Public Education as State Worship

Public Education as State Worship 

By Lawrence W. Reed

More than 30 years ago, an admonition by a Michigan school board member chilled me to the bone. It fired me up to work even harder for parental choice in education.

Parents of a “gifted” boy appeared at a board meeting of the Meridian School District in Midland County to make a request. Because the local district did not offer a program or curriculum for gifted children, these parents had been sending their son to a public school in another district in nearby Saginaw County. There, he could avail himself of a program suited to his unique promise, but the parents had to pay a fee since they did not live in that district. They provided daily, reliable transportation at their own expense, but the “tuition” charge presented a financial hardship.

At the Meridian meeting, the boy’s father asked, “Would the board please consent to allowing state and/or local tax money to follow our child, so we don’t have to pay twice?”

Mind you, he wasn’t asking for public money for a private school. He only wanted tax dollars (to which he was contributing) to go to a public school that better suited his son’s needs.

It would be an easy, humane, and moral thing to do. The Meridian district did not receive at least its state portion of tax money because the child was not enrolled in its jurisdiction. Simply signing off on what was clearly the best choice for the boy would be a win for education.

But the board said no. James Neurath, a board member whom I knew personally, pointed to the boy and declared, “You live here, you go to school here!” It was a stupid, callous, and reprehensible remark that essentially announced, “The system is more important than the children it’s supposed to serve.”

How do such petty tyrants and idiots get into positions of power? The sad answer, of course, is that voters elect them. All the time. Democracy does not guarantee good government; it simply guarantees that whoever captures the most votes of those who bother to vote will wield power over everybody. The votes of people who are stupid or who don’t give a damn about the rights of others count just as much as those of the fair, the responsible, the caring, and the informed.

His voice and demeanor told me Neurath enjoyed lording it over that poor family. His “progressive” allies cheered him on for putting them in their place. For some of them, the worship of government is far more important than the rights or welfare of individuals. I saw it as just plain evil.

Last month (April 2025), the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a Maryland case. It involves parents who object to sexual deviancy being shoved down the throats of their sons and daughters in their local public schools. Administrators and teachers would not allow parents and their very young children to opt out of books and classes promoting drag queens and transgender ideology. The Court will soon issue its ruling in this case.

(Update: On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court by a vote of 6-3 handed parents a resounding victory in Mahmoud v Taylor case, acknowledgiug “that “the constitutional right of parents to shield their children from government propaganda.” See https://tinyurl.com/mrx2unks.)

Proving that stupidity (if not evil as well) can make it to the highest court in the land, Biden-appointed Justice Ketanji Jackson exhibited no sympathy for the parents during oral arguments. In Neurathian fashion, she declared that if parents objected, they could simply kiss their tax dollars goodbye, pull their kids out of public school, and then pay again to send them to private school.

The government, in other words, is entitled to your children and your money, and if you insist on a better education, it should keep your money as a penalty for being a caring parent. Wow, what a powerful incentive for school improvement! Not.

If I found out that the managers and wait staff at a local restaurant wanted to compel me to eat there, or to pay them even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t venture anywhere near the place. My conscience wouldn’t allow me to let them feed my children. I would be immediately suspicious of what they were serving. Wouldn’t you?

We will not see much improvement in public education until parents view their local public schools similarly. Don’t trust any outfit that doesn’t trust you.

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(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. He blogs at www.lawrencewreed.com.)