This is sad because an education system is the source of a country's identity and economic strength.

turns out every child was left behind

But we can spend 1.5 trillion on a defense budget?

As the push goes toward private schools, it's now teachers working for a private company. No more pensions, no more unions, no more job security.

As a product of public school, and my wife a teacher, it’s a clear case:  public schools are chaotic where behavior control is a teachers main job.  My own kids need to learn, the best teacher can’t teach if the children are chaotic, and that directly detracts from our kids.  We can fill in some gaps, but the schools have to manage chaos rather than teach.

once all public schools close, then private school costs will go up significantly, and voucher will only cover 30%.  Be prepared to pay for tuition insurance.  Learn from the health insurance industry.

The high cost of raising children in America, combined with the poor quality of the education system in many areas, is a huge reason why people are choosing not to have kids. Parents are expected to spend an enormous amount of money just to give their children a decent life and education. If we want to make starting a family more attainable, we need to address both the cost of raising children and the quality of our schools.

Public School Teacher here ( Special Education & Kindergarten )  It was the " Powell Memo" in the 1970's written by a far right wing Corporate Lawyer= Lewis Powell who  became a Supreme Court Judge . At that time we had the LARGEST MIDDLE CLASS in the WORLD and PUBLIC SCHOOLS that were ADMIRED UNIVERSALLY=  In it he DESCRIBES the " THREAT of HAVING TOO MANY OVERLY EDUCATED YOUNG PEOPLE " who will demand GOOD WAGES and GOOD BENEFITS and BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS = After that MEMO he helped to get Reagan elected and in exchange he started to DE=FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS , GIVE GIANT TAX BREAKS to the VERY RICH and BILLIONS to the MILITARY and once FREE UNIVERSITIES are now UNAFFORDABLE =.  REAGAN DE-REGULATED everything he could which eventually led us to TRUMP and the GREATEST INCOME INEQUALITY in our HISTORY and the WORST PUBLIC SCHOOLS and EXPENSIVE College that used to be free   It all stared with ' The Powell Mem

Classic case of reducing funding to get it to not work to get everyone upset so they privatise it.

Iowa got vouchers a few years back. Private schools just upped their prices….

As a special education teacher, it infuriates me that special education is NEVER brought up when taking about vouchers and scholarships. No money for schools that discriminate!!!!!!

here's what i feel like needs to be addressed: the disproportionately high salaries of ADMIN. in my very limited experience in the field, i already have noticed this is where most of the issues in school lie. there are so many people in these high offices that are terrible at their jobs, making life more difficult for the educators (who are ACTUALLY caring for the students all day). it seems like these administrative positions are often redundant, too, and very difficult to get rid of unfit employees. burden on the taxpayer and ultimately the children as well. my two cents.

Every law makers child goes to private school. There is no incentive to fund public schools. That’s a waste of money.

In crisis implies an active ongoing issue. The public education K-12 in the US is in post crisis. It has failed.

Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein talks about this. Destroy public services intentionally, then privatize so profit can exist

I just left a school last year where we provided free breakfast and free lunch to all, as well as free after school snacks for those staying for free tutoring.  Our building was beautiful, we had loving, well-educated teachers and offered such clubs as Robotics and Chess.  We had a vibrant bi-lingual program.  But all our students wanted to do was fight and curse out teachers.  My son taught there and had a big chip taken out of his forehead when a student threw something at him.  I taught in public school for 50 years.  I'm done.

Public school teacher here. American schools have plenty of money. The problem is that the educational philosophy the public schools are subscribing to is faulty. There is WAY too much test prep, test focus, and dare I say test worship? And very little focus on teaching students things that make them knowledge, well-rounded members of society who actually know something.

I lived abroad in South America for some years where educational spending was abismal. Yet... people there were SO much more educated as a whole! They made us Americans look so ignorant. So no, money isn't everything.  And continuing to throw money at a public school system that is failing is missing the mark.

This is class war period. The people in power only want the poor kids to be smart enough to work some simple job that keeps them poor. Education in this country was originally designed for the labor force potential that would be available once the kids came of age. Now, college enrollment is down because a college education does not do much of anything for you in general. I went back to college later in life and missed my window of opportunity and my BS in science from a major university did almost nothing for me in the end except stick me and many others with a big bill. What jobs will be available for your kids when they finish high school or even college? Jobs that pay well are disappearing just like the equality in this country. The US is top ten for income inequality. So what is the motivation to get a high quality education anyway? The US is in decline and everyone around the world can see it. You can thank your politicians and the oligarchs for that, they don’t care about people that are below them. On average teachers have more and more students in their class with less and less resources to support it. Everywhere you look public programs are being gutted, across the board. The future for the kids in this country is dismal.

My kids are in a public charter school and I love it. The public high schools are garbage due to discipline issues. If you want kids to return to public schools, get the discipline issues under control. Bring back alternative schools. Teachers will then be able to teach and achievement gaps will dwindle.

I am a teacher since 1996. It is both a financial crisis and systemic. Also, poor teacher support.