The Enduring Benefits of Public Education: A Cornerstone of Democracy and Societal Well-being

Public education stands as a foundational pillar of a democratic society, serving as a vital common good accessible to all, irrespective of socioeconomic status, background, or ability. Unlike private schools, which operate on a selective, tuition-based model, public schools are free at the point of delivery and embrace all children within their designated zones. This inclusivity, coupled with a commitment to meeting basic educational needs, fosters individual growth, community progress, and the overall well-being of society.

Public Education: A Public Good in Action

Public schools are integral to the concept of a “public good” or “common good,” representing institutions and systems provided to all members of a society to meet obligations to care for the common interests of the whole. This perspective contrasts sharply with the notion of education as an individualistic commodity, where access is determined by the ability to pay or meet specific criteria.

Consider the analogy of public firefighting services. Historically, firefighting was a private, paid commodity, leading to scenarios where only those who could afford insurance received protection. This system proved to be a public safety concern and a societal injustice, as the damages of fire are widespread and affect everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Similarly, education's benefits extend far beyond the individual, contributing to social cohesion, economic success, and a more informed citizenry.

Democracy in Action: Inclusivity and Public Input

Public schools embody democracy in action by accepting all children zoned for enrollment, regardless of academic performance, ability or disability, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs, or immigration status. This commitment to inclusivity ensures that every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive in a supportive environment.

Furthermore, public schools prioritize public input and accountability. Curricula are set at the state level and overseen at the district level, allowing for community members to voice their opinions and concerns during school board meetings. This transparency and engagement stand in stark contrast to private schools, which operate with limited public oversight and accountability.

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Private schools, in contrast, represent an undemocratic method of schooling in which the school is in a position to pick and choose which students can or cannot attend based on any number of rationales. While vouchers are part of the “school choice” political agenda, in reality, parents and children do not have the choice because the decision to extend a membership in a private school rests solely with the school. Private schools are also free to hire anyone to serve as a teacher regardless of their training and academic credentials - or lack thereof. They can hire and fire based on the religious commitments of a teacher. And while parents who pay for a membership ostensibly have some say in what curricula and pedagogy look like, the broader public has zero input or accountability avenues into the practices of private schools. Additionally, even if a student is allowed to have a paid membership at a private school, the school maintains the authority to “counsel out” or “push out” any student at any point for any reason (e.g., academic performance, behavior, religious alignment and more). Vouchers, therefore, use public funds for private schools that have no accountability to the general public.

Benefits of Public Education: Individual and Collective Growth

Public education offers a multitude of benefits, both for individuals and for the community as a whole. These include:

Individual Self-Actualization and Upward Mobility: Schools are sites for exploration of ideas across a range of subject areas - math, science and technology, literature, social sciences, physical education and more - in the quest to facilitate individuals becoming the best they can and living fulfilling lives.
Collective Growth and Progress for Entire Communities: Beyond individual self-actualization and upward mobility, education offers collective growth and progress for entire communities.
Schools as Community Centers: Public schools often serve as community hubs, hosting events, activities, adult literacy programs, voting centers, family programs, and student health and well-being services.
Exposure to Diversity: Public schools provide students with unparalleled opportunities to interact with peers from diverse backgrounds, preparing them to live and work in a multicultural society. Public schools generally have a range of children from the whole gamut of socioeconomic classes and a wide variety of backgrounds. This is the type of community that most people occupy as adults, and public school is an opportunity to meet it and learn to negotiate with other points of view an understand people with diverse backgrounds and values. Public schools generally have students with a range of abilities and disabilities. As with ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, the diversity introduces students to the communication issues and interpersonal issues that rubbing elbows with people who are different from oneself provides.
Economic Benefits: Public funding of public schools means the cost associated with educating children is spread across society rather than shouldered by the individual family. Societies and communities, in turn, benefit financially through a stronger workforce stemming from students receiving lifelong skills. Public schools often provide economic benefits for communities, including employment, economic opportunities and encouragement for families to move to or remain in a community.
Stronger Communities: Public schools, especially community schools, can promote stronger communities by building relationships among families and educators and partnerships with community organizations and businesses.

