08/20/2026
For those of you that may not have access to LinkedIn where this and other articles I have penned reside:
You Pay for Public Education. Do You Know What You're Buying?
The responsibility of taxpayers doesn't end when the tax bill is paid.
During this year's School Board election, I heard some version of the same question repeatedly:
“I pay taxes every year for the schools. My children are grown—or I don't have children in the system—so what exactly am I getting for my money?”
There are plenty of familiar answers.
Good schools strengthen neighborhoods. They protect property values. They help attract employers. They develop a skilled workforce. They contribute to economic growth.
All true.
But I believe there is a much bigger answer.
You are helping educate the people who will eventually inherit the country.
And whether you have children in public school or not, you have an enormous stake in how well we do it.
We're Not Just Teaching Students
The young person sitting in an eighth-grade classroom today will eventually become a voter.
A taxpayer.
An employee.
Perhaps a business owner.
A parent.
Maybe a teacher.
Maybe even a School Board member, mayor, legislator, governor or president.
Public education therefore has responsibilities extending beyond producing test scores and graduation rates.
It helps prepare citizens for self-government.
And recent evidence should concern us.
The Cato Institute's 2026 Fourth of July Survey found that among Americans ages 18–29, 53% viewed socialism favorably, 45% viewed capitalism favorably and 38% viewed communism favorably.
Think about that.
Among America's youngest adults, communism trailed capitalism in favorability by only seven percentage points.
But perhaps even more concerning was what the same survey found about civic knowledge.
Sixty-one percent of Americans under 30 did not know what America's 250th anniversary commemorates. Thirty-four percent could not identify George Washington as our first president. