A week after the midterm elections, all contests have been called, but we are beginning to see how the key issues of the K-12 area will play out amid new leadership and new policies.
With at least seven state superintendent seats and state election committees in operation, the stakes were high.
In mid-October, a few weeks before the midterm elections, a Pew Research Center vote found education among the three most sensitive issues for the electorate, with 66 percent Democratic supporters, 60 percent Republican supporters and 64 percent of the entire electorate. A Washington Post-ABC News ballot found similar results, with 59 percent of the electorate saying education is a “very important” factor they voted for in Congress, and 18 percent identifying it as “one of the most important issues. “
Dr. John B. King Jr. , president of The Education Trust and President Obama’s former secretary of education, says the main school factor that still helps him stay up at night is equity in public schools. It says that our economy and our democracy relies on schooling.
“Most of the youth in the nation’s public schools are young people of color, most of the youth in the nation’s public schools participate in loose, discounted meal programs,” King says. “If we don’t do much, very temporarily, to provide education opportunities for low-income scholars and academics of color, we don’t have a long-term as a country. “
But teachers are what give him hope. He says the country’s classrooms and teachers continue to save children’s lives, just as they did with him. After his parents passed away when he was 8 and 12, King thanked New York City Public Schools. teachers for saving his life, making school a safe, supportive and attractive place.
“As difficult as COVID has been for children and families, in each and every network there are stories of teachers who have gone above and beyond to help their children academically, but also to help them get food, to understand how to deal with trauma. to waste an enjoyable one,” King says. The good looks of what teachers do every day for children across America gives me a lot of hope. “
Let’s take a look at how education developed halfway.
In recent years, there have been attempts at censorship in classrooms, whether through bans on e-books, restricting discussion about gender and sexuality, or blocking factual training on racism and other bureaucracy of prejudice, what conflicting parties mistakenly call “criticism. “Race theory. And it turns out those battles aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Election tracking site Ballotpedia analyzed 361 school board races and its research found that 36 percent of applicants who oppose diversity projects and gender-neutral learning structures won their races, compared to 28 percent of winners who followed those policies.
“Midterm reviews are taking a position opposite to this backdrop of intense censorship activity across almost the entire country,” says Dr. Chris Finan, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. He cited the overwhelming re-election of Florida Gov. Ron. DeSantis, who led efforts to ban books, especially those dealing with race and racism, slavery and LGBTQ issues. “There’s a lot of anger, and some of that anger has become the problems in this book, and many ambitious politicians have taken the factor in helping them build their support and candidacies. “
A Pew Research Center ballot found that nearly a portion (46%) of Republican parents believe students are not informed about gender identity at school, compared to just 28% of Democratic parents.
While no one surveyed the idea that slavery does not deserve to be taught in schools, the way they sought their children to learn about slavery was radically different between Republican and Democratic parents.
On the Republican side, 66 percent of respondents said they prefer their children to be told that “slavery is part of American history, but not the position of black people in American society today. “
On the other hand, 70% of Democratic parents said they need their children to be informed that the legacy of slavery still has an effect on the position of blacks in American society. Looking at all parents surveyed, 49% voted for slavery to still exist. an impact today, compared to 42% voting the opposite.
This isn’t the first time censorship, especially e-book bans, has been a national issue. After Ronald Reagan was elected president in the ’80s, there were many efforts to ban e-books for about a decade. So, with that in mind, we’re “very early in the cycle,” Finan says.
“I don’t think the challenge is being solved in any way,” Finan says. “I probably wouldn’t be surprised if we started hearing about new school board principals, school board members across the country, and signed up for this censorship campaign. “
After years of virtual and devastating effects of the NAEP, school resumption is a major factor on the minds of applicants across the political spectrum.
“It has the potential for bipartisan progress by putting resources into things like mentoring and summer learning initiatives, addressing the shortage of instructors, so it’s encouraging,” King said. now to address the influence of COVID and address the underlying inequalities that COVID has exacerbated?”
