[ONLINE] - Cara Fitzpatrick: The Death of Public School

America has relied on public schools for 150 years, but the system is increasingly under attack. With declining enrollment and diminished trust in public education, policies that steer tax dollars into private schools have grown rapidly. To understand how we got here, The Death of Public School argues, we must look back at the turbulent history of school choice.    

Cara Fitzpatrick uncovers the long journey of school choice, a story full of fascinating people and strange political alliances. She shows how school choice evolved from a segregationist tool in the South in the 1950s, to a policy embraced by advocates for educational equity in the North, to a conservative strategy for securing government funds for private schools in the twenty-first century. As a result, education is poised to become a private commodity rather than a universal good.   

The Death of Public School presents the compelling history of the fiercest battle in the history of American education—one that already has changed the future of public schooling. 

Join the New America Fellows Program and the Education Policy Program for a conversation with Cara Fitzpatrick and 2016 Fellow Robin V. Harris for a conversation about The Death of Public School.

Follow the conversation online by following @NAFellows.

Speakers:

Cara Fitzpatrick, @Fitz_ly
2019 New Arizona Fellow, New America
Author, The Death of Public Schools: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America 

Robin V. Harris, @RobinVHarris
2016 National Fellow, New America 

Introduction:

Elena Silva, @elena_m_silva
Senior director of PreK–12 Education, New America

Copies of The Death of Public Schools are available for purchase here through our bookselling partner Solid State Books.