Public Schools: The Cornerstone of American Democracy

      The debate over the future of American education has become a proxy war over the very meaning of democracy. The evisceration of the Department of Education, expansion of privatization through voucher programs, and erosion of funding for public schools are a strike at the heart of our nation’s most democratic institution. Public schools are where children from all backgrounds meet on equal footing, where the ideals of citizenship are cultivated, and where the promise of opportunity is most tangibly realized. When we allow public education to erode, we are not simply failing our children, we are dismantling the very system of democracy that depends on their voices.

       As a military brat, I attended the most racially, culturally, and economically diverse schools in the entire world. I mostly attended DoD schools growing up, with the exception of a year at Oak Grove Elementary, a year at Huddleston Elementary, and a graduate from McIntosh High School—three schools that reflected the diversity, collaboration, and shared purpose that define a healthy community. 

My own experience in Fayette County’s public schools helped shape my belief that education is the great equalizer in a democracy. 

       The health of American democracy depends on its public schools. More than any other institution, public schools embody the democratic promise that every child, regardless of race, income, or background, deserves an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and participate in civic life. They are the only institutions where the children of the unhoused and CEOs, immigrants and native-born citizens, students with disabilities and students without, share space and experience the hard but necessary work of living together in diversity.

        From the start, public education was not merely about teaching literacy and arithmetic but about building the moral and civic fabric of the nation. In the 1916 classic Democracy and Education, John Dewey argued that democracy was not just a form of government but a way of life, and that schools were the laboratories where children learned to live with difference, deliberate collectively, and recognize their shared stake in society.

        If Dewey articulated the vision, Brown v. Board of Education enshrined it into law. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision declared that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” making clear that public education is the foundation of equal citizenship. Brown was not just about school buildings; it was about democracy itself. To deny equal education was to deny democratic participation. Every step toward desegregation, funding equity, and inclusion has been a step toward realizing the democratic promise embedded in public education. The recent dismantling of the Department of Education, coupled with the expansion of voucher programs, poses a direct threat to this democratic vision.      

        The Department of Education played a critical role in ensuring that vulnerable students, including those with disabilities, English learners, and children living in poverty, are not left behind. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) remains federal law for now, dismantling the Department is severely undermining its enforcement by disrupting funding, weakening oversight, and eliminating essential research and civil rights protections. Without ED to distribute resources, monitor compliance, and investigate discrimination, millions of students with disabilities are losing meaningful access to the free and appropriate public education guaranteed under federal law. 

       In the absence of federal oversight, states and districts with fewer resources would struggle to meet these obligations, further deepening inequality across the nation. The consequences of dismantling public education fall most heavily on vulnerable populations. Students with disabilities—whom I have devoted my professional life to serving—now face the loss of essential services as oversight weakens. Likewise, children experiencing poverty, who depend on public schools not only for learning but also for meals, counseling, and stability, are disproportionately harmed as resources are diverted to private schools.

        Beyond enforcing civil rights, the Department drove vital educational research that informed evidence-based practices, guided innovation in teaching, and ensured accountability in schools nationwide. Without this federal leadership, the nation has lost consistent standards, reliable data, and the scientific foundation needed to improve learning outcomes, leaving policy decisions to politics and ideology instead of research and student need.

        Voucher programs drain resources from public schools and deepen the divide between students who have and those who do not. These programs rarely cover the full cost of tuition, leaving low-income families priced out while affluent families use public dollars to subsidize private education. According to Private School Review, the average annual tuition for a private elementary school in Georgia is about $14,241 for the 2025–26 school year. By contrast, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act provides “promise scholarship accounts” worth only $6,500 per student. In other words, the scholarship covers less than half the average cost of private schooling, forcing families to shoulder the remainder out of pocket—effectively making the program a benefit for wealthier households rather than the low- and middle-income students it claims to support.

       Advocates for privatization argue that parents should be free to choose schools, but this appeal of “choice” often masks deeper inequities. Voucher programs siphon money away from already underfunded public schools, leaving behind the students most dependent on them. The result is not freedom but a patchwork of privately run schools unaccountable to the public, with absolutely no guarantee of serving all students.

       Furthermore, private schools that accept vouchers are often not held to the same nondiscrimination standards as public schools. As a result, LGBTQ+ students, immigrant children, and students of color are at greater risk of exclusion within privatized systems. Public schools, on the other hand, are obligated to serve every child, regardless of background or identity—embodying the core democratic principle that all children deserve equal opportunity and respect.

       Since our founding, public schools have remained our most democratic institution. They are open to all, funded collectively, and accountable to the public. In their classrooms, children learn not only math and science but also how to share space with those different from themselves, how to deliberate across disagreements, and how to recognize the common good. Dewey was explicit on this point: “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.” Public schools make that experience real.

        When we weaken public schools through privatization and neglect, we do not simply harm individual students, we erode the democratic experiment itself. A fragmented system of private and charter schools, accountable to private boards rather than the public, teaches children to live in silos rather than in a shared society. It fosters competition over cooperation, exclusion over inclusion, inequality over justice.

       To honor the founding vision of American education, we must recommit to strengthening, not dismantling, our public schools. That means robust federal oversight through the Department of Education, equitable funding across states and districts, and policies that prioritize the needs of vulnerable students. It also means rejecting the false promise of vouchers and recommitting to the principle that every child, regardless of background, deserves a quality public education.

        Public schools are not perfect, but they remain our greatest democratic achievement. They are where the ideals of Brown v. Board continue to unfold, where Dewey’s vision of democracy as a way of life is practiced daily, and where the future of our republic is being formed. The future of American democracy depends on our willingness to strengthen, not dismantle the Department of Education and the public schools it protects.

By Matthew Douglas
Brooks, Georgia