LUTHMANN NOTE: I’m sick and tired of watching teachers’ unions and public school hacks defend the system while children and families absorb the losses. A student who leaves school unable to read confidently or handle basic mathematics carries that failure into every job application, paycheck, and decision afterward. The union leaders and education officials move on to another budget meeting. Parents deserve the power to demand better and choose another path when the promises keep collapsing. School choice must earn its results, too. Give families usable options, insist on honest measures of achievement, and stop treating excellence as an embarrassment. America needs capable graduates. The kids need an education worth the years they spend getting it. This piece is “The War on Excellence,” also published on NY News Press.
We are living in an era of record-high American deficits and record-high spending on public education that have both resulted in record underachievement for American students. A toxic combination that rivals maxing out your credit card to hire a tutor who flunked the class you need to pass.
A recent international assessment confirmed what many already know: American 15-year-olds posted the lowest math and reading scores in more than a generation.
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reported reading scores plunged by 14 points and math scores by two points since their last assessment in 2022. These scores are unbiased and have been steadily dropping every year for the past decade across all income, geographic, and racial groups.
The PISA also shows Chinese students improved by 21 points in math since 2018, while American students have fallen 15 points. While 8% of U.S. students were rated as top performers in math, 54% did so in China. If there ever was a national security threat, it is Chinese students significantly outperforming their American counterparts.
A nation cannot indefinitely lead in AI, quantum computing, aerospace, robotics, cyber defense, and advanced weapon systems if it fails to produce enough mathematicians, scientists, engineers, technicians, and informed citizens.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial underscored “America’s failing education system is the biggest handicap in the innovation race with China.”
A Gallup poll last month showed widespread aversion to the quality of K-12 education, which increased by 12 points over the last two years to 67%.
Ironically, this decline coincides with the widespread rise of smartphones and social media. Throw in teachers’ unions and their leftist political ideology, and student achievement gets shoved into the corner like a broken folding chair at a graduation party where half the graduates can’t read.
Mentioning test scores has always been taboo among union officials, as they act like you just insulted their religion, which, to be fair, is leftist politics. They love to pontificate about how they are fighting for equity and, judging by the results, they have certainly achieved it, as everyone is equally behind. Student achievement is more like a rumor they have heard about but are not personally involved in.
When the organizations that dominate education policy are more accountable to their bargaining units than to the children and their families, the results are as predictable as they are pitiful.
The proposed Education Freedom Tax Credit that was authorized by 2025’s “Big Beautiful Bill” as the nation’s largest school choice undertaking is one of them. Beginning in 2027, homeschooled and private K-12 students could receive federally supported education scholarships.
States that choose to participate must opt in and submit approved lists of Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). People may donate to qualifying SGOs and claim federal tax credits of up to $1,700. For married couples filing jointly, the credit is $3,400.
Scholarships may cover private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, tutoring, and other educational materials and services. Eligibility is not limited to families leaving public schools, making the program broader than many current state school choice initiatives.
The IRS projects that by 2030, more than 11 million donors could contribute $26 billion annually through 600 to 700 SGOs. Those contributions could support approximately 2 million full-time scholarships worth $12,000 each or 5 million part-time scholarships averaging $4,500.
Numerous polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support such an initiative that would empower children and their families and enable students to compete and win on the world stage.
To date, 30 states have opted in.
Democrat-led states (with the exception of Colorado) have not. Provided you care, you can send a much-needed message come Tuesday, November 3rd, Election Day.
