasing political pressures and restrictions on teaching about elections. Moreover, opportunities for high-quality civic learning are deeply , with young people in marginalized communities lacking access to experiences that promote civic readiness. These disparities almost certainly contribute to differences in performance on of civic learning. 

Our team at the American Institutes for Research wanted to understand educators鈥� opinions about schools鈥� responsibilities for supporting students’ civic learning and the conditions that might influence their teaching in this area. In late 2022, when schools were confronting ongoing challenges such as COVID-19, systemic racism and the role of social media, we a nationally representative sample of K-12 public school teachers in all subject areas about their views on civics education. 

More than 80% of respondents said it was very important or essential for schools to help students develop civics-related knowledge, skills and attitudes, including a commitment to democracy and an ability to engage effectively in civic life. For the most part, these data

points were consistent across subjects, grade levels and geographical locations, even on complicated topics such as the lasting impact of slavery.

These results indicate that most teachers are committed to fostering civics learning. They

also point to several actions that policymakers and education leaders could take to

help advance schools鈥� civics goals:

• Offer better professional learning. Although 84% of teachers said they feel it is very important or essential for schools to promote a commitment to democracy, only half reported being very or extremely confident in their ability to teach this topic. Sixty percent of respondents agreed that they needed more professional learning in this area.
  
• Provide guidance on navigating restrictions on civics-related instruction. About 30% of respondents said they had received directives from district or school leadership to limit discussions about political or social issues. By comparison, 70% cited pressure to show progress on standardized tests in other subjects as a significant barrier to teaching civics.
  
• Communicate more clearly about state standards. Academic standards can communicate states鈥� goals and encourage instruction aligned with those goals 鈥� but only if teachers are aware of them. Although has standards related to civics, 47% of surveyed teachers reported not knowing whether their own states had them. State and district leaders should help teachers of all subjects understand and implement standards related to civic learning.

The results from our survey make it clear that teachers nationwide believe schools should foster students鈥� civic development, but that they need additional support to do this effectively. It is in the interest of all Americans to help ensure that educators have the resources, guidance and autonomy they will need to fulfill this critical responsibility. Our findings add to a growing body of research that suggests a need for standards, assessment systems, professional learning and instructional guidance that help teachers of all grade levels and subjects integrate civic content into their instruction in ways that are nonpartisan and grounded in evidence. 

Misinformation and disinformation will continue to threaten political and civic engagement, but by supporting teachers today, policymakers and education leaders can help them ensure that tomorrow鈥檚 voters can handle it.

Ahead of Election Day, join 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute for a special conversation about families, education politics and how parents鈥� rising influence could shape the results at the ballot box next month. 鈥淭he Politics of Education: Parent Voice and People Power” will stream Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. ET.

In the replay below, you’ll hear from such leaders and experts as Georgia State Senator Jason Esteves, former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools Howard Fuller, National Parents Union鈥檚 Keri Rodrigues Langan, and 社区黑料鈥檚 Jo Napolitano. Curtis Valentine of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project will moderate.

Recent EDlection 2024 coverage from 社区黑料: 

• Amid GOP Calls for Bible in Public Schools, Some Religious Voters are Tuning Out
  
• Opinion: How to Talk to Your Children About Politics, Abortion and America鈥檚 Future
  
• School Choice Questions Dominate November Ballot Propositions
  
• Long a Stranger to the Spotlight, Child Tax Credit Earns Embrace of Both Parties
  
• Opinion: Want to Win Over Male Voters? Harris Should Talk about Boys Failing in School

When I was growing up, a question like this would have been deflected with, 鈥淚鈥檒l tell you when you鈥檙e older.鈥� But with the internet at nearly every child鈥檚 fingertips, vague answers won鈥檛 suffice anymore. Kids are curious, and if their parents don鈥檛 provide answers, a query to Alexa or a Google search will.

I explained the basics of pregnancy, which she already understood, and described abortion as a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy. We discussed the spectrum of beliefs on when, if ever, abortion is acceptable, and compared the laws in our home state of New York with those in Mississippi, where abortion access has been severely restricted. This led to a discussion of federalism, which I broke down in terms she could grasp: how states can set different laws based on local political opinions and lawmakers.

My goal wasn鈥檛 to push my own views, but to give her the tools to think critically about the issue. Like so many other moments in parenting, this conversation wasn鈥檛 about giving her the 鈥渞ight鈥� answer 鈥� it was about guiding her to ask questions and take a broad look at things.

Talking about abortion, or any political topic, is daunting. But with at least , and with the presidential and vice presidential candidates being asked about the issue in multiple forums, kids will inevitably encounter these terms and concepts.

In today鈥檚 polarized climate, parents often feel ill-equipped to navigate these weighty subjects with their children, so . But these discussions are too important to avoid. The responsibility of raising informed, engaged citizens falls on the family. 

Parents shape how their children perceive politics. While schools might cover civics basics, conversations at home are where kids truly start to understand and navigate the wider world around them. It鈥檚 where they learn that politics isn鈥檛 just something shown on TV or happening in Washington, D.C. 鈥� it affects their lives and futures. And parents get only four 鈥� or fewer 鈥� presidential elections to focus on how high-stakes political discussions ought to look before their kids reach voting age.

Here are three strategies for making political discussions with kids more meaningful during election season:

First, recognize your role. Children look to their parents to make sense of the world, politics included. Families are their first teachers 鈥� not because they have all the answers, but because they can model the importance of coming together to explore questions about government and politics. If kids see their parents avoiding political topics because they鈥檙e uncomfortable, they鈥檒l likely shy away from them too. But by approaching these subjects with curiosity, children will learn to question, debate and seek out different perspectives. These skills will serve them not only in their civic engagement, but in all areas of life. 

Second, restrain your negativity. It鈥檚 easy for parents, or anyone, to slip into negativity, especially when discussing politicians they don鈥檛 like. But constantly disparaging politics or government can shrink children鈥檚 desire to engage with civic life. If all they hear is how broken the system is, why get involved? Instead, model productive political discourse 鈥� teaching them to disagree respectfully and value different perspectives.

Third, humanize government. Don鈥檛 let politics become an abstract thing: Introduce your kids to the people who represent them, whether it鈥檚 by attending a local event or writing a letter to an elected official. Show them that politicians are accessible and that their work has a direct impact on their constituents’ lives. These interactions help kids see government not as a distant, faceless entity, but as real people working (or sometimes failing) to solve problems. 

It is the job of parents to help kids understand politics is part of life. Navigating these conversations is necessary for raising children prepared to shape a better political climate. So, when your child asks, 鈥淲hat is an abortion?鈥� or 鈥淲hy are you voting?鈥� 鈥� don鈥檛 brush it off. Don鈥檛 assume they鈥檙e too young. Welcome the conversation. It might be challenging, but it鈥檚 a necessary step in raising the next generation of engaged citizens. They are the ones who will inherit American democracy; make sure they鈥檙e prepared to lead it toward a brighter future.

So Cormack, who teaches at Stevens Institute of Technology and just on civic engagement, was surprised when they expressed excitement. They were 鈥渁ll on board鈥� 鈥� with Kamala Harris, Biden鈥檚 vice president, who had yet to become Trump鈥檚 direct challenger.

No matter. They thought the VP was, in a word, hilarious 鈥� and worth their attention.

Harris鈥� 2023 鈥溾�� video had already gone viral. In it, she recounts her mother giving her sister and her 鈥渁 hard time sometimes,鈥� saying, 鈥溾�業 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?鈥欌�� Harris cracks up, then continues with her mother鈥檚 lesson: 鈥溾�榊ou exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.鈥欌�� 

Cormack鈥檚 students not only knew the video 鈥� they could recite it from memory. She thought to herself, 鈥淥.K., there’s .鈥�

What Cormack witnessed was the ascension of Harris in the minds and social media feeds of young people. It was the prequel to a new phenomenon: the candidate-as-meme, at a time when both candidates desperately need young people to pay attention to them. Whether it translates into votes from this stubborn demographic in November remains an open question.

At the moment, it seems to be working for Harris, 59, whose social media effort is driven by an army of volunteers creating a firehose of memes on her behalf.

By the time Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, Harris had actually been young people鈥檚 feeds for weeks. Fans posted cleverly cut treatments of her speeches, her , (in and out ), even her love of .

As early as , one X user posted, 鈥淚鈥檓 ready to fall outta the coconut tree for you, girl. Stop playin.鈥�

鈥業t鈥檚 hard not to love her鈥�

For one fan, the attraction began much earlier.

