K-12 education

On April 23, Keri D. Ingraham appeared on Freedom to Learn with Ginny Gentles, a podcast of the Defense of Freedom Institute. Dr. Ingraham discussed the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and why downsizing the federal bureaucracy will improve learning outcomes for students. She also shattered school choice myths, exposed why the teachers unions unravel over the loss of bureaucratic control, and explained how the first in our nation’s history federal tax credit scholarship program will work.

On April 15, Keri D. Ingraham appeared on the Pioneer Institute’s school choice podcast, The Learning Curve, co-hosted by Professor Albert Cheng and Walter Blanks. Dr. Ingraham explains why she is so passionate about giving kids school choice, the dismal state of public education in the United States, the importance of choice in education, how school choice improves learning outcomes even at public schools, and more.

America’s public education system has drifted dangerously far from its core mission. Schools exist to educate children — to teach them how to read, write, think critically, and understand the world around them. But across the country, many classrooms are increasingly focused on something else entirely. They are bent on turning students into political activists. Schoolchildren participating in anti-ICE drills and protests are the latest example of political propaganda forced on kids during the school day. In New York, footage shows a preschool encouraging children to talk about how they feel about ICE and President Trump — obviously based on the so-called education they have received from their teacher. In Boston, a teacher posted a video online showing her elementary Read More ›

On April 2, Keri D. Ingraham appeared on The Rod & Greg Show to discuss her Daily Wire article about parents taking control of their children’s education. Dr. Ingraham explains how the Covid-19 pandemic sparked the “great parent awakening” and a mass exodus from public schools, how competition improves learning outcomes for all students, and the importance of advancing education freedom in every state. Segment runs from 24:29-35:08

Across the country, policymakers have long assumed that boosting K-12 funding is the surest path to better student outcomes. Yet decades of rising spending have proven otherwise. The missing ingredient is not money — it’s meaningful choice. Florida provides one of the clearest examples. In 2001, the state launched a modest tax-credit scholarship program to help low-income students access alternative educational options. Roughly 15,000 students participated in the program’s first year. Today, Florida’s school choice ecosystem serves over 500,000 students across multiple programs, giving families options tailored to their children’s needs. Critics long warned that policies empowering parents with educational options for their children harm public schools and their students. The data, however, tell a different story — the positive Read More ›

It’s been one year since President Trump signed the historic executive order, “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities.” At the signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025, the President directed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” The stated purpose and policy of the executive order reads: “Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child. Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on The Tony Kinnett Cast to discuss how the Trump Administration has shrunk the Department of Education, returning authority to states and to parents. Dr. Ingraham explained how removing red tape, funding programs such as charter schools, and creating interagency partnerships have reduced federal bureaucracy and improved education opportunities for children nationwide.

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on The Silk or Joe Show to discuss the progress of shrinking the U.S. Department of Education since President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on March 20, 2025, Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities. She talks about the importance of returning power to local communities and parents in K-12 education, the fear-mongering of the teachers unions, and how free market solutions will improve education outcomes nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Education has spent more than $3 trillion since 1980, with little to show for it. Reading and math scores have barely budged, achievement gaps remain, and too many families are trapped in a system that fails their children. On March 20, 2025, President Trump took decisive action by signing an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department and return authority to the states. A year later, the results are striking. The department has overhauled operations — cutting nearly half its staff, reducing administrative layers, and consolidating offices. Grants have been streamlined, programs merged, reporting reduced, and oversight of the $1.6 trillion student-loan portfolio shifted to a more capable agency. Critics predicted chaos. Read More ›

Earlier in March, the U.S. Supreme Court had to step in and reaffirm the basic reality that parents, not schools, must be the primary decision-makers for their children. In the Mirabelli v. Bonta ruling, the Court determined that the California law, which barred schools from telling parents about their child’s claimed gender identity, violated parents’ constitutional rights — both their First Amendment free exercise rights and their Fourteenth Amendment rights to make decisions about their children’s upbringing. For most of American history, parents were recognized as the primary authority in their children’s lives. Today, that authority is repeatedly under attack, especially in public schools. Across the country, families are being shut out of what their children learn, denied access to Read More ›

What if you could help a child receive a better education at no cost to yourself? Beginning in 2027, Americans will be able to do exactly that. Under the Education Freedom Tax Credit, taxpayers can contribute up to $1,700 annually to approved scholarship-granting organizations and, in return, receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit. Every dollar donated will be offset against the taxpayer’s debt to the federal government. Enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law on Independence Day last year, the policy establishes the first federal tax-credit scholarship program in U.S. history. Many states already have successful state-level tax-credit scholarship programs that can serve as a proof of concept. Nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations such as ACE Scholarships, which Read More ›

American public education has lost sight of its purpose. Too often, progressive political agendas take time away from teaching core academic learning to children. A glaring example is the anti-ICE agenda that has infiltrated classrooms, where students are encouraged — and even instructed — during learning time to make signs and stand on street corners to protest during the school day. Many of these children have little to no accurate understanding of the issue and have not been given objective facts or context to evaluate it critically. Instead of learning to think for themselves, students are guided toward a particular political viewpoint. This undermines critical thinking, erodes intellectual development, and wastes precious learning time that should be spent on core Read More ›