For years, I have been writing about the decline of public education in the United States. The political power of teachers’ unions led to bloated budgets as schools pursued ideological agendas over educational advancements. Despite massive budgets, scores of students in major cities have continued to plummet or remain at the same dismal levels. Now, Arkansas has shown what is possible if officials put education first. Scores in the state have soared after the implementation of reforms that many of us have advocated for years. It also shows that state governments, not the federal government, are critical to reversing our slide in educational performance as the Administration moves toward eliminating the Department of Education.
Arkansas implemented a new program and testing protocol called the Arkansas Teaching, Learning, and Assessment System, or ATLAS with a mix of higher pay for teachers, performance-based bonuses, and a voucher system for families.
The result has been increasing proficiency scores across every major area between 2024 and 2026, with mathematics increasing from 36.4% to 44.2%, science from 35.6% to 44% and English language arts from 33.8% to 39.5%. Overall proficiency overall increased from 36.9% last year to 42.2% in 2026
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders heralded the success of the LEARNS Act, a 2023 law that made sweeping changes to the state’s education system.
The use of the voucher system has been fiercely opposed by the teachers’ unions. The decline of our educational standards have led me to change my view of vouchers.
I was long skeptical of voucher systems because of that commitment to public education. Decades ago, my parents helped create an organization to stem the exodus of families from public schools and to reinforce academic standards in the Chicago Public School system. They convinced more families to remain in the system because they believed (as I do) that public schools can play a critical role in shaping citizens through diverse, shared experiences.
Watching the continued decline in scores, my views on vouchers changed. In my view, teacher unions and administrators are destroying public education in America. They are treating families as captive audiences while infusing education with social and political agendas.
That view was captured in the comment of Iowa school board member Rachel Wall, who said: “The purpose of a public ed is to not teach kids what the parents want. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client is not the parent, but the community.”
State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Wis.) tweeted: “If parents want to ‘have a say’ in their child’s education, they should home school or pay for private school tuition out of their family budget.”
That is precisely what families are asking to do through voucher systems.
In the meantime, the educational activists continue to prevail with Democratic leaders. This week, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (who ran on being a moderate) continued her radical shift to the left with the appointment of a LGBTQ activist who pushed back against efforts to bar biological males from girls’ bathrooms to a state advisory board.
In the meantime, the state boards have continued to undermine gifted and talented programs and other educational advancements despite poor testing results.
The only way to break this decades-long cycle of failure, in my opinion, is to give families alternatives by allowing them to send their children to schools with core educational (as opposed to advocacy) priorities.
Arkansas shows what can be done by focusing on creating choices and incentives for excellence in education.
In the meantime, teachers’ unions continue to spend wildly to support Democratic politicians who, in turn, yield to their every demand for pension increases and other matters. The unions have become the piggy bank for Democratic candidates, spending an estimated $1 billion on such campaigns over the last 10 years. In cities like Chicago, teachers successfully demanded paid time off and buses to join protests against Trump and ICE, declaring that “civic action … requires more than textbooks.”
If you want to understand the priorities of the unions, just watch one of NEA head Becky Pringle’s unhinged speeches:
Her declarations that the union will “win all of the things” clearly did not include educational improvements for students.
In a prior column, I was particularly moved by the frustration of a mother in Baltimore who complained that her son was in the top half of his class despite failing all but three of his classes. Graduating students without proficiency in English or Math is the worst possible path for these students, schools and society.
Despite such records, voters in major blue cities continue to reelect the same politicians and replicate the same failed policies. We will continue to condemn generations of inner city kids to lives of poverty unless we change the economic and political equation for education policies, including breaking the hold of unions like the NEA. They are “winning” in Arkansas, but it is the students not the politicians who are reaping the rewards.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
God bless SARAH HUCKABEE!!!!!!
Perhaps, but her Dad is a hideous POS.
During President Donald Trump’s second term, White House staff began “monitoring” the president’s trash after it was discovered he had been discarding potentially valuable White House property.
The staff had to begin monitoring the trash after it was discovered Trump was sometimes throwing out White House sterling silver utensils that he used while eating in his bedroom.
YAWN
Typical of the left. Telling lies are all you’ve got.