Ryan Long, 22, a senior at the University of Delaware, discovered Harris in November 2016, when she won her Senate seat. She popped up on his cultural radar in earnest four years later, when she became Biden鈥檚 vice president. Her appearances often took on a life of their own, he recalled: She鈥檇 say 鈥渁 lot of silly and amusing things鈥� in official settings. 鈥淚’ve always found her so, so funny.鈥�

Harris鈥� self-professed geek tendencies soon prompted him and his housemates to decorate a whiteboard with the saying, 鈥淚 love Venn diagrams.鈥� It stayed up for about a year. The hilarity of the 鈥淐oconut Tree鈥� video made it 鈥渞eally popular on 鈥� about a year and a half before it hit the mainstream, he said.

Long admitted to not typically following politics. But by the beginning of July, when a poll in his X feed suggested that Harris had a better chance of beating Trump than Biden did, he got excited.

鈥淚t was a silly, unrealistic excitement,鈥� he said. But that night, he spent about three hours cutting together his favorite bits of Harris footage.

why did I stay up till 3am making a von dutch brat coconut tree edit featuring kamala harris and why can鈥檛 I stop watching it on repeat

鈥� ryan (@ryanlong03)

尝辞苍驳鈥檚 of Harris speaking, laughing and dancing has garnered about 4.3 million views on X and helped create a template for the genre. 鈥淪he is a fresh face at a time that there [is] so much disillusionment in politics, especially among young people,鈥� he said. 

Now that she鈥檚 the Democratic nominee, she offers the potential to bring a lot of young people along for the ride, Long said. 

In that sense, she is much like Trump, who 鈥渉as this huge cult of personality. He’s able to make riffs, say things off the cuff, make people laugh, make people excited, make people sad, make people just feel their emotions. And I think Kamala Harris does that for a whole other subsection of voters.鈥�

By comparison, Biden鈥檚 push to reach young voters via social media and all but non-existent to many.

For his part, Trump has benefited from the efforts his own devoted fans, who have reveled in his ties to and his after the attempt on his life last month. The campaign has also gotten a boost from a small on the right who have become a 鈥渟hadow online ad agency鈥� for his campaign, spending the past year producing similar content for the GOP nominee. The group, which calls itself , operates anonymously, its memes 鈥渞iddled with racist stereotypes, demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people and broad scatological humor,鈥� The New York Times last December.

鈥楢uthentic and true鈥� narratives attract Gen Z

To be sure, the reaction to Harris on social media has been unprecedented. Jessica Siles, a spokesperson for the Gen-Z-led advocacy group , said she had stopped counting how many conversations she has had with people about what it means to be 鈥渂rat.鈥�

That adjective comes compliments of British singer Charli XCX, who on July 21 , 鈥渒amala IS brat,鈥� defining the term as 鈥渢hat girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some like dumb things sometimes.鈥� She鈥檚 honest, blunt 鈥� and a bit volatile.

It all adds up to a kind of authenticity “that young people really resonate with,鈥� said Siles. 

Even U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona tried to get in on the act, posting on X in the lime green color of the moment that 鈥淒efending public education is part of the essence of brat summer.鈥� To some, it appeared, as the kids say, a little cringe. One critic, invoking the iconic scene from 鈥�30 Rock,鈥� , 鈥淗ow do you do, fellow kids?”

Defending public education is part of the essence of brat summer.

鈥� Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona)

Most Gen-Zers were indeed kids the last time a meme-worthy candidate ran for president. Siles, 24, was just 8 years old when Barack Obama ran his first presidential campaign. She said seeing a candidate talk about who they are unapologetically while boasting impressive career accomplishments 鈥渋s just super refreshing to young voters.鈥� 

Gen Z grew up with these. 鈥淪o I think we’re kind of uniquely qualified to be able to tell who’s posting something authentically or not,鈥� she said. Young people don鈥檛 take the time to create, edit, post and share videos of 鈥減eople they’re not truly excited about.鈥�

Harris began resonating with Siles after she watched a video of the vice president talking about her mother鈥檚 cancer. Siles remembered that it 鈥渟howed a different side that we don’t always see of elected officials and politicians that I thought was really powerful.鈥�

In the three days after Harris announced her candidacy, Siles鈥� organization got more applications to join and start new chapters than in the prior two months.

The group, whose chief of staff is all of 16, earlier this year by making mischief in the race: It scooped up unused Web domain names for groups such as GenZforTrump.org and guided viewers to that targets young voters in battleground states. It also launched a digital ad campaign on Instagram and Snapchat.

David Paleologos, director of the in Boston, said there鈥檚 no question that social media has trained young people鈥檚 attention on Harris, who needs the votes: Exit polls from 2020 suggest that Biden beat Trump by 24 percentage points among voters ages 18-29. Harris hasn’t quite reached those margins among potential young voters in the recent polling, he said, but she鈥檚 close 鈥� up by about 20 points. 

In order to reach 2020 levels in the next three months, she鈥檒l need a social media strategy of “messaging memeology,” Paleologos said, which strings together 鈥渁 seemingly haphazard sequence of posts that paint a picture, much like the colorful stones in a mosaic.鈥�

However, he said, one risk of that is staying power: 鈥淚t only lasts until the next meme about someone else captures that young person’s short attention span.鈥� Research also shows that young voters are the least participatory in elections.

Just like clockwork, since she announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Aug. 6, the have .

鈥業 hate how I can feel the propaganda鈥�

To be sure, not all young people are totally sold on the coconut memes or the high energy. In , a 19-year-old user from southwestern Missouri who goes by the username 鈥淢eatball鈥� looks into the camera and confesses, 鈥淚 hate how I can feel the propaganda of the Kamala campaign working on me.鈥� 

In the video, posted July 24, she continues, 鈥淧art of me is like, 鈥榊ass queen, purr! Brat Summer! Kamala Harris!鈥� And then I’m like, 鈥極h my God, that’s a politician, actually. That’s the vice president of the United States.鈥� Like, I’m still going to vote for her, but I don’t like feeling like I want to vote for her.鈥�

In an interview via text messages, Meatball, who asked to withhold her name for safety reasons, said she posted the video after getting 鈥渃ountless鈥� Harris-related videos on her 鈥淔or You鈥� page 鈥� a few from Harris鈥� official account. “I wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing this disconnect between wanting to participate in something fun and not trusting politicians,鈥� she said.

It鈥檚 safe to say they do: In three weeks, her video garnered 1.8 million views and more than 289,000 鈥渓ikes.鈥� 

But Meatball said she wishes older generations understood that Gen Z鈥檚 opinions 鈥渁ren’t less thought out just because we share them in unconventional ways鈥� like TikToks. 鈥淢eme culture is complex and has been developing since the creation of the internet chat room. Just because an older person doesn’t understand what we’re saying doesn’t mean we aren’t saying anything at all.鈥�

Long, the Delaware student who posted the X video of Harris, predicted the memes and videos will have a big effect. 

He has worked in e-commerce marketing and has seen the power of social media to convert views into sales. 鈥淚 think the same principle applies for elections: It’s going to turn people out. It’s going to get them excited.鈥�

Kamala Harris鈥� new running mate is an unabashedly progressive midwestern governor who appeals to veterans, hunters and football fans. If elected, he鈥檇 also be the first K-12 educator since Lyndon Johnson to be vice president, boasting the deepest connection to public schools of any candidate in recent memory.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is a former high school teacher and football coach who enacted a free college tuition program and expanded free school lunch statewide. But Walz, 60, a former congressional lawmaker who is in his second term as governor, may also carry left-of-center baggage that weighs down the ticket in a tight presidential race, observers said.

Walz rose to prominence earlier this year by informally leading Democrats鈥� turn to calling Republicans 鈥渨eird,鈥� suggesting in interviews that they鈥檙e out of touch and relying on culture-war fodder instead of issues Americans care about. 

Tim Walz first year as a high school football coach and geography teacher

鈥� Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE)

鈥淲ho鈥檚 sitting in a bar in Racine, Wisconsin, saying, 鈥榊ou know what we really need? We need to ban 鈥淎nimal Farm.鈥濃�� Nobody is!鈥� Walz with MSNBC.

In a introducing himself released by the campaign Tuesday, Walz described the 鈥渟mall-town鈥� values he learned growing up in Nebraska and later tried to instill in his students: 鈥渞espect, compromise, service to country. And so when I went into government, that’s what I carried with me.鈥�

Harris echoed those themes in a speech at Temple University in Philadelphia Tuesday evening, calling him 鈥渢he kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having and that every kid deserves.鈥�

As governor, Walz put forward an education agenda that unions have cheered, signing a nearly state budget last year that significantly increased funding for the state鈥檚 public schools. He also signed into law a new $1,750-per-child tax credit that he said will help reduce childhood poverty.

