Dems on defensive with parental right in education

 The Hill:

The Democratic Party is increasingly being forced to play defense on education, a dangerous position heading into the 2024 election cycle as Republicans ramp up their rhetoric on the issue.

Democrats have long been vocal advocates of the public education system, defending school budgets and counting on reliable support from teachers’ unions.

But since the beginning of the pandemic, Republicans have sought to brand Democrats as the party that doesn’t care about parental involvement in education, using mask mandates and school closures as a wedge while also leaning into topics such how LGBTQ identity and Black history are taught.

Glenn Youngkin flipped the Virginia governor’s mansion from blue to red in 2021 with a campaign that made school choice and parental rights its signature issue. Since then, both declared and potential GOP White House hopefuls have regularly gone on the attack on the subject.

Giving the official Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address this month, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that, under Democrats, “our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country.”

“Here in Arkansas and across America, Republicans are working to end the policy of trapping kids in failing schools and sentencing them to a lifetime of poverty,” Sanders said. “We will educate, not indoctrinate, our kids and put students on a path to success.”
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I suspect they are on the defensive because of the policies of school administrators and some teachers.  The number of failing schools, particularly in Democrat-controlled cities is appalling.