There seems to be an elitism problem also.
Apparently in nations like Germany, a blue-collar technical education and blue-collar occupation is equally respected as a white-collar college professor. The elite college students don’t view blue-collar technicians as inferior.
In the United States there is a huge class discrimination, where college grads don’t respect the blue-collar technicians that built the building the college professor sits in.
Why not a voucher system that could be used for technical trade schools or a regular public school. Not everyone can be doctors, lawyers and teachers.
Blue-collar technicians are actually way smarter and more intelligent than college grads on physics, mechanics and technical skills but don’t receive the same respect.
In the 1970’s when major auto manufacturers laid off thousands of auto workers in Michigan (right before Christmas) nobody cared. Years later when it started to happen to white collar workers, there were protests in the street and all the major news outlets covered it. America also has an elitism problem with education and occupations.
Trump wrote that “there will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
What the F–K?
Looks like maybe trump was correct. But it wasn’t Iran that surrendered. It was trump himself.
Yea MAGA. You elected an idiot as president.
Before the agreement with Iran, Iran said they would never surrender Its right to have a nuclear weapon. By signing the agreement Iran has unconditionally accepted that it will discontinue its nuclear program and the purchase of a nuclear device from any party. It’s right there in the agreement that Iran has signed. The language is very plain and Iran has unconditionally agreed to the most critical part of the agreement. From a right to have a nuclear device to giving up such a right is the conditionality that really matters. The rest is simply saying, stop funding terrorist organizations attacking your neighboring nations and we will not only wish for your future success but we will lend a helping hand to assure that your success as a nation becomes a reality. Quite a magnanimous gesture from a man who is supposed to be the devil. Or would you rather have it that once a man is down that we continue to punch his face to a bloody pulp and that anything else does not constitute his unconditional surrender? No doubt we know what Anonymous would do given the power.
You may think so. Prez Trump can go back to bombing.
PS O-dumber went to war in Libya and (he) turned that country into a slave state.
Shall we bring JFK and Nam.
OT: Kind of Odd
The opening of Barack Obama’s Presidential Center held bulletproof behind glass.
It figures that when you get the: Obamas, Clintons, Bidens, and Bush’s in one place at the same time, the Team-of-Demons would need all the protection you can get.
Photo:
[Link] static01.nyt.com/images/2026/06/18/multimedia/18nat-obama-speeches-sub-1-vkwq/18nat-obama-speeches-sub-1-vkwq-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
Photo:
[Link] cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3903c75/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000×1687+0+156/resize/2900×1631!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fc3%2F43%2Fbebc07744ebfb6695990ceefb74a%2Fopc-260619-18.jpg
Photo:
[Link] dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/3894285/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000×2000+0+0/resize/1440×960!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F89%2F2a%2F8fbce1574a9b9999dcb6c5a9ecf7%2Fe3f7f5a8e1414468862bf033714eda13
Photo:
[Link] dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/835fce7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3736×2491+0+0/resize/1440×960!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F25%2F90%2F97069eb1f4ad9f8c48b56d4ff554%2F7488677c80c0479f90500fdf93811bc7
OT
MEMO TO DESPERATE PRESIDENT TRUMP:
GO BIG, OR GO HOME.
Parents with voucher-power is essentially a Parent’s Union. The vast majority of parents actually have real skin in the game for their children’s education and lifetime welfare.
Teachers are one of the most noble occupations and vitally important, but it might be valuable for a “Parents Union” to have a seat at the table also. Vouchers give parents more influence of their child’s education.
For example: in many school districts public school administrators cut deals with computer laptop makers for student laptops. Apparently the trade-off was the computer companies could monitor and spy on children inside their own homes. Parents were completely cut out of these back room deals.
Maybe Turley could clarify, but a public school official is a government entity. So you have a government entity spying on private citizens (child’s family) bypassing 4th Amendment law. Not obtain a judicial warrant from a judge to place cameras and computer tracking equipment inside a child’s home.
So far the Teachers Unions are okay with this. I’m sure a Parents Union (voucher power) would have protected their child’s 4th Amendment rights.
[source: Electronic Frontier Foundation – top online rights group in America].