Walz enacted for Minnesota families earning less than $80,000 per year. Analysts predict it鈥檒l cost the state around $117 million in fiscal year 2025 and $49.5 million annually after that.

With a $17.5 billion budget surplus last year, Walz promised 鈥渢o put it behind our teachers so we can educate our children.”

Despite the 鈥渉istoric鈥� spending, school districts throughout Minnesota last spring were facing massive cuts, the one-two punch of the end of COVID recovery aid and enrollment losses. 

The state鈥檚 second-largest district, St. Paul Public Schools, projects a $150 million deficit for the 2024-25 academic year. Minneapolis Public Schools anticipates a $116 million shortfall. And even the most prosperous Twin Cities suburbs must explain the disconnect to families who moved there for their well-funded schools.

Free lunch for all

Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard after high school and attended Chadron State College. He earned a social science degree in 1989, and spent a year in one of the first government-sanctioned groups of American educators to teach in China.

Walz went on to serve full time in the Army National Guard, retiring in 2005 as a command sergeant major. 

He and his wife, Gwen, met while teaching in Nebraska. They worked together at Mankato, Minn., West High School, where he taught social studies and coached football. She taught English and later served as a district administrator. 

Former colleagues said the couple were powerhouse teachers who balanced out each other鈥檚 energy-levels. He was animated, they . She was more reserved.

鈥淗e came in very outgoing, very gregarious,鈥� former social studies teacher Pat Griffiths told The Post. 鈥淚f there were 100 people in a room and 99 loved him, he would work on the one who didn鈥檛 until they did too.鈥�

Another colleague told of a prank that a group of teachers played on Walz during his first semester there: They printed out a fake gift certificate for a free turkey as a bogus 鈥渨elcome gift,鈥� to be collected at a local grocery store. 

Walz returned to school with the turkey. 

In 2006, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating a Republican incumbent in Minnesota鈥檚 rural First District, which typically leans Republican. He served six terms before being elected governor in 2018.

These days, Walz is widely known on the national stage for last year鈥檚 Minnesota Free School Meals law, which made school breakfast and lunch free for all students, regardless of income. It made Minnesota the fourth state to do so after California, Colorado and Maine. Currently, offer free meals to all students.

At the time, Walz said the measure 鈥減uts us one step closer to making Minnesota the best state for kids to grow up.鈥�

During debate on the bill in March 2023, state Sen. Steve Drazkowski, a Republican, questioned whether food insecurity was even an issue in the state, saying, 鈥淚 have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry. I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don鈥檛 have access to enough food to eat.鈥�

A video of his speech went viral, garnering on X and plenty of criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Recent coverage suggests that though the program is popular and the state鈥檚 surplus helps keep it afloat, the free-meals program than expected: an extra $81 million over the next two years and $95 million in the two years after that.

Walz has also criticized education savings accounts, saying they don鈥檛 help rural areas. Support for these accounts, championed by conservatives, may have hurt Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro鈥檚 prospects to become Harris鈥� running mate. 

A lifelong hunter, Walz shifted substantially on gun safety, moving from an 鈥淎鈥� rating from the National Rifle Association in 2016 to endorsing an assault weapons ban after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. At the time, Walz said his then-17-year-old daughter asked him to do more on gun safety. He donated his NRA contributions to charity.

The move turned his rating to 鈥渟traight F’s,鈥� . 鈥淎nd I sleep just fine.鈥�

On Tuesday, after word leaked about Harris picking Walz, gun safety activist and Parkland survivor David Hogg on X, 鈥淚鈥檓 smiling a mile wide right now.鈥� 

Extreme or Norman Rockwell?

Policies like these have earned Walz endorsements on the left 鈥� American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Tuesday called him 鈥渁n unabashed champion for public education, for educators and workers.鈥� 

It also doesn鈥檛 hurt that Mary Cathryn Ricker, Walz鈥檚 first state education commissioner, was a former AFT vice president. Before that, she led the St. Paul Federation of Teachers.

At Temple University Tuesday evening, Walz spoke of his 20-year career as a teacher and his wife鈥檚 29-year tenure, saying, 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever underestimate teachers.鈥�

Walz鈥檚 career nearly derailed when he was pulled over in a drunk driving incident as a 31-year-old teacher in Nebraska. As the reported, he was stopped for driving 96 mph in a 55-mph zone. He failed a field sobriety test, but later pleaded guilty to reckless driving, a misdemeanor. He left the state in 1996, when he continued teaching and coaching football in Mankato.

