🏫 From Praise to Paranoia: Who’s Really Behind the War on Public Schools?

 



📍 TL;DR

Public education—especially in rural America—is under attack.

Not from parents.

Not from teachers.

But from a small, powerful group of billionaire-funded organizations trying to dismantle public schools and replace them with private, religious, or online alternatives.


This post breaks down:

  • ✅ What’s happening
  • 🕵️ Who’s funding it
  • 🗣️ Why they SAY they’re doing it
  • 🎯 Why they’re ACTUALLY doing it
  • 🚨 What it means for rural schools
  • ✊ What you can do about it


🧠 WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Across the country, we’re seeing:

  • School board takeovers
  • Book bans
  • Attacks on teachers
  • Shifts to voucher systems
  • Defunding of public programs

Groups like Moms for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, and American Principles Project present themselves as “grassroots.” But they’re part of a coordinated campaign to take control of public education and redirect taxpayer funds to private institutions.

These efforts are especially dangerous for rural and working-class communities where families rely on public schools not just for learning, but for meals, safety, childcare, internet access, and community connection.


🧑‍💼 WHO’S BEHIND IT?

The loudest names:

The real funders:

They’ve funneled millions into flipping school boards, rewriting curriculums, and pushing “school choice” legislation that drains public school funding.



🎭 Why they SAY they’re doing this

It sounds righteous.

It sounds urgent.

But what they claim—and what’s actually happening—are two very different things.

They say it’s about:

  • Parental Rights: “Parents should be in control of what their kids learn.”
  • Transparency: “We just want to know what’s happening in the classroom.”
  • Protecting Children: “We’re saving kids from indoctrination or harm.”
  • American Values: “We’re restoring patriotism and moral clarity.”

But these messages are carefully crafted.

They’re tested and repeated because they work—especially when paired with fear.

The real fuel here?

  • Fear of change.
  • Fear of race, gender, and sexuality.
  • Fear of children learning to question power.
  • Fear that schools are making kids “different” from their parents.

These aren’t grassroots concerns.

They’re culture war talking points, designed to divide communities and destabilize trust in public institutions—especially schools.


💰 Why they’re REALLY doing this

It’s not about helping kids.

It’s not even about giving parents more choices.

It’s about turning public education into a billion-dollar private market—and reshaping what kids believe.


They want:

  • 💸 Privatization: Education in the U.S. is a $1.5 trillion industry. Corporations, religious groups, and political donors want a piece of it—through private schools, online programs, charter networks, and voucher schemes.
  • 📋 Deregulation: Private and religious schools don’t have to follow the same rules as public schools. That means less oversight, fewer credentialed teachers, and curriculum that can push unscientific or ideologically driven content.
  • 🙏 Religious Indoctrination: Some voucher-funded schools explicitly teach creationism, deny climate change, and enforce gender roles—all with public money. This directly threatens school accreditation and violates the separation of church and state. [See examples here.]
  • 🏛 Political Control: By weakening public education, these groups can produce a generation less equipped to question power, analyze information, or engage in democracy. That’s not a side effect—it’s a strategy.
  • 📉 Global Regression: Countries like Finland, South Korea, and Canada continue to invest in equitable, high-quality public education. Meanwhile, U.S. “school choice” policies risk further undermining our academic standing and civic literacy.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory—it’s a pattern.]

These aren’t education reforms.

They’re extractive, ideological experiments—pushed hardest on communities with the fewest resources to resist.

🌾 WHY RURAL SCHOOLS ARE IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Rural schools are uniquely vulnerable because:

  • They rely heavily on state funding.
  • They have fewer local media outlets to expose disinformation.
  • They can’t offer multiple “choice” options due to geography.
  • They serve as community anchors—when they go, the town suffers.

School vouchers don’t help when:

  • There’s no private school within 100 miles.
  • Parents can’t quit work to homeschool.
  • Kids need meals, therapies, or special education support.


“School choice” in these cases is a mirage. It promises freedom while delivering abandonment.


✊ ACTION ITEMS FOR EVERYONE

👩‍👦 Parents

  1. Read this article with a friend. Talk through your feelings and questions.
  2. Attend a local school board meeting. Just observe the first time.
  3. Share one social media post this week that defends public schools.
  4. Ask your school if you can volunteer—even once a semester.
  5. Contact your state rep and say: “I’m a parent in [town] and I want our public schools fully funded and protected.”

🧑‍🎓 Students (Middle & High School)

  1. Interview a teacher about what’s changed in the last 5 years.
  2. Create an infographic about how school vouchers impact rural communities.
  3. Write a short speech defending your school and submit it to the local paper.
  4. Start or join a student equity group.
  5. Ask your civics teacher: “Can we learn more about who funds school board candidates?”

🍎 Teachers

  1. Read your district’s mission statement aloud. Is it still true?
  2. Organize a lunch-and-learn on “school choice myths.”
  3. Use your platform—email newsletters, Instagram, classroom walls—to share one public-school success story each week.
  4. Join a local or national teacher network (like NEA).
  5. Send a thank-you letter to one school board member who’s done the right thing.

🏫 Administrators

  1. Offer a professional development session on disinformation in education.
  2. Add advocacy updates to weekly staff emails.
  3. Partner with local businesses to highlight the value of your grads.
  4. Collect stories from alumni and publish them.
  5. Hold one open forum a semester for families to ask tough questions—and feel heard.

🏪 Business Owners

  1. Display a “We Support Our Local Public School” sign in your shop.
  2. Offer a discount to teachers or students who show ID.
  3. Sponsor a school event—sports, theater, robotics.
  4. Write a public letter to local leaders about how schools support the economy.
  5. Share the Barn Raising article on your business page with a personal note.

🏛 Politicians & Civic Leaders

  1. Refuse donations from dark money PACs targeting education.
  2. Host town halls specifically on public school funding.
  3. Draft or support legislation that protects public funds for public schools.
  4. Meet with teachers from every school in your district this year.
  5. Speak up: use your mic to say “I believe in public education.”


💬 CLOSING THOUGHTS

You don’t have to agree with every curriculum decision or love every school policy.

But public education belongs to all of us—and right now, it’s under siege.

www.ak4ak.org 

www.billeenc.com

www.teachwildnorth.com

Together, we defend what we love.

And public school? That’s where the love begins.


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