A new audit revealed that in addition to high vacancy rates, a growing number of educators in Washington’s special education facilities are unqualified for their jobs. The state audit discovered that a “significant number of those in the classroom do not hold full teaching endorsements for special education or are comparatively inexperienced in this field.” There are approximately 143,000 special education students in Washington, and there were 5,813 full-time teachers during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The report specified that at least 1.5% of those 5,813 educators and support staff are unqualified to teach special ed children, but the true magnitude of the problem is unknown. That percentage may seem minuscule, but in reality, it is “nearly three times higher than the percentage of instruction statewide provided by underqualified teachers in other content areas,” a Washington State Standard article reported. “The next highest percentage of underqualified instructors is in elementary education, at 0.6%.”
That any educators in our public school systems are outright unqualified to teach children should concern parents, especially if those children need specialized instruction to learn and adapt to their school environment. In an already failing education system that is pushing the Woke Agenda on impressionable children, hiding information about students’ mental health and “gender identity” from parents, and exposing kids to graphic LGBT content in the classroom, it’s time to say enough is enough.
While we are thankful for the many wonderful teachers who devote their lives to educating children, we know their good intentions are oftentimes not enough to overcome the dangerous policies Washington’s school districts force them to abide by. Those who stand up against Woke school policies are often fired for doing so – not just in Washington, but around the nation.
What else can parents do? Amid the mounting evidence that public schools are not a place for Christian, conservative parents to send their children, other options are available. Private Christian schools, while expensive, offer the security of knowing your children are being taught from a Christian perspective in all their classes.
Another option we strongly advocate for at FPIW is homeschooling. Not only does it allow you to direct your child’s education, but the bond between parents and children developed through homeschooling is irreplaceable. Children brought up through home education are typically more well-behaved, well-rounded, and better equipped for the real world than those who attend public schools. Take a look at the statistics below, provided by the National Home Education Research Institute:
- The home-educated typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
- 78% of peer-reviewed studies on academic achievement show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in institutional schools.
- 87% of peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and psychological development show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in conventional schools.
Homeschooling is not just an alternative form of education – it is an alternative lifestyle for children and parents alike. It opens untold doors to children and their creative pursuits. It deepens family ties. It allows parents to truly get to know their children, in a way they are often unable to. Most importantly, it allows parents to pour into their children’s lives and help them develop not only a strong biblical worldview, but a real relationship with Jesus. For more information about the homeschooling movement in Washington, click here.
Retired teacher John Taylor Gatto, who was the New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991, shared the following remarks:
“School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers. School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independently. Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for boredom; help your own to develop an inner life so that they’ll never be bored. Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology – all the stuff schoolteachers know well enough to avoid. Challenge your kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues. Well-schooled people are conditioned to dread being alone, and they seek constant companionship through the TV, the computer, the cell phone, and through shallow friendships quickly acquired and quickly abandoned. Your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.” (emphasis added)
The public education system is failing. We are doing everything we can to reverse many of the dangerous policies Washington school districts have implemented so that public schools can once again be a safe place for parents to send their children when they have no other options. If you would like to join us in advancing biblical values in the education system, please consider becoming a Defender today:
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