Invoking his time as a coach there, Harris said he was a role model 鈥� on and off the field. She recounted the story of one of the first openly gay students at Walz鈥檚 school, who sought to start a gay-straight alliance 鈥渁t a time when acceptance was difficult to find.鈥�

Harris said Walz 鈥渒new the signal that it would send to have a football coach get involved. So he signed up to be the group’s faculty advisor. And as students have said, he made the school a safe place for everybody.鈥�

But in a tight race, Walz’s progressive credentials could spell trouble for Harris, said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the conservative .

Hess called the Walz pick 鈥渁n odd choice鈥� in a race in which Harris already has teachers鈥� union backing but needs to shore up support among independents and conservatives. He suggested that Shapiro might have been a better match for those constituencies.

鈥淵ou couldn’t get the NEA and AFT working any harder for Harris than they already are,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he’s already broken out 鈥榯he full pander鈥� for them.鈥�

Hess said Harris likely chose Walz as a 鈥渧ibe pick鈥� who suits midwesterners in style if not substance: 鈥淗e looks like a big, burly high school football coach, assistant principal, kind of sensible guy from Middle America鈥� who served in the military, 鈥渨hereas Shapiro looks like an investment banker. Part of the calculation might be that that visual is worth plenty.鈥�

Harris may also be trying to 鈥渂uy herself a lot more leeway with the left so she can keep tacking back to the middle on issues 鈥� and the left will be happy because they feel like Walz is one of them.鈥�

It鈥檚 possible centrists or moderates in battleground states will be swayed by Walz, Hess said, but his progressive policy solutions could stop them in their tracks. 鈥淭he guy’s a high school teacher who has been in the National Guard for 20 years,鈥� he said. 鈥淗is politics are extreme, but his profile, his biography, is about as Norman Rockwell as you can get.鈥�

That moment when you鈥檙e a union president, and find out that a teacher and union member is going to be the next vice-president.

We鈥檙e excited for former public school teacher & AFT member to join on the ballot this November!

鈥� AFT (@AFTunion)

But Chris Stewart, CEO of and an education blogger based in Minneapolis, said framing Walz in traditional political terms is misleading. Minnesota may be progressive, but it鈥檚 鈥渘ot wild and crazy. We’re not San Francisco. 鈥� I don’t think people know how purple Minnesota can be,鈥� he said of . 

Despite the divide, Stewart said, Walz has succeeded with a 鈥渧ery slim majority鈥� in the state legislature. 

But rather than judging Walz on a 鈥渓eft-right continuum,鈥� he said, we should look at him as 鈥渏ust a better version of a great American Democrat. He is not left or right in the way that we traditionally think about things. He kind of breaks that binary.鈥�

The results come from a that polled 1,518 parents of K-12 public school students conducted by the National Parents Union between May 7-11. 

鈥淲e can point to the fact that parents still feel good about schools,鈥� said founding president and 社区黑料 contributor Keri Rodrigues 鈥淸and] still feel good about teachers 鈥� There鈥檚 a lot of bright spots around the fact that parents are still fully invested in public education and that 鈥� contrary to what we might be hearing from the voucher folks 鈥� that there鈥檚 no fear of parents completely walking away from America鈥檚 public education system and moving towards 鈥榙o-it-yourself鈥� methods.鈥� 

Vouchers, which let parents use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools, have in the last several years. At the same time, more parents are experimenting with alternative schooling methods, including homeschooling and microschools. 

The majority of parents (72%) also expressed confidence in their kids鈥� principals and schools for meeting overall expectations. 

But, according to the survey 鈥� dubbed 鈥淭he Parent Report Card鈥� 鈥� as parents considered the outer echelons of the education system, their confidence began to wane. Just over half rated their superintendents and school boards favorably, a figure that continued to drop for state governors (45%), U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona (32%) and President Joe Biden (33%). That last number is lower than the president’s overall 37% approval rating among respondents nationwide, according to a Reuters/Ipsos released June 28.

Rodrigues said this is evidence of the disconnect between families and those in power at the state and federal level. 

