Republican platform makes education bigger issue than in previous years

The Republican Party is expanding its ownership over the issue of education, making key policy proposals such as expanding parental rights, implementing patriotic education, and removing race and gender ideologies core components of its 2024 platform.

The plan, which was approved by the platform committee on Monday, is expected to receive passage during next week’s Republican National Convention, which begins Jul. 15. The inclusion of education as a core issue on the platform capitalizes on inroads Republicans have made since the last platform was passed, making the historically Democratic issue a central one for Republicans.

Republicans are also doubling down on promoting a patriotic education, particularly in civics. The platform does not include an effort to nationalize a civic education but says it will “support” schools that teach American founding principles and the advancements of Western civilization. The party also plans to reinstate the 1776 Commission, which was an advisory committee established during the Trump administration to support patriotic education goals. At the time of its creation, critical race theory proponent Nikole Hannah-Jones’s controversial 1619 Project was proliferating through public schools.

The platform promises to “restore parental rights,” support students’ rights to pray and read the Bible in school, and back universal school choice, expanding 529 Education Savings Accounts to cover homeschooling. That moves come after several states have enacted parental bills of rights, which include provisions to require schools to make curriculums readily available for parental review, as well as require schools to inform parents if their child starts claiming a gender identity that does not align with his or her biological sex.

“To see the importance of parental rights and a parent’s role in their child’s educational journey highlighted within the first sentence of the K-12 priorities is a breath of fresh air,” Alleigh Marré, executive director of American Parents Coalition, told the Washington Examiner. “Most parents share a basic, uncomplicated vision for the American education system — prepare kids to think critically, foster learning and growth, keep them safe, and drop activist curriculum.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner.