What's behind the attacks on

our public schools?

Last week, Republicans, some without any students in the Greenwich public schools, assembled a crowd at the Board of Education meeting to protest alleged “indoctrination” of students.

Angry participants shouted at retired public school teachers, accusing them of being “pedophiles” and “breeders.” These protests follow a series of earlier rallies organized by Greenwich Patriots and State Rep. Kimberly Fiorello against school masking policies and vaccine requirements in the midst of a global pandemic.

Signs throughout Greenwich during the COVID pandemic.Tyler Sizemore, Hearst Connecticut Media

Why, one may wonder, is so much anger directed at our public schools, especially when Connecticut is ranked as having the 

2nd best public school system in the country?

Taxpayer funded private education takes hold

The war on our public schools can be traced back to libertarian political economist James Buchanan in the 1940s. The public sector, according to Buchanan, should be limited to providing for the national defense and protecting private property. He opposed government operation of services such as public schools, which he considered “socialism.” Buchanan’s genius lay in understanding that in order to sever the role of government in education, trust in public schools needed to be eroded. More about Buchanan.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. Board of Ed provided the perfect opportunity to turn white Americans against their public schools. Rather than be forced to integrate, Virginia led eleven southern states in a policy of “massive resistance.” They passed laws requiring public schools to close to avoid integration, and offered tax-funded tuition grants to allow white parents to send their children to private schools instead.

Under the policy of Massive Resistance, districts in southern states closed their public schools rather than comply with integration orders.

Fast forward to 2022 and the same strategy is in play. Conservative commentator Christopher Rufo outlined the strategy.  “To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust,” Rufo explained. And what better way to subvert trust in a system that benefits all than by defunding public schools, and then attacking them as “failing”?

Our legislators Kimberly Fiorello and Ryan Fazio, both of whom sit on the Education Committee, have repeatedly used their position to defund public schools in favor of school choice voucher programs called “money follows the child.” Their votes against the public school system earned Fiorello the lowest scores of the entire House and Fazio the second lowest score in the Senate from the

CT Education Association.

Meanwhile, their attacks on our public schools are causing real damage. Teacher retention in this climate is a major challenge. And although they fear speaking out, public school teachers are breaking under the strain. Last year nearly 100 Greenwich teachers marched to protest the harassment and bullying they were experiencing. One Republican legislator even established a tip line to report teachers. “If you have evidence of children being indoctrinated instead of being educated, I want to know,” he wrote.

The war on our public schools hurts us all. It hurts not only teachers and students, but the surrounding community as well. Our high property values are rooted in the strength of our public schools, which are utilized by about 75% of Greenwich families with school-aged children.

The attack on public schools is not unique to Greenwich. It is part of a national strategy. Some CT educators are starting to fight back. Dozens of professors from Southern Connecticut State University signed a letter calling out a similar attack on curriculum materials in a Southington school district. “To permit parents — or students — to object to what they perceive as ’divisive’ texts is to descend down the slippery slope of allowing a relatively small but vocal group of parents and students to circumscribe and dictate the nature of public education,” they warned. 

Editorials that caught our eye 

The Republicans' new boogeyman.

“Why we can't go to the video in Cos Cob case,“  David Rafferty writes in Greenwich Time, ”Our Republican candidates drool over Project Veritas because whipping up outrage is their go-to move...Meanwhile and predictably, those same Republican candidates continue to call for heads-on-spikes investigations. Why? Their election-season scare tactics over Critical Race Theory, bathroom choices and the idea that public schools are some sort of Marxist indoctrination centers aren’t finding traction, so they need a new boogeyman.”

School boards and administrators set curriculums.

“The threat to Connecticut teachers,“  John Breunig, editor of Greenwich Time writes, “The worst-case scenario is unfolding in real time. Teachers aren’t just attacked on social media, but at Board of Education meetings and on tacky signs at rallies. Somehow, parents missed the civics lesson that school boards and administrators set curriculums, not teachers.“ 

Giving students permission to think.

“Mrs. Bailey changed my life in A.P. History class,“ writes

Esau McCaulley in the New York Times. “...the fundamental question of what makes a healthy classroom cannot be restricted

to the material that is taught. Teachers are not robots tasked with reading approved scripts. Most students who fall in love with learning do so not because of any particular curriculum but because they encounter a teacher who gives them permission

to think.”

Just wondering...

Election-deniers deny elections they've lost. Why don't they deny elections they've won?

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Volume 1, Number 15    September 29, 2022

Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.

Approved by the Democratic candidates above.