Public education has taken an undeserved hit lately, both financially and from a public image perspective. But make no mistake, most of us — whether writing this editorial, reading it, deciding its legislative fate, or succeeding in a career somewhere across this great country of ours — are where we are today because of the public education we received.

And there are tens of thousands of youngsters poised to do the same as they prepare to enter kindergarten through 12th grade for the 2025-26 school year in just a few short weeks.

We make a grave mistake when we think that public education isn’t valuable or effective. Neither is true, and those who try to make us think otherwise probably haven’t stepped foot in a classroom in years, nor experienced the challenges that educators face and e

See Full Page