Privatization!
Just think what’s inside the mind. What’s inside the mind of someone who refuses to accept the failure in educating the American youth. Inside the mind of those who in such a failure refuses to take responsibility for the sentence our youth to a life of mediocrity. In side the mind where performance should not be tested because it will uncover their failure. It must be so ugly inside such a mind. Obviously it makes the mind go insane.
Per pupil spending:
Arkansas – $13,326 per pupil = #37 in the nation.
Washington DC – $31,629 per pupil = #1 in the nation.
Overall Student Proficiency:
Arkansas – 42.2%
Wash DC – 32.0%
In spite of these numbers in our capital city, the electorate continues to choose “same old same old.”
Sanctuary immigration status, soft on crime, cashless bail, carjackers running amok, yada, yada.
Visiting tourists need to be kept safe.
The next mayor, Janeese Lewis George, the Zohran Mamdani of DC, will be worse than the status quo that has damage our nation’s capital.
Its time for a federal takeover
Yes, revoke “Home Rule” and place the city’s municipal functions under direct federal control, managed by Congress or a federal commission.
Now break down the amount per student into how much goes to operate the facilities, how much to administration, and how much to retain teachers to work there. Everything is more expensive in D.C. than Arkansas.
No to Federal control. The current administration can’t even handle a swimming pool.
Turley should take a look at what Mississippi has done with its K-12 educational system. Mississippi went from ranking 49th in the nation in fourth-grade reading in 2013 to leading the country in overall educational improvement. By prioritizing evidence-based literacy policies, rigorous teacher training, and strict accountability standards, Mississippi achieved what education experts call the “Mississippi Miracle.” One very effective reform was to require third graders to demonstrate on an achievement test that they had passed third grade reading and math requirements. Those who don’t reach this hallmark get to repeat third grade.
This is probably the most misleading screed that Turley has ever published here on this worthless blog.
The only real question is whether Turley is being deliberately obtuse and misleading, or is completely ignorant of the reality of what is happening in Arkansas.
Every single public school in Arkansas is MANDATED to use the ATLAS exams to assess students.
Private schools utilizing taxpayer-funded voucher programs are EXEMPT from using the ATLAS exams, although they can opt in to the program. In fact, only 3% of private schools utilizing vouchers have opted in to the program.
The ATLAS testing program was introduced simultaneously with the EFA (Educational Freedom Account) program in the same empowering legislation. The EFA program increased funding for vouchers for private schools.
Turley disingenuously claims that the introduction of ATLAS/EFA, which provides increased funding for private school vouchers has improved student scores. However, the improvement has occurred only in PUBLIC schools. The data does not include the 97% of private voucher school students who do not take the ATLAS tests.
So, the ATLAS/EFA system has allowed more students to move to voucher private schools where 97% of students do not actually take the performance tests. How can anyone in their right mind conclude that providing vouchers through the ATLAS/EFA program has improved scores when the students in voucher schools do not even take the ATLAS assessment test.
This is what is really happening. ATLAS/EFA provides increased funding for vouchers. More families have moved their kids to voucher schools where 97% of the students do not even take the ATLAS assessment tests. The scores in the public schools where ALL students take ATLAS tests are improving. The only logical conclusion is that the stupid students have moved to voucher schools, leaving the brighter students in public schools. The scores are improving because there is a higher percentage of bright students in the public schools, because all the stupid students have gone to private schools that do not even use the ATLAS assessment.
This fiasco is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, political posturing. The claim is being made that the introduction of ATLAS/EFA has improved student proficiency, when all that has really happened is that the stupid students have been moved to private schools where they do not even take the proficiency tests that supposedly show that their scores are improving. The only improvement in scores is taking place in public schools, and that is only because the stupid students have been weeded out.
Turley’s claims are absurd. He is either completely ignorant of the facts or is being deliberately deceptive for no other reason than to rile up the MAGA mob.
Talk about a dumb comment. Turley is just showing how the school is having some success is teaching.
Go look at Oregon and tell us how great they are. I’m guessing you are with the teachers union.
DustOff,
Right?
