2021 was a record year for values‐ and identity‐based conflicts in public schools. We have 381 conflicts cataloged for that year on our Public Schooling Battle Map, dwarfing the next closest year: 2018, with 250 battles. And 2022 looks like it could give 2021 a run for its money, with 120 throwdowns so far.
Given the intensified heat surrounding public schooling, we at Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, via the invaluable skills of Cato’s web team, have worked to make the Public Schooling Battle Map faster and, hopefully, more useful. To do that, we have implemented the following:
- Near‐daily updates
- A “Latest Battles” box, so that users can quickly see where the five newest fires are burning
- Tallies of both total conflicts and battles by type
- Links to view or download a copy of the underlying database
- Increased response speed
In addition to these improvements, note that we update existing battles whenever something new of importance happens, such as legislation being passed, or lawsuits decided. So keep checking the summaries of conflicts in your district, state, or just of interest to you. Also, we will be updating the “Featured Content” at the bottom of the page more frequently, to act as something of a hub for CEF’s work reforming K‑12 education to foster harmony and equality.
These will not be the end of our upgrades. We hope to make more improvements in the future, and user feedback will help us do that. Feel free to email CEF director Neal McCluskey with your ideas!
