Report: Public Education is Popular (and our Opponents Know it)
Public education was a key issue on the Nov. 7 ballot last week. School board candidates associated with the far-right extremist group “Moms for Liberty” suffered losses in their attacks on schools across the country, but their agenda won in school districts in New Jersey, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and Arkansas, among others. The fight for the future of public education is not over, and we need to keep fighting to protect our public schools against ongoing authoritarian attacks.
We’re excited to support that fight to defend public schools. Today we are releasing Public Education is Popular (and Our Opponents know it), a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind national study on what messages work best to counter authoritarian attacks on America’s public schools.
In partnership with Change Research, we conducted a research study with 3,274 respondents across five battleground states (Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington) to test which kinds of messages are most effective in defending public education and defeating authoritarian rhetoric. We tested messages on four common lines of attack: funding for public education, “Critical Race Theory,” book bans, and transgender student athletes.
In short, when it comes to defending public education, our word choices matter. “Although our first instincts often tell us to fight back by correcting misinformation, this important study highlights the idea that we need to fight for public education by calling out the divide and conquer tactics for what they really are - attempts to discredit and destroy public education as we know it. The bottom line - inoculate, don't debunk,” says Donald Cohen, Executive Director, In the Public Interest.
“The report presents essential, research-backed strategies aimed at building a diverse majority committed to safeguarding and enhancing public education,” said Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology and Network for Public Education Founding Board Member. “Through a thorough understanding and application of these strategies, we can proactively defend our schools against extremist elements and champion a democratic, inclusive vision for the future of public education.”
“A thought-provoking and, in some ways, unsettling study that challenges many of the accepted approaches to fighting authoritarian messaging,” said Bill Fletcher, Jr., a long-time racial-justice, labor, and international activist, scholar, and author. “This study offers tremendous insight into how to confront authoritarian politics and messaging. What an amazing instrument in the fight to save and expand democracy."