Policy, not politics

On June 30, 2023, Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the presidency, made an unusual campaign move. He gave his second major keynote address at a parents’ rights conference in Philadelphia. This was not just a meeting of parents. It was a gigantic summit organized by parents’ rights organization Moms for Liberty. Trump’s decision to use their stage to roll out his campaign agenda is a glaring signal of his intentions toward education if he gets a second term in the White House.

Presidential elections always matter, but there are signposts suggesting that this upcoming contest is particularly important for the future of education policy and school governance. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to square off yet again in a repeat of the 2020 election. Voters’ beliefs about education policy are likely to contribute to the outcome in November. Thus, I want to offer what I believe are the four major education policy questions that we should be asking heading into the upcoming election.

Political scientists define a culture war as a sociopolitical conflict over the influence of society (Fiorina et al., 2011). Schools in American society have always been thought of as reflections (and disseminators) of cultural values (Zimmerman, 2022). Thus, it is unsurprising that education has become one of the primary domains where this ongoing conflict persists.