Reading that garbage, you would think 97% of all students in AK were in private school where 97% were not using ATLAS/EFA. And all those students who moved to a private school, they were the stupid ones.
Talk about stupid logic. Must of been a graduate of a Blue city public education system.
Fake Farmer
You are simply displaying your own stupidity, or perhaps you are being just as obtuse and misleading as Turley.
You make the absurd statement that in reading my comment anyone would think that I said that 97% of students in AR are in private schools. If that is what you think I said, then obviously you have very limited intelligence and comprehension skills.
I explicitly stated several times that the 97% number refers only to the percentage of students in private schools who do not take the ATLAS assessment.
But then again, you may be right that most people here who read my comments would come away with the ridiculous idea that I actually said that 97% of students in AR are in private schools.
All that proves is that you, and all the other MAGA morons here, have the comprehension skills of a bag of rocks.
Don’t be unfair to rocks.
Wait, if you are correct, then it actually proves the OPPOSITE of your point. One of the big worries of voucher programs is that all the smart kids will be hoovered up by private schools and only the dumb kids will be left in public school which will only make public schools even worse. However, they put in a massive voucher program AND the public schools vastly increased in performance! This is a big win!
Moreover, if the increase in performance was only those schools using ATLAS, then clearly ATLAS is an excellent system and should be adopted more widely. This is great data to know, and now that they have a comparative analysis showing ATLAS is better, then they can push ATLAS to the private schools today. And if they can’t make the private schools do so, then at the very least more parents will choose to keep their kids in public schools with ATLAS, since they will learn better. This is great news all around!
Clearly you have limited comprehension skills. You probably went to a voucher school.
You make the claim that after putting in “a massive voucher program the public schools vastly increased in performance!” This is not factually correct. There was no “VAST” improvement in scores. As Turley cites above, the improvements in all categories was around 8%. That is not “VAST”, and in none of the categories did proficiency increase above 50%. The only reasonable conclusion is that the vouchers allowed the stupid students to move out of the public school, thus raising the average scores of the brighter students who remained in the public schools.
The only way you can claim that ATLAS has improved scores EVERYWHERE, is by including the private voucher students in the ATLAS testing. Since 97% of the private voucher students do not take the ATLAS test, there is no way to claim that this test has increased overall proficiency.
You simply cannot draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of the ATLAS program in general if 97% of the students in private schools are not included in the testing.
The only logical explanation, given the testing situation, is that the ATLAS scores are improving simply because students in private schools are not being tested.
You then make the absurd comment that the effectiveness of ATLAS will become more apparent when the government pushes the system into the private schools. This begs the question, “why haven’t’ they done that after several years of testing that supposedly shows improvement. The answer is obvious. They know perfectly well that the data is skewed by the exclusion of private schools from ATLAS testing, and the improvement is solely because stupid students have been moved out of the public schools.
It is a charade, nothing but smoke and mirrors.
“The only real question is whether Turley is being deliberately obtuse and misleading, or is completely ignorant of the reality of what is happening in Arkansas.”
After reading Turley for 10+ years, I think Turley is both being deliberately obtuse, misleading and he is completely ignorant of reality.
It is just as likely a rebound from Covid affecting schools.
Union schools are not public schools.
Public schools are incompetent communist redistribution plans.
Public schools deny Americans their liberty and their right and their economic ability to “pursue happiness.” Public schools interfere with the right of Americans to establish and conduct private enterprises of education.
Public schools must be privatized, and private schools must be allowed to operate without being subsumed by criminal unions.
OT
Any person caught celebrating the so-called “Juneteenth National Independence Day” must be deported for wilful and deliberate failure to assimilate and attempting to “fundamentally transform” and overthrow the government and Constitution of the United States of America.
I support and celebrate the Federal holiday and don’t see how that is grounds for deportation or can be seen as an attempt to overthrow the government or the constitution.
It is impossible for [whatever this mess is>] “Juneteenth” to be the National independence Day in the United States because the National Independence Day in the United States is the 4th of July.
Additionally, the Naturalization Act of 1802 was in full force and effect on January 1, 1863, and the particular parties subject to that Act could not be admitted to become citizens.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States.