While there are many things keeping her up at night, Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, executive director of GLSEN, says Gen Z’s involvement in this election has given her hope, especially when it comes to making certain schools more inclusive and affirming LGBTQ spaces. people.
“This is a generation that took to the streets in the summer of 2020. It’s not just the kids of color of this generation, it’s the white kids of that generation. It’s not just the LGBTQ youth of this generation, it’s the straights and cisgender of this generation who stood up for each other and with each other,” Willingham-Jaggers says. It’s that they’re deeply empathetic and see the global as it is. “
But it is a blessing or a curse. As other young people, the largest, most multiracial and strangest generation ever recorded, appear to make their progressive voices heard, their opposition seeks to calm them down and “make the world smaller. “position for the kids who come with them,” says Willingham-Jaggers.
It’s not just about LGBTQ youth of this generation, but about the direct, cisgender status of this generation, for and with everyone else.
MELANIE WILLINGHAM-JAGGERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GLSEN
“These other young people are at the center of this tipping point. We will have to fight for equality, education, facts and democracy,” says Willingham-Jaggers. “And they know it, and it’s a heavy backpack for them. “. “
They have yet to fight for inclusive programming, such as the true history of the country and positive and accurate representations of other communities in our society, adding other LGBTQ people and other people of color.
While the midterm elections have proven to be a “rainbow wave,” there are still states like Georgia, Texas, and Florida that continue to be an uphill war and at the end of our “deeply divided political climate. “
“It’s unfortunate because this opposition is employing other LGBTQ people as a corner issue. They will continue to attack education, and that’s worrying,” says Willingham-Jaggers. “LGBTQ youth, especially trans and non-binary children, continue to be exploited as political pawns, and it’s time to call it for what it is and fight those extremists. “
The generation of academics who grew up in active shooting training in schools are old enough to vote.
“They know how much our gun laws are violated in this country and how much needs to be replaced,” King said. do more to have practical gun reform. “
There is no accountability for elected officials who promoted necessarily unregulated access to weapons of war.
DR. JOHN B. KING JR. , PRESIDENT OF THE EDUCATION TRUST
Safe schools were voters’ most sensible priority on an Oct. 6 High Point University ballot that surveyed adults in North Carolina. 73%.
But it is not universal. In Texas, where 19 academics and two teachers were killed in a shooting this year, “there is no accountability for elected officials who promoted necessarily unregulated access to weapons of war,” King said.
However, especially with the massive turnout of young voters, King says he hopes this election will be evidence that “politicians of all political backgrounds will realize that if they want to appeal to people, they want to have a more practical, common-sense message. “reforms”.
California’s Proposition 28, which will inject nearly a billion dollars into music and arts education, passed by a wide margin with 61. 5 percent of the vote.
It’s the first bill of its kind, and it’s “the largest investment in the arts that’s ever happened in this country,” says Robert Manwaring, senior policy and tax adviser at California-based Children Now, which also helped draft the bill. .
“It’s exciting because there’s dramatic variation between schools and districts across the state in terms of who has access to the arts and who doesn’t,” Manwaring says.
Both in California and nationally, arts education is more accessible to whiter, wealthier neighborhoods. In its 2019 National State of Arts Education Report, the Arts Education Data Project found that 7% of predominantly black schools had no arts education, compared to 3% of predominantly white schools and 2% of predominantly Asian schools.
And schools with high degrees of eligibility for single or discounted lunches were twice as likely to lack arts education compared to schools with low eligibility levels.
Most of the budget will go toward hiring music and arts teachers, and about one-third is reserved for schools with higher grades of low-income students.
The challenge now is for the state to figure out how to recruit instructors for those new jobs, either by expanding education systems or placing other people who are differently qualified in the arts to pass instructor certification.
“The investment is there, but the art teachers are still,” Manwaring says. “There’s going to be some serious paintings that you want to do there to fill all the niches. “
Tags: art, voting initiative, Education, funding, Voting