The Constitution never mentions schools, so who decides?

Commentary. This piece argues a position. The legal background is sourced to court decisions, and the argument is labeled as ours.

Quick answer: K-12 schooling belongs to your state and your local district, not Washington. If you want public education money to follow your child, and you want the final word on what your child is taught, your state capitol and your school board room are where it gets decided.

Start with what's missing

Search the Constitution for the word "education." It isn't there. Neither is "school."

Under the Tenth Amendment, powers not handed to the federal government stay with the states and the people. So schooling is set by state constitutions, state legislatures and thousands of local districts. Every state's constitution has its own education clause, and they differ in ways that matter when a lawsuit lands. If you want to see how much power sits at that level, read Your State Legislature Runs More of Your Life Than Congress Does.

The position we're taking: the money collected from taxpayers to educate children should follow the child to the school the parents choose. And parents, not agencies, should hold the last word on what their own kids are taught.

What the law already says about parents

This isn't a new idea. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), the Supreme Court struck down an Oregon law that would have forced nearly every child into public school. The Court wrote that "the child is not the mere creature of the State."

Seventy-five years later, in Troxel v. Granville (2000), a plurality of the Court called a parent's right to direct the upbringing of their children "perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests" it had recognized.

So the principle has deep roots. The fight is over the money.

What the courts have said about funding

Three cases matter most.

• ***Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002).* The Court upheld Cleveland's voucher program, 5-4. Public money can reach a family's chosen school, religious or not, when the family makes the choice.
• ***Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020).* Once a state creates a scholarship program, it can't exclude families from using it at religious schools.
• ***Carson v. Makin (2022).* Same logic, applied to Maine's tuition program for towns without a public high school.

Now the concession, because it's the part people skip. None of these rulings requires any state to fund school choice. They say that if a state does it, it can't discriminate against religious schools. Whether a program exists at all is a decision for your legislature. And state courts have struck down some programs under their own constitutions, so passing a law doesn't end the story.

That's good news for a reader with a phone and a free evening. It means the question is winnable close to home.

The case, argued plainly

It's the family's money for the child's benefit. Taxes for schools are collected for one purpose: educating kids. The kid is the point. The building isn't.

Families with money already have choice. They buy a house in the right district, or they pay private tuition on top of the property tax they already owe. Choice for the people who can't do either is the whole idea. A family that can leave has leverage. A family that can't has a three-minute slot at a board meeting.

Nobody knows your kid like you do. An elected board and a state agency are deciding for thousands of children at once. A mother who knows her son reads two grades behind, or her daughter is bored out of her skull, is deciding for one.

It's working in practice. Arizona opened its education savings account program to every K-12 student in 2022. Parents there get a deposit they can spend on tuition, tutoring or curriculum. Whatever you think of the program's details, it shows the idea is no longer theoretical.

None of this is an argument against teachers. Plenty of public school teachers work hard for kids and are respected here. The argument is about structure: who holds the money and who holds the last word.

What the other side gets right

Some of the objections are real.

Strings come with public money. If dollars follow the child, expect reporting or testing requirements. Parents should insist those be light and transparent, but a program with zero accountability invites waste, and it deserves to lose in court and at the ballot box.

Rural families may have nothing to choose from. A county with one school and no private option gets little from a voucher. Programs that let families spend on tutoring, online courses or homeschool materials help here. A plain voucher doesn't.

District costs don't shrink one kid at a time. The bus route and the roof stay the same when ten students leave. Legislatures have to plan for that, and the better bills do.

An honest case for choice admits these. Then it answers them with design, not with a shrug.

What you can do this month

1. Find your next school board election date. Many are held off-cycle, in spring or odd years, and turnout can be very low. A small number of votes goes a long way. Look up who's running and what they've said about the budget.

2. Read the budget. Your district posts it, and most states require a public hearing before it's adopted. Property tax is the largest local source for most districts, so your property tax bill is set long before it arrives. The time to speak is during the budget process.

3. Speak at public comment. Three minutes, one request. "I'm asking the board to publish every curriculum and reading list on the district website by January." Put the same words in an email so there's a record.

4. Ask for the materials in writing. Federal law (FERPA) gives you the right to inspect your child's education records, and many states have their own curriculum-transparency rules. Ask by email, with dates, and keep copies.

5. Know your opt-out rights. In Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025), the Court ruled 6-3 that a Maryland district couldn't deny opt-outs to parents with religious objections to certain storybooks in the classroom. What the courts have held on parents and religious liberty is laid out in What the Courts Have Actually Held on Religious Liberty. Read it before you walk into a meeting.

6. Call your state legislator. Ask for a specific bill by number. Ask which committee has it, when the vote is, and how they plan to vote. "Where do you stand on school choice?" gets a form letter. "Will you vote yes on HB 123 in committee Tuesday?" gets a staffer writing it down.

7. Vote in primaries and on ballot measures. Many school choice fights are decided in primaries, where a few hundred votes can flip a seat.

Where it lands

Nobody in a capitol or a district office loves your child more than you do. They'll make decisions about your kid this year, with you there or without you.

So be in the room.