– Wikipedia
Walter Parazaider
1945 – June 17, 2026
He was a founding member of the classic rock band Chicago, playing saxophone and other woodwinds in their highly recognizable brass section.
https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/walter-parazaider
chicagotheband.com/news/rip-walter-parazaider/
Go to 2:31 for the sax solo. Thank you for your music, Walter Parazaider. R.I.P.
He was amazing on the sax. Lead singer was good but no PeterCetera.
“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.”
– Plato
Plato never said that. And in fact argued the exact opposite.
Awesome tribute🙏🙏🙏 to a Rock n Roll Hall of Fame band, Chicago 💖💖💖…. 25 or 6 to 4, live at Tanglewood, is their apex IMO….🎶🎵🎼
Outlaw public unions
All unions are illegal and unconstitutional criminal organizations with which contracts are invalid and illegitimate.
The sole bargaining chip unions have is the violence they ultimately wield.
Just watching that video illustrates so many of our current social, legal, and funding problems within, not only our schools, but with black women within any system of power. Whether it be schools, government, judicial appointments or NCOs etc., the presence of racially motivated, animus-fueled hatred for whites in general and America culture in particular, you can see the anger that motivates so many of these women of color who have been indoctrinated to feel “especially entitled” and motivated by a victim’s need for revenge against their “oppressors. There is little to no logic or rational thinking on their part – it is purely emotion and a craven desire for power. If we want to stop this nations slide into irrelevancy and socialism, this mindset must be confronted, challenged and left bereft of validity.
Come On Man – Teachers Unions are the greatest invention for the complete destruction of Western Civilization. Where else can you get classically trained fringe elements ensconced in a unemployment resistant occupation WITH BENEFITS and the fringe can set the agenda with little to no oversight or accountability? Even the Cops are more accountable for corrupt, incompetent, and negligent behavior! They kill or hurt someone and there is a review and public oversight. With teachers, they destroy young people by leaving them incompetent (probably like themselves) and hostile to anything NOT FRINGE with ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY. And, in fact, go on strike for even more compensation and latitude to spread mayhem! Lovely system.
If parents spent 60 minutes each night working on homework with their kids, instead of watching Love Island and Desperate Housewives with them, you would also see performance improvements. Parents are the #1 teachers in a kid’s life and if kids are getting dumber, the teachers don’t get all the credit.
BillyG,
Great comment and well said!
Although I must admit, when my kids were going through algebra, I needed a refresher myself.
I really enjoyed helping them with science and history was fun.
Upstate.
I did the same with my Granddaughter. Her (new) math was a bit confusing, but I caught on
Any report of lift in proficiency numbers is welcome. Texas has had to place the Houston and Fort Worth Independent School Districts under State supervision. The Houston ISD proficiency numbers are lifting. I have hope that Fort Worth ISD will also. Both are very big ISDs. Texas finally got a public fisc mechanism for school choice. It was a political pulling of teeth. Republican teeth included. There is some counterintuitive or hedging going on here. Both actions are a State’s demand to get taught what needs to be taught. By public schools and private sector educators. It is the use of public funds to private educators that gets my attention. It is the use of Adam Smith’s competition. That competition carries the potential to make education better in both the public and private sector domains. Better for kids is better for us adults. More so the older we get.
Competition only works when the choices are equally available. School vouchers which do not pay 100% of the education bill are potential transfers of wealth to the wealthy who can afford a private education already and away from public schools leading to a concentration of poverty in them.
Worse, the voucher price is often absorbed by an increase in the tuition cost, so it is really a transfer of public funds to private education companies, the ones who lobbied to get the voucher program in place.
In some cases that 60 minutes is spent at the second job to keep rent paid and food on the table.
The children also need to see some hope outside of school and their home that education will make a difference for them.
Probably this speech by Becky Pringle will supplant The Gettysburg Address in civics textbooks in major northeastern cities. It will be called “The Promise of Getting the Things”.
edwardmahl,
I think, “The Promise of Getting the Things for Free From the Labor of Others” might be more accurate.
Administrative overhead needs to be whacked. It’s just nepotism and parasitism.
https://www.americanexperiment.org/district-admin-growth-10x-greater-than-student-teacher-growth/