Lootpress – Public education is designed to give every child regardless of socioeconomic status a true chance to improve their lot in life and achieve success. Horace Mann famously called public education the “great equalizer of the conditions of men.” And founding father John Adams said education was so important that “no expense…would be too extravagant.”
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West Virginia’s founders seemed to agree with Mann and Adams on the importance of public education to such an extent that they enshrined in our state constitution the responsibility of the Legislature to provide a “thorough and efficient system of free schools.”
The vehicle for this great equalizing force is the public school system, because it serves all students in every corner of the state regardless of disability, religion, socioeconomic status, or family background. Right now, West Virginia’s constitutional promise is falling short, not due to the public school system’s own failure but due to years of neglect from state legislators. For several years, state lawmakers have focused almost exclusively on school choice, or educational options outside of the public school system, to the detriment of the more than 85 percent of children who receive their education in public schools and will continue to do so regardless of choice options.