This understanding of education’s benefit to the common good is why all property-owning citizens pay a portion of their property taxes to support local public schools, even if that homeowner does not have children or their children are no longer in public schools. Additionally, because public schools aim to serve all students across all communities and because public schools are responsible for providing these individual and collective benefits, the intention is for them to be inclusive and accepting of all students - regardless of race, class, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or politics. And while public schools in the United States have not yet fully realized their full potential toward equity, a lot of progress has been made.

Addressing Challenges and Striving for Equity

Despite the numerous benefits of public education, challenges remain. Funding disparities, racial discrimination in zoning, racial injustice in discipline policies, and inadequate teacher salaries continue to hinder the pursuit of equal and equitable education for all children. Public schools have privileged affluent and white students in myriad ways over the last century. From funding disparities that provide more financial support for affluent and white schools due to property value and tax variance, to a lack of racial and cultural representation in the standardized curriculum, lack of diversity among educators and administrators, and problematic discipline policies, to name only a few issue areas, public schools remain in need of reform.

However, public schools remain an ideal mechanism to eventually achieve democracy’s aims, which include equal and equitable education for all children. Reforms are warranted for our schools to become more inclusive and just spaces for learning and well-being. In short, funding discrepancies must be addressed. Racial discrimination in zoning must be addressed. Discrepancy of racial injustice in discipline policies must be addressed. Teacher salaries must be raised. Parents, caregivers and teachers must deepen the conversations and partnerships they have as they strive toward providing children with excellence in education.

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Public vs. Private: Weighing the Advantages

When comparing homeschools, private schools, and public schools, it is important to look at the pros and cons of all of them. When talking about the advantages of private schools, it is important to know what the public schools are being compared to. It is possible to also look at things the other way and consider the advantages of homeschools or private schools.

Advantages of Public Schools Compared to Homeschools

Diversity: Public schools generally have a range of children from the whole gamut of socioeconomic classes and a wide variety of backgrounds. This is the type of community that most people occupy as adults, and public school is an opportunity to meet it and learn to negotiate with other points of view an understand people with diverse backgrounds and values.
Range of Abilities and Disabilities: As with ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, the diversity introduces students to the communication issues and interpersonal issues that rubbing elbows with people who are different from oneself provides.
Opportunities: The number of students in a public school classroom provides opportunities that don't exist in most homeschools, from large-scale projects to team sports.
Facilities and Equipment: The number of students and funding allows public schools to have facilities (such as a skating rink or pool) and/or purchase equipment, such as laboratory equipment and technology that would be prohibitive for most homesechool families.
Advanced Classes: The number of students and funding often allows public schools, particularly at the high school level, to offer an array of advanced classes in the arts, technology studies, and the sciences, any and all of which might be difficult to conduct for homeschooling parents who do not happen to have specialized training.
Variety of Teachers: Public schools expose students to a variety of teachers: even in situations with one main classroom teacher, students may have additional instructors for foreign language, home economics, shop, physical education, drama, music, art, etc. This gives them an opportunity to learn with diverse pedagogies.
Extracurricular Activities: Public schools often offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities, ranging from intramural sports to a range of clubs and other opportunities.

