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The Inconvenient Success of Mississippi

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote about the inconvenient success of Mississippi educationwars.substack.com/p/the-inconv...

It's not just education reform skeptics who are giving the Mississippi Miracle the side eye

educationwars.substack.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 8d

I've yet to find a single candidate who replicated Youngkin's coalition & got angry parents to vote GOP. Instead, the GOP has become the party of education extremism. Meanwhile national Dems, misreading what happened in VA, think they need to oppose public education too

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 8d

The fact that Democrats have a 10 point advantage over the GOP in Virginia on education shows just how wrong the national party/pundit takes on this issue have turned out to be. Virginia, of course, is where the narrative about the electoral power of school culture wars began

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 9d

No single issue represents the suffocating influence of billionaires in state politics like vouchers, which is why anger over vouchers continues to roil red state politics (and continues to be missed by national outlets)

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 9d

Whatever you think about James Talarico's chances, key ingredient missing from this take is that his ascendancy has been powered by deep opposition to school vouchers in Texas. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Opinion | He’s Young, Talented and Openly Religious. Is He the Savior Democrats Have Been Waiting For?

www.nytimes.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 9d

If you want to understand why Zohran Mamdani is talking about phasing out NYC's gifted & talented program for kindergarteners, latest episode of Have You Heard is a great place to start. Hint: inequality in school translates to inequality in the world soundcloud.com/haveyouheard...

#205 Schools as Sorting Machines

Forget all that talk about education as the great equalizer. Public schools and inequality are joined at the hip. But must it be that way? We talk to the authors of a recent book called Schooled and S

soundcloud.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 10d

Thanks so much much!

Reposted by Jennifer Berkshire

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 11d

In our new issue, @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social investigates the right-wing push toward “classical education,” a departure from the longstanding bipartisan agreement that school should first and foremost prepare students for the daily grind.

Democrats must come up with a defense of public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 16d

It does!

What the Right Gets Right About What's Gone Wrong with Public Education

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 16d

What the right gets right about what's gone wrong with public education open.substack.com/pub/educatio...

We need a vision for schools that goes beyond job training

open.substack.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 17d

The pleasure was all mine!

Reposted by Jennifer Berkshire

Johann Neem @johannneem.bsky.social · 17d

1) I had a lovely conversation about the #USSC Mahmoud decision with @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social concerning parental rights and why I think the Supreme Court may use the 1st amendment-- against history and tradition-- to render public schools unconstitutional.

An Existential Threat

Could the Supreme Court outlaw public schools?

educationwars.substack.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 18d

Thanks for reading!

Reposted by Jennifer Berkshire

John Downes-Angus @johndownesangus.bsky.social · 18d

Great essay from @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social.

“If public education is to survive, Democrats will have to come up with an explanation for why we have public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation”

Would add: Dems should listen to the teachers telling everyone that.

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · Sep 8

America’s public schools have long been hyperfocused on career readiness. Now, the right wing is embracing “classical education” instead. @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social considers what this means for the future of American schooling.

Democrats must come up with a defense of public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation

Ohio’s billion dollar plus religious school voucher program is blatantly unconstitutional. So ruled a state judge this summer, putting political leaders and their increasing hostility towards public e

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · 28d

Sunday listen: states with ginormous religious school voucher programs are on a collision course with their own constitutions. @haveyouheard.bsky.social heads to Ohio where public education and democracy are both under threat soundcloud.com/haveyouheard...

#204 Collision Course

soundcloud.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 12

More evidence education policy is now being driven by whims of billionaires. Here's Florida, which is about to get a whole lot more Success Academy charter schools because one of its wealthiest residents likes them. @jasongarcia.bsky.social has the receipts jasongarcia.substack.com/p/lobbyists-...

Lobbyists for a billionaire and a charter network pushed Florida lawmakers to expand a school privatization program, records show

Miami billionaire Ken Griffin and New York charter school chain Success Academy lobbied for a new law that dramatically expands Florida's "Schools of Hope" program.

jasongarcia.substack.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 12

Related: new study on how vouchers are reshaping private education, raising tuition and *upending core traditions of American public education* www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/u...

Voucher Push Is Reshaping Private School Education, Study Finds

www.nytimes.com

Ohio’s billion dollar plus religious school voucher program is blatantly unconstitutional. So ruled a state judge this summer, putting political leaders and their increasing hostility towards public e

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 12

States with ginormous religious school voucher programs are increasingly on a collision course with their own constitutions. Latest Have You Heard heads to Ohio where public schools and democracy are on the line soundcloud.com/haveyouheard...

#204 Collision Course

soundcloud.com

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 9

I had a student in a journalism class who was working on a podcast about his problem relationship with gambling and during the class he gambled away his entire student loan for the year

The Boston Globe @bostonglobe.com · Sep 9

Two years after sports betting was legalized in Mass., a growing share of bettors describe themselves as “problem” or “pathological” gamblers and say gambling has damaged a key relationship in their lives, according to a new survey.

More Mass. gamblers say it’s affecting their personal relationships, two years after sports betting legalization - The Boston Globe

The survey of habitual gamblers shows worrisome rise in those who say harms of gambling outweigh benefits. The amounts they say they wager has also shot up.

trib.al

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Reposted by Jennifer Berkshire

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · Sep 8

America’s public schools have long been hyperfocused on career readiness. Now, the right wing is embracing “classical education” instead. @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social considers what this means for the future of American schooling.

Democrats must come up with a defense of public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation

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Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thanks!

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 7

I was just a guest on the CLT Anchored podcast!

Reposted by Jennifer Berkshire

Dustin Park @dustbag44.bsky.social · Sep 7

An absolutely vital piece providing the history and context of the corporatization of public education. This stuck out to me as something I increasingly see from AP classes:

“They’re more likely to encounter these as decontextualized excerpts in corporate-produced test prep materials.”

Jennifer Berkshire @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social · Sep 6

Long weekend read: for decades there's been a bipartisan consensus that the purpose of school is workforce preparation. Now the right is abandoning that view. My latest for @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/outbursts/un...

Democrats must come up with a defense of public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation