Public Schools Misused for Political Agendas

The North American Values Institute recently evaluated a series of webinars centering on using public schools as hubs for the movement to ‘free Palestine.’ Organized by Code Pink’s Marci Winograd, who heads the pro-Palestinian caucus for the California Teachers Association, one webinar featured Laura Pinho, a dance teacher with a social media presence filled with antisemitic notions. Pinho’s session explained how to integrate Palestinian ‘resistance’ into dance lessons. This approach was not an exploration of Palestinian culture. It aimed to use academic standards to push students toward specific political beliefs.

Having served on the California State Board of Education and contributing to the implementation of the state’s educational standards, I understand the intent behind these guidelines. They were designed to foster independent thinking among students. Yet, Pinho’s methods leaned more toward indoctrination, not education. This issue is not isolated. The California Teachers Association and its Los Angeles branch have allowed anti-Israel sentiments to grow in the Los Angeles Unified School District. These sentiments use biased political narratives to alienate and target Jewish parents and educators.

An incident from a few weeks ago illustrates this. A Jewish teacher was publicly reproached and excluded from a union leadership meeting simply due to being identified as a ‘known Zionist.’ Despite Amy Leserman’s 25-year dedication as an educator and union leader, United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart Cruz prioritized her removal. This allowed the union to proceed with voting on motions about Israel and Palestine.

Public education is currently a platform for adult political activism, when children need a focus on core educational fundamentals. Schools should educate students about political conflicts including diverse viewpoints but should avoid pressing students into a teacher’s personal cause or barring members for differing opinions. This problem isn’t limited to one side. Activists on the right also try to interject political biases into schools. Oklahoma lawmakers have tried to include election conspiracy topics into lessons on the January 6 Capitol attack. Texas has approved new requirements for bible verse readings.

Both extremes operate under a flawed premise: that public schools are places for political battles rather than centers for nurturing knowledge, judgment, and civic responsibility. This harms children. While adults argue about politics, student performance in America has declined to a historic low. Twelfth-grade reading and math scores are at record lows. Fundamental promises like life, liberty, and happiness cannot hold meaning for someone unable to read these words.

The core issue is that classrooms being used for political purposes means students and parents have little power to ensure that learning takes priority. Across California and America, children legally deserve a free education but lack the right to quality education. Students must attend failing schools by law, while parents lack rights to demand better standards. This opens the door for ideological uses of educational spaces instead of genuine teaching.

It is urgent to stop this ideological tussle and affirm that the right to unbiased, quality public education is the real civil rights issue of our era. Ensuring access to high-caliber public education as a civil right in California — and across the nation — would ensure every child gains high-level skills in reading, writing, reasoning, and calculation. This would require adherence to transparent academic standards over ideological agendas. It would also grant families recourse when educational systems fail.

Elevating educational quality to a civil right would shift the power dynamic. It would empower students and parents, rather than unions, political activists, or bureaucratic figures. American schools belong to the country’s parents and children.