Articles by Jonathan Butcher

Elementary school students walking through a hallway.

Why Are South Carolina Lawmakers Allergic to Educational Opportunity?

Jonathan Butcher | March 06, 2026

Why do South Carolina lawmakers want to make it more difficult for families to educate their children? Lawmakers are misinterpreting the very law they approved… Read More

EducationCommentary

An Albany High School student listens as business teacher Christhoper Austen goes through different investment strategies for students who received a fictional $2,000 graduation present during a class on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco/Times Union via Getty Images)

Indiana Set to Deliver Huge Transformation for Teaching Profession

Jonathan Butcher | January 30, 2026

Indiana lawmakers are on the verge of reshaping the teaching profession to the benefit of teachers and students and could set an example for the… Read More

EducationCommentary

A look down an empty school hallway lined with lockers.

Florida Public School Districts Shouldn’t Keep Private and Charter Schools From Utilizing Empty Public Facilities

Jonathan Butcher | December 16, 2025

Jupiter Christian School, located 22 miles north of Palm Beach, Florida, has 700 students on its waiting list. The head of Grandview Prep, also near Palm Beach, reports that the number… Read More

EducationCommentary

Education Secretary Linda McMahon arrives for a September 11th observance event

Education Department Silences the Critics

Jonathan Butcher | November 18, 2025

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the agency’s sunset is in view, releasing detailed plans to collaborate with other federal agencies. Instead of… Read More

EducationCommentary

Helping Parents and Students Choose a College With Confidence

Jonathan Butcher | October 08, 2025

How do we know which are the best colleges? Traditional ratings rank schools based on the average GPA or test scores of entering students. But… Read More

EducationCommentary

Gregory Washington stands while talking and looking to his left as he gestures with his hands.

Disguising DEI: Schools Keep Trying to Push a Discredited Ideology

Jonathan Butcher | September 15, 2025

It’s back-to-school season, and some teachers have promised that the racist ideas from diversity, equity, and inclusion would not be in their classrooms this year…. Read More

LawCommentary

Armenian parents and their supporters protest a Pride assembly at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood on Friday, June 2, 2023.

California’s AB 495 Erodes Parental Rights and Child Safeguards

Jonathan Butcher | September 12, 2025

A recent move by the California Senate Appropriations Committee has left families across the state concerned about their rights as the primary decision-makers in their… Read More

LawCommentary

Attorney General Pam Bondi delivers remarks during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House.

George Washington University’s ‘Indifference’ to Antisemitism

Jonathan Butcher | August 13, 2025

How many students must be harassed before a university tries to stop the offenses? Jewish students at George Washington University are still counting, but in… Read More

EducationCommentary

Linda McMahon testifies before a congressional subcommittee.

Congress Needs to Stop Preserving the Education Department

Jonathan Butcher | August 04, 2025

Like a teacher cleaning the classroom before school opens, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is sweeping out the inefficiencies in her agency—but instead of… Read More

EducationCommentary

A group of men dressed like Minute Men from the Revolutionary War march down the street in a parade holding the American flag.

Revive Civics Education for America’s 250th

Jonathan Butcher | July 06, 2025

“America is not perfect, but perfection is not its promise. Opportunity is. And as long as we remain faithful to that idea, the American Dream will… Read More

SocietyCommentary

An electronic billboard at a sporting event displays the message "Happy Pride!"

Corporate Sponsors Are Pulling Back From Pride

Jonathan Butcher | June 15, 2025

LGBTQ advocates have long allied themselves with diversity, equity and inclusion groups. Yet DEI’s legal troubles are causing some corporate sponsors to end their support… Read More

EducationCommentary

A Test Fit for America’s Finest Schools

Jonathan Butcher | May 20, 2025

“Merit” is making a comeback in higher education. Next stop: U.S. service academies. College officials around the country—including those at some of the most selective… Read More

EducationCommentary

Teen boy slouching in a chair in a hallway outside the principal's office.

Trump Rejects Obama-Era Race-Based School Discipline Policies

Jonathan Butcher | April 28, 2025

The second Donald Trump administration continues to ferret out racial favoritism in education and the federal workforce, and there is plenty to be found. The… Read More

EducationCommentary

Shot down table showing five male and female high school students holding pencils take a test.

The Standardized Testing Pendulum Swings Back

Jonathan Butcher | April 14, 2025

In the name of “equity,” many competitive colleges had stopped using entrance exams in their application process. Now, the pendulum has swung: Realizing that standardized… Read More

EducationCommentary

Young students about 10-12 years old sit intently at their desks taking a standardized test.

New Senate Proposal Moves the Ball on Closing Down Department of Education

Jonathan Butcher | April 10, 2025

Will the U.S. Department of Education end with a bang or a whimper? So far this year, President Donald Trump’s executive orders have arrived with… Read More

EducationAnalysis

A college-aged woman holds up a sign with a profanity in it to protest a Jewish visitor to the campus of Harvard University.