鈥淚 always encourage [elected officials] to go back and listen to the people who are experiencing what is going on in classrooms: our young people,鈥� Rodrigues said. 鈥淚f you have a problem with parent and family engagement, talk to the parents and families. They will tell you why they鈥檙e not engaged. [You] need to do the work, too.鈥�

There has been a significant gap 鈥� averaging 31 percentage points 鈥� between parents鈥� favorable views of their own child鈥檚 education and Americans鈥� more critical take on U.S. education at large since at least 1999, according to almost 25 years of The most recent data from last year鈥檚 survey saw the second-largest gap to date: 40 points, second only to the 42-point divide in 2000.  

Megan Brenan, senior researcher at Gallup, credits this almost-record setting number to underlying parisian divides, with Republicans expressing the lowest satisfaction with the public education system at large (25%) to date. This also marked the largest gap in history between Democrat and Republican satisfaction, with a 19 percentage point difference. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing the biggest partisan gaps on a whole lot of measures right now,鈥� she said, reflecting America’s deep polarization. 

According to last year鈥檚 Gallup survey, only 36% of Americans are satisfied with K-12 education quality, matching a record low in 2000. Despite this, parents remain mostly pleased with the education their oldest child is receiving, with just over three-quarters reporting they are completely or somewhat satisfied, numbers that reflect historical averages. The vast majority of parents also support their children鈥檚 teachers, with the majority rating their performance as excellent (36%) or good (37%).

鈥淭his is kind of a pattern that we see over a number of measures where Americans are much more likely to rate national measures lower than their own,鈥� Brenan said. 鈥淪o we see this with crime: that people say, 鈥極h, crime in the U.S. is at a high, but my neighborhood is fine.鈥� We see it with their own congressmen. It鈥檚 very much like, 鈥業 hate Congress but my congressman deserves to be re-elected.鈥� And if you look at the trend in education, then you also see this is something which has held up throughout …. I think it鈥檚 just [that] they can relate more to their own personal situation than they can to the national picture.鈥�

One reason why may be that schools are often the centers of communities, said Joshua Cowen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University. 

鈥淭hat’s where you start to see this point of personal contact that matters to people in terms of what they want to protect,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲hen it’s framed as this large, bureaucratic, nebulous system, then that’s where I think you see these negative results. But [it鈥檚 different] when you’re talking about your community, your kids, your football team, maybe your employer or your spouse’s employer.鈥�

When thinking about the role these views on education might play in November鈥檚 presidential election, though, Brenan, the Gallup researcher, argued that there are a number of other issues eclipsing education in voters鈥� minds. 

鈥淭he fact that they鈥檙e personally satisfied with their own children鈥檚 education might have something to do with that,鈥� she said, adding, 鈥淚 think education is always there as an issue kind of in the background. And unless these other matters 鈥� like immigration and the economy 鈥� are solved before election day, I鈥檓 not sure this is the year that education is going to get its due.鈥�

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to the National Parents Union and to 社区黑料.

鈥淚 spoke in support of the resolution 鈥� for our students, our patients, our families, our communities, our democracy and ourselves!鈥� union President Randi Weingarten wrote on from the AFT鈥檚 2024 convention in Houston. 鈥淟et鈥檚 win this!鈥�

The delegates ratified the AFT Executive Council鈥檚 unanimous vote Sunday evening to endorse Harris, mere hours after President Joe Biden upended the race with his historic announcement that he was giving up his embattled candidacy. The council鈥檚 swift action positioned the country鈥檚 second-largest teachers union as one of the first major labor organizations to get behind the vice president.

鈥淰ice President Harris has fought alongside Joe Biden to deliver historic accomplishments and create a better life for all Americans,鈥� Weingarten said in the statement released early Sunday evening.

鈥淭rump left his successor a country in crisis and chaos, with soaring inflation and an economy in free fall,鈥� she added. 鈥淛oe Biden and Kamala Harris turned it around. They stabilized schools, saved pensions for hundreds of thousands of retired union workers and remade the economy.鈥澛�

The AFT has placed its significant political heft alongside other key unions supporting Harris, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation鈥檚 largest private sector union, and the United Farm Workers, the nation鈥檚 largest farm workers鈥� union.

The labor endorsements followed Biden鈥檚 own for Harris and were promptly joined by a chorus of other , including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bill and Hillary Clinton and several governors, who were either being considered themselves as potential Biden successors or , such as Michigan鈥檚 Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona also came out in support of Harris on Sunday.

