There are several education-related stories Cato scholars are available to talk on. Below are summaries of each topic and Neal McCluskey, director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, provides his stance on each along with past writings on each topic.

SCOTUS takes up religious charter school case

This case is about the constitutionality of a charter school being religious, in this case Catholic. A charter school is technically a public school, but it is run by an ostensibly private entity and chosen by parents. The argument for the school is that government discriminates against religion when it can legally grant a charter to any school except one that is religious. The argument against the school is that a religious public school violates the separation of church and state.

Neal McCluskey’s position: Religious discrimination is a powerful, important argument, but ultimately allowing government to choose whether or not a religious school can operate is too entangling with religion. It opens up the constant threat of assertions that a school was approved or turned down because of religion, or lack thereof. Also, chartering has been shown to take kids from truly free schools – private schools – which is a policy, not constitutional, objection to expanding charter schooling. The focus should be on dollars simply following kids to whatever schools families choose.

Below are some articles our scholars have written in the past on this topic:

Say “No” to Religious Charter Schools

The Impact of Charter Schools on Public and Private School Enrollments

Public Schooling Must Discriminate Against Religion; American Education Must Not

U.S. Department of Education ends “book ban hoax”

On Friday, the Department of Education announced that it was dismissing several complaints that the removal of books in public school libraries created hostile environments for students, and was eliminating a Biden-era “book ban coordinator” position.

Neal McCluskey’s position: This hits on two major issues: The federal role in education and book “banning.” First, constitutionally the federal government should not be involved in education, and it definitely should not impose book selection criteria on school districts. Values conflicts should ideally be handled through school choice, but if not, by local decisions, which better reflect specific communities. Book “banning” is also not exactly a “hoax” – books do get removed – and it is concerning to have government entities such as school boards make such decisions. That said, public schools must make decisions about which books they stock and which they don’t, and there are legitimate debates about what is or is not appropriate for children. And no one is saying it is illegal to buy or sell any of these books.

Below are some articles our scholars have written in the past on this topic:

There’s Nothing “Absurd” or “Dangerous” about Ending the US Department of Education

Policy Handbook chapter on the federal role

Should the Feds Decide the Transgender Bathroom Issue?

Are Public School Libraries Accomplishing Their Mission?

There Are No ‘Banned Books’ in America, But That Doesn’t Mean Freedom Reigns

Maryland LGBTQ reading op-out case accepted by SCOTUS

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court accepted a case in which several parents of elementary school children requested religious opt-outs from pro-LGBTQ readings and were turned down.

Neal McCluskey’s position: Parents should be able to opt their children out of public-school content that they find antithetical to their religious beliefs. But that can potentially make running a school very difficult. What if people constantly request opt-outs as well as alternative work to prevent lost educational time? More deeply, by forcing people with different values to all fund a single system of government schools, public schooling makes clashes over what is acceptable inevitable. The ultimate solution to the problem is school choice.

Below are some articles our scholars have written in the past on this topic:

Defuse the Culture War with Liberated Education

Secularism Triumphant: Is the US Education System Turning into the French System?

Public Schooling Battle Map

Additional topics

In addition to these major stories, there is a new report showing mismanagement in Head Start, an executive order against DEI in private colleges and other private institutions, and on Wednesday morning we will get the latest national academic assessment results. Colleen Hroncich has written and testified about the problems with government pre‑K programs, and Neal has written about the need to let private institutions make their own decisions about how to deal with past discrimination.