America’s most powerful teachers unions – the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers – play a strong if not dominant role in how public schools are run. Are these unions beneficial to America’s children, the great majority of whom attend public schools, or are they toxic? Consider:
– Teachers unions generally oppose the curriculum approach used in public schools in Mississippi and a few other states, saying it suppresses teacher autonomy. “Mississippi has gone from 49th in the country on national tests in 2013, to a top 10 state for fourth-graders learning to read — even as test scores have fallen almost everywhere else,” The New York Times reported Jan. 11. “Mississippi has figured out something almost no other state has, and it has involved far more than just changing the way reading is taught, the most common explanation for its success.”
– There are signs of cracks in the political opposition to reforms such as those embraced in Mississippi, a deep red state. Democrat Rahm Emanuel – a former congressman, mayor of Chicago and close associate of former President Barack Obama – wrote Jan. 22 in The Wall Street Journal that the Magnolia State “restored phonics-based systems that rigorous scientific studies have shown to work.” Mississippi also “imposed systems of accountability to ensure that administrators, teachers and students alike meet their marks.”
– Teachers unions resolutely oppose school vouchers and other “choice” mechanisms, saying they divert funding from public schools. Shaka Mitchell, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, reported in September that students in Ohio’s Ed Choice program “were not just more likely to graduate high school, they were 32 percent more likely to enroll in college and 60 percent more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than their peers.” The program’s impact on the lowest-income students was even greater, he added; “They were 175 percent more likely to graduate from college.”
– In Florida, parents are voting with their feet – or, more precisely, their children’s feet. Writing for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal on Jan. 27, Nicole Stelle Garnett, the John P. Murphy Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, reported that Florida’s groundbreaking school-choice program is a hit with parents and students. And even the public schools are on board. With more than 500,000 students enrolled in Florida’s Education Savings Account program, “Florida public-school districts are active participants in the state’s vibrant choice market. … 37 of the 67 state’s public-school districts are now registered with Step Up for Students as ESA service providers, with 11 more seeking to participate.”
Connecticut, where the anti-choice NEA reigns supreme in Democratic Party-controlled government and politics, largely has been sitting out the school-choice movement. But 27 states have committed to participating in the newly enacted federal Educational Choice for Children Act, which will provide credits beginning in 2027 to taxpayers who donate up to $1,700 to organizations that provide scholarships to private and parochial schools. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has not committed to participating, even though Connecticut parents and children cannot benefit from the scholarship dollars generated by this program unless state leaders agree to participate.
Connecticut public schools are ranked third in the nation, according to Education Week magazine, but sharp differences in student achievement remain between the wealthiest and poorest districts. Last year, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Connecticut “had some of the largest proficiency gaps between students in the nation” in 2024. Connecticut is home to 36 “Alliance Districts,” which are the lowest-performing districts in the state. Curricula focused on Science of Reading, as well as school choice, would not necessarily be panaceas. But based on Florida’s, Mississippi’s and Ohio’s experience, reforms would benefit Connecticut students, especially those in places like Hartford and Waterbury, whether the teachers unions are on board or not.