Harvard and DEI: An Expensive Lesson

Jonathan Butcher | April 05, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education is calling on colleges to account for racist and antisemitic incidents on campus—and its move to withhold taxpayer dollars from… Read More

EducationCommentary

a six-year-old girl in a purple top and her teacher in a white top point to a chart with simple words on it like cat and hat

Teachers Unions Oppose Reintroduction of Phonics

Jonathan Butcher | March 25, 2025

For decades, K-12 schools have wandered away from a time-tested, research-based method of teaching reading: phonics. Student scores have plunged to historic lows, but some… Read More

SocietyCommentary

Higher Ed Needs to Show Its Work on Ending DEI

Jonathan Butcher | February 27, 2025

Students are not the only ones who have homework due this semester. Teachers, college professors, and school administrators have a civil rights assignment to turn… Read More

EducationCommentary

The state seal of Wyoming superimposed over the outline of a bison on a flag

Who’s Afraid of School Choice—and Food Trucks—in Wyoming?

Jonathan Butcher | February 11, 2025

Teacher unions are racing to stop greater education choice from spreading to Wyoming. But parents there already know that more education options would be valuable… Read More

EducationCommentary

Elementary school-age children pledge allegiance to the American flag.

Trump Directive Gives Military Families New Reason to Celebrate National School Choice Week

Jonathan Butcher | January 29, 2025

Two welcome changes from the new White House in its first weeks are the turn away from diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and a… Read More

SocietyCommentary

A Smartphone lays on a counter next to a mirror and there is a reflection of it.

Unlikely Bedfellows, DeSantis and Teachers Union Agree on Smartphones

Jonathan Butcher | January 24, 2025

What do the nation’s largest teacher union and the country’s most conservative governor agree on? Smartphones—specifically, keeping them out of the classroom. In 2023, Florida… Read More

SocietyCommentary

A homeless man sits on a sidewalk holding up a sign.

3 Crucial Ways to Avoid Poverty Should Be Taught in Schools

Jonathan Butcher | January 15, 2025

Americans have forgotten how to form families. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the U.S. population will begin to shrink in eight years, which The… Read More

SocietyCommentary

Multiple red "Rollback" banners with white lettering hang in a Walmart Supercenter.

More Corporations Following Walmart’s ‘Rollback’ of DEI Policies

Jonathan Butcher | December 14, 2024

Walmart executives scuttled the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs recently, becoming the latest corporate giant to drop extreme politics after public outcry. Others on… Read More

EducationCommentary

small transgender paper flags made by a student with paper, colored pencils, and a small pair of scissors

Major Textbook Publisher Caught Spreading LGBTQ and DEI Ideology in Schools

Jonathan Butcher | December 06, 2024

“Pretty disgusting” and “grotesque.” That’s how a Florida parent described an online session for students on “gender” provided by two K-12 virtual public schools in… Read More

EducationCommentary

On Victims of Communism Memorial Day, Here’s What Parents, Teachers Should Know

Jonathan Butcher | November 07, 2024

Today, Nov. 7, is Victims of Communism Day, and this day of remembrance should be a regular part of K-12 school calendars. Legislators in a… Read More

EducationCommentary

A woman holds a handwritten poster at a protest that says, "Invest in education for best ROI"

The Myth of Underfunded Public Schools

Jonathan Butcher | October 25, 2024

Do you know how much you spend per student in your local public school? Surveys find that most Americans cannot answer this question. And public… Read More

Education SecurityCommentary

Let’s Not Stop at Charging 5 Students From China With Conspiracy

Jonathan Butcher | October 04, 2024

The Chinese Communist Party has taken an interest in Michigan—particularly Camp Grayling, a military training facility about 200 miles north of Detroit. The FBI has… Read More

EducationCommentary

Young people stand in front of the Supreme Court holding up signs Calling for the cancellation of student loan debt

Lawmakers Push New Student Loan ‘Forgiveness’ Proposal, Burdening Taxpayers With Billions

Jonathan Butcher | September 30, 2024

After a pause in student loan repayments during the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowers have started paying again. But if history is any guide, some student loan… Read More

EducationCommentary

Critical Race Theory Is Still Plaguing Some K-12 Schools. Here’s How Parents, Lawmakers Can Fight Back.

Jonathan Butcher | August 27, 2024

Critical race theory gripped the nation’s attention after the summer of 2020 and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. According to Google Trends, the… Read More

EducationCommentary

Back to School, and Time to Foster Creativity

Jonathan Butcher | August 05, 2024

Back-to-school season is here, and with the recent examples of race-based classroom activities and sexually charged curriculum in schools nationwide, parents are right to wonder… Read More

Jonathan Butcher

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Articles by Jonathan Butcher