The modern education reform movement has turned 40. Focusing on families, not systems, is the new shiny red Corvette to overcome its midlife malaise. 

Turning 40 is a milestone in any life, and particularly in the four-decades long push to improve the outcomes of American education. It’s been a rough trek as the country went from one massive national solution to another in search of magic, top-down transformation. 

The Hudson Institute recently published a series of essays marking the 40th anniversary of the landmark federal report “A Nation At Risk,” that took stock of the serious decline in the quality of American education and issued a challenge for systematic revival. 

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“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war,” the report stated. 

Who imposed this system?

The teacher unions and their fellow travelers in the alphabet soup of education establishment groups representing school boards, school administrators and the like. And like an invading foreign power, they have too often dominated the dialogue about school improvement.

Here’s how:

The narrative embraced by status quo Democrats and, sadly, way too many Republicans — abetted by the mainstream media — is that more spending equals better results. 

It’s a lie. 

For example, the Hudson project points out in the 40 years since “A Nation At Risk,” education spending doubled. What has America gotten for answering the cash call?   

Basically, no improvement. And, as anyone can see, in many districts — including those serving poor and minority families — performance has declined. 

What about Colorado?  

The Common Sense Institute dug deep into the numbers and reported that, looking at spending from all revenue sources, education revenue rose nearly 10% just from 2020 to 2023. We now spend $16 billion per year. 

Nothing wrong with that, provided that the infusion of funds boosts performance. 

Colorado has gone backward, particularly since the disastrous pandemic school closing decisions championed by teacher unions and their apologists. Today, only 41% of third graders are reading at proficiency levels, and 40% are proficient in math.

Put another way, 60% of Colorado kids are falling way behind.  

As it was 40 years ago, it is today. 

The teacher unions — the most malign forces in America today — have won the big debate that money equals progress. During this year’s legislative session, teachers took a day off to march around the State Capitol screeching for more money. And their chant was that if they didn’t get their  money, they would “shut it down” — meaning tossing kids out of the classroom. 

In other settings, that would be called extortion. So, when they say it’s “all about the children,” it’s never all about the children. 

The answer to this horrid status quo is to stop playing their game on their turf.

Find what teacher unions hate the most and do more of it.   

They detest parents with power, who can make choices among schools, ask tough questions and insist on real answers.   

For example, they fear moms and dads so much they wanted to have the FBI label them terrorists. So let’s encourage and empower more parents who aren’t union patsies to show up, speak out and expose what’s happening in schools.

The education establishment hates charter schools, beating them up at the State Capitol and in school board meetings. Let’s make sure charter schools can not only survive, but flourish. 

And if you want to watch them freak out, suggest this idea.

Put the $16,000 that Colorado pays per pupil in the backpack of every student and, armed with cash, let them pick their schools, whatever school they like, even private schools. It’s like tossing a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch. Satisfying to watch and good news for the future.

They know real reform is popular. A poll by the reform group the American Federation for Children reported 71% of Americans support using tax dollars to help families choose schools — including private schools. That includes 73% of African Americans and two-thirds of Democrats. 

The route to school improvement today has never been through Washington D.C., despite the earnest hopes of the authors of “A Nation At Risk.” It goes through millions of kitchen tables, where families are engaged in charting their children’s educational path — and demanding results. 

That’s how the tide of mediocrity becomes an ocean of success for American kids. 

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.