The State of Public Education in America Leaves a Lot to be Desired
The American Solidarity Party places great value on education, believing it to be a right that is vital to the formation of the human person and the good of society.
American Solidarity Party principles suggest that an ideal community would ensure affordable, diverse, and well-rounded educational options. Reality, however, is unfortunately rarely ideal.
Due to a lack of objective attitudes and the inflexible economics of many state and municipal governments, a family with school-aged children may believe that public education - at the mercy of the local school board - is their only viable option.
If a family is blessed to reside in a local school district that is accountable to parents and transparent about its curriculum, a public education can be a positive experience and a valuable tool for increasing in maturity, knowledge, and even interpersonal skills.
However, the misfortune of residing in a district such as Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools, can deliver disastrous results under the guise of education.
That school district, immediately northwest of Washington D.C., was sued by parents and eventually went before the United States Supreme Court. The successful legal action was taken in order to get the Montgomery County schools to allow parents to opt their elementary children out of language arts lessons using LGBTQ+-themed storybooks based on religious objections.
While the June 2025 ruling against Montgomery County Public Schools in Mahmoud v. Taylor might have captured national attention, local dramas that put families at risk are regularly enacted in school board meetings across America.
Fifteen miles west of downtown Chicago, well-heeled Elmhurst, Illinois, was the site of angry controversy between parents and the school board in the spring of 2023.
York High School's English department proposed a novel, American Street by Ibi Zoboi, as required reading for freshmen. The school board discussed the book, which contains a recorded 339 swear words, 37 incidents of drug and alcohol abuse, 55 sexual incidents, and 32 violent incidents, and is written at a third-grade reading level. The board’s pending approval of the book–described by one district parent as “vulgar, misogynistic, sexually explicit, pornographic, and far below grade level”–was eventually tabled, apparently only in the face of legal ramifications.
As horrific as that might seem to some, members of that school board were not particularly concerned about parental rights. One still sitting school board member stated in writing, “I would definitely not take any input from someone who is not an educator,” and another publicly posted, “…parents who do not vaccinate and their kid dies of preventable diseases (or other kids) should be charged with murder in my opinion.”
In fairness, not every public education entity in America operates with such an egregious level of offensiveness to and disregard for the families they exist to serve. Still, stories like these highlight a disturbing trend in some educational circles.
The official mission of the (soon potentially impotent) U.S. Department of Education is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
By comparison, education according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is the process of teaching and learning, the knowledge gained from study, and the method of shaping character and skills.
While not totally in sync, neither understanding of education appears to advocate the ideological indoctrination role that some educational institutions seem to have adopted.
It would truly be naive to assume that any modern society would be able to replicate any set of perfectly executed ideals. This could be a wonderful opportunity to step up and run for the local school board, advocating for the values we desire to be modeled for our children. In the meantime, is it too much to ask that our public schools, educators, and administrators enact their roles and serve their key constituents with the respect implicit in their ascribed duty to teach our children with the dignity entitled to each and every human being?
Lori Solyom
Lori is the Director of Communications for the American Solidarity Party.