After Biden鈥檚 announcement, Weingarten scrambled to rewrite some of her planned remarks at the kickoff to the convention, according to reporting from Just earlier that morning she criticized efforts to push Biden out of the race, telling Weekly Education, 鈥淭his fantasy that billionaire donors are having, that they can yoke this away from the president because they don鈥檛 like his performance at the debate, is wrong.鈥� 

By the afternoon, though, she emphasized the importance of uniting around

In Harris鈥檚 for president, she advocated for universal preschool and free college and called for a $13,500 raise for every teacher by the end of her first term.

Becky Pringle, president of the nation鈥檚 largest teacher鈥檚 union, the National Education Association, took a different approach to the game-changing news, leaving out any mention of Harris in her tweets Sunday thanking President Biden for his service. Instead, she noted that the NEA will 鈥渞enew our efforts to ensure he is succeeded by a leader equally dedicated to building the future our students, educators, and families deserve.鈥�

The can be found below.

Rather than thinking about bipartisanship in the traditional sense, advocates should consider a cross-partisan approach. This means achieving policy success despite support across the political divide, not because of it. Advocates who seek cross-partisan success will need to think of ways to communicate and motivate policymakers based on what these political actors care about most 鈥� animating their core constituencies. Initiatives that offer wins for all involved, even from different ideological perspectives, can unite stakeholders around shared progress.

While achieving cross-partisan agreement in a divided political environment may seem daunting, there are .

Take civics education: a significant focus for both political parties, given that 80% of likely voters value it highly. States are rolling out , like Indiana鈥檚 requirement for a and Utah鈥檚 grants for that promote innovation in teaching and learning. By signaling a renewed focus on civics and allowing for local control within state standards, these efforts gained broad appeal, promoting both national pride (an important value on the right) and civic engagement (an important value on the left).

Civics initiatives and other successful policies are characterized by several key practices: 

Clear Communication and Broad Appeal: Policy initiatives must be easy to communicate in order to build a broad base of support. The success of the science of reading, for example, demonstrates the power of simplicity and relatability in communication. This initiative gained widespread traction when advocates articulated a clear, compelling message about the failures of reading curricula then in place and the importance of evidence-based literacy instruction. The problem and solutions were easy to understand and resonated deeply among voters spanning the political spectrum. With parents and teachers aligned, policymakers eagerly followed, resulting in swift legislative changes in .

Responsiveness to Local Concerns: It has been famously said that all politics is local. Policy solutions tailored to specific local problems can transcend political polarization. The , for example, allows teachers’ licenses to be recognized in all 11 member states. This is of particular concern to military families, who relocate frequently, often . By responding directly to their unique needs, the compact earned cross-partisan support by solving a universally recognized, and highly local, problem.

Political Cover: When a change in policy is new or potentially controversial, it helps for there to be support or a mandate from a higher political or legal power. In the overhaul of , for example, political cover was provided by an immovable deadline required by law, the support of the governor and a significant commitment to a public feedback process. After the bipartisan state Board of Education rejected the first draft, several months of work by board members, school officials and advocacy organizations produced a new version. The board held six public meetings around the state and took a leadership role in driving the process. Despite what began as a highly politicized process, new standards emerged because of the board’s mandate 鈥� members didn鈥檛 have the option to argue about their opinions, were required to act and had to do it together. While the undertaking was long and messy, it ultimately led to standards that were accepted by the board, the governor and the community, reflecting a compromise across differing viewpoints that was hailed in the as a .

Mutual Wins: In politics, everyone is trying to achieve a win for their side. A key to cross-partisan success is finding a path for each side to claim victory. Efforts to , in states such as Arkansas, and , as in and , demonstrate the potential for policies to deliver wins for all stakeholders. By identifying shared goals such as educational quality and civic responsibility, but allowing each side to prioritize those goals differently, these initiatives allow for political independence but ultimately arrive at the same policy destination.

Strategic Use of Media: It is undeniable that media is powerful in shaping public policy 鈥� for example, the influence of the “Sold a Story” podcast on reading instruction reforms. This piece of investigative journalism catalyzed a wave of legislation focused on evidence-based reading practices, showcasing how media can effectively accelerate educational reforms by highlighting research-backed solutions, elevating the voices of parents and teachers, and mobilizing public and legislative support.

A cross-partisan approach could be the new strategic imperative for success in education policy, both for legislative wins and the long-term benefit of children and communities. Different political actors may need to take different roads to the ultimate destination of a common-ground solution. But the success of all students, and the country, depends on getting there together.