Education Briefs
A report titled Voting with Their Feet released last month found that 1.4 million students were removed from traditional public schools during the first full school year since the pandemic, with nearly 240,000 students enrolling in charter schools. 
According to new data compiled by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "charter school enrollment increased during the 2020-21 school year in at least 39 states, the only segment of the public education sector to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic." In reporting on the data, an article in The Christian Post stated: "The lockdowns on public education prompted many parents to consider alternatives, as many states exempted private schools and other venues from government lockdown mandates." The report acknowledged that "it is premature to draw any conclusions about why charter school enrollment grew while enrollment in district public schools declined. And yet the pattern among states in this report is undeniable." The study found, as data from other sources have also shown, that "the trend of decline in public school enrollment began before the pandemic." The Post article concluded that clearly in the "unprecedented environment of the past 18 months, families are seeking solutions that will reliably meet their health and safety needs, their childcare needs, and the learning and socio-emotional needs of their children."
Public Charters.org
Seventeen state attorneys general have signed a letter to President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland opposing the Justice Department's criminalization of dissent by parents who advocate for their children at school board meetings. They reject Garland's "Memorandum" and his promised "series of measures" designed to address the alleged "crisis."
Their letter asserts that Garland's memo and its threats against the free speech of parents "are based upon a flawed premise, i.e. that there has been a nationwide spike in ‘threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff'"; that they "violate the First Amendment rights of parents to address school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff on educational matters by seeking to intimidate parents into silence"; and that they "intrude on the well-recognized First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of their children." These attorneys general charge that Garland's memo "appears to be based solely on a September 29, 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to President Biden calling for him to invoke ‘the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism,' arguing that as ‘acts of malice, violence and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.'" The attorneys general conclude by requesting that Garland "immediately withdraw the October 4, 2021 Memorandum, to immediately cease any further actions designed to intimidate parents from expressing their opinions on the education of their children," and they demand that Garland "respect [parents'] First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and to raise their children." Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita initiated the letter, and he was joined by his peers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
Virginia Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Glenn Youngkin says blame for the present chaos in the state's schools lies squarely at the feet of his 40-year career Democrat opponent, but also "at George Soros-backed allies in the left, liberal, progressive movement that have inserted political operatives into the system disguised as school boards." Youngkin made his comments at a campaign appearance in Burke, Virginia, adding that parents and families have the right to speak out
and that "we should have much more to say about what our children are taught." Youngkin has gone on record multiple times in support of Virginia parents who want critical race theory banned, and promises to do so as governor, despite repeated insistence by Virginia school officials that CRT is not being taught. Even the Washington Post admitted: "Some have acknowledged that initiatives like anti-bias trainings employ similar vocabulary such as the terms ‘white supremacy' and ‘systemic racism,' but say it doesn't mean the theory is being taught." Youngkin says parents know better, and that he wants to teach students how to think rather than what to think. He would also push for a strictly merit-based admissions process at schools like Fairfax County's prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and favors reinstating more rigorous testing. Youngkin believes students should be in the classroom five days a week and that only parents should make the decision as to whether their child should wear a mask. Election day is November 2, and concerned parents should make their voices heard. WUSA9, 10-20-21
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