Regarding RedforEd, many who are reluctant to support additional school funding hold that view partly because they oppose what they perceive as left-wing indoctrination ongoing in our public schools since the 1960s. They want to see our children educated, not indoctrinated.

Examples: History textbooks recently introduced in Minneapolis discuss the 2016 presidential election and describe all Trump supporters as racist. This is presented as fact, not opinion. If you voted for President Trump, how happy would you be to see your child’s school teaching that you’re a racist?

Check out the Twitter feeds of the two RedforEd leaders. These are self-described Marxist activists who advocate a very radical agenda. One is a music teacher who acknowledges his classroom use of rap music that promotes cop killing. Why have Arizona teachers chosen these guys to speak for them? Wasn’t there someone else?

Teachers attend workshops on “toxic masculinity” or “white privilege” or “gender expression” and then bring these ideas to the classroom. Simultaneously, we read that U.S. students are falling farther behind in the basics as compared to their peers in other industrialized nations. What is the public to make of this?

My niece has pulled her children out of public schools and is homeschooling them. Fortunately, she’s equipped to do this. But how sad that she feels she must. And what about parents who can’t homeschool and can’t afford private schools? I support charter schools as an option for parents when public schools fail their children.

I can’t help but believe that the failure is partly due to a focus on trendy distractions and an ideological agenda at the expense of the basics. I believe that we’d see greater support for schools if they dropped the agenda and focused on mastery of STEM subjects, (unbiased) history and language arts.