Advantages of Public Schools Compared to Private Schools

Cost: Public schools don't charge tuition, while private schools do. Even scholarships an other aid may not cover the difference.
Transportation: Public schools usually provide transportation for students who live more than a few blocks away, whereas private schools usually do not.
Uniting Element: With ninety percent of all American children in public school, public education is a uniting element and can be seen as an important factor in our democratic way of life.
Choice Within the System: Because public school education now includes magnet schools and charter schools, as well as traditional public schools, there are - right within the public education system - choices that have many of the features of education that used only to be attainable in private schools.
Teacher Certification: As a result of receiving Federal funds, public schools must follow strict teacher certification rules, which do not apply in many private schools. As a result, public school teachers may, in some cases, be better qualified than private school teachers.
Academic Performance: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana found, when examining data from a standardized math exam taken by fourth and eighth graders, that if they excluded the influence of family background and socioeconomic factors, public school students did slightly better than private school students.
Services for Students with Disabilities: Public schools often have more robust services than generalist private schools (i.e., those that are not focused on a specialty population with a particular disability) for assisting students with disabilities, both in terms of staff and funding.
Teacher Pay: Pay for public school teachers is overall better than pay for private school teachers, though this differs by school.

The Education Department's Role and Ongoing Threats

The Education Department’s establishment in 1980 as a Cabinet-level agency emphasized our commitment as a nation to public education. The department’s five high-impact responsibilities reflect local, state and national priorities for public education:

Fund research and new approaches to improving education that provide high-quality data, statistics and evaluation to inform education policies and practices.
Ensure equal access to education and civil rights protections for all students.
Improve education outcomes for students with disabilities with programs that ensure equal access to education and support student needs.
Improve education for all students by closing the gap in education outcomes for students from families with low incomes and those experiencing poverty.
Fund and support higher education access and opportunities for students to ensure the nation’s future global competitiveness.

These goals aim to create a more inclusive public education system that serves and benefits all children and communities. Political actions by the current administration, however, threaten to hobble the ability of the Education Department to enforce civil rights protections, and indeed, to function in ensuring education excellence. For example, the recent actions raise significant questions regarding what the elimination of the Education Department might mean for students with disabilities, as the agency is the primary accountability mechanism for state compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The Ongoing Education Justice Movement

To be clear, despite the aim of public schools to provide equal and equitable access to, and experiences with, quality education for all children, our nation’s schools have yet to fulfill that promise. Despite these problems, however, public schools remain an ideal mechanism to eventually achieve democracy’s aims, which include equal and equitable education for all children. We can simultaneously celebrate the integral role that public schools have in our nation while critiquing components of education practice and advocating for improvements.

In addition to academic learning, in many cases, public schools are the only place where some students are able to get a hot and healthy meal once or twice a day. For others, it represents a place of consistency, stability and safety. Public schools provide students from all walks of life and backgrounds an opportunity to socialize, engage with rigorous curricula, participate in extracurricular activities, participate in field trips to cultural centers like museums, engage in the arts and more, much of which would otherwise be out of reach for some students. Public education is a vital common good for our democracy and society, and education institutions demand not only protection but greater investment. Despite claims by voucher advocates, the creation and expansion of vouchers cause a direct and measurable reduction in the funding allocated to public schools.

Investing in the Future: The Economic and Societal Returns of Education

Funding state-wide education isn’t cheap. But a well-funded early care and P-16 system has both direct benefits to students as well as indirect benefits to society. Higher performance later in life. Bridging the achievement gap. It’s not just students that are served. For parents. Improving societal outcomes. Predicting later success. Higher earnings. Collective benefits. Higher education serves multiple purposes-like other levels of education, it transforms the life of learners. Additional lifetime earnings. Winters (2020) finds that California college graduates earn on average $108,932 versus $55,158 for high school graduates-a 97.5 percent advantage. Increased state revenue. Research and technology investment. Human capital. California’s system of higher education also sparks and sustains human capital development in the state.

There’s plenty of evidence that a quality education pays off. A well-educated populace is essential to the health of a democratic society and necessary for driving economic development. How much should California be spending in order to make sure that every student can achieve certain goals - like graduating from high school or affording to attend college? An adequacy formula for K-12 and higher education could help give us the answers. With an adequacy formula, policymakers would know what level of spending on a per-pupil basis would be required to achieve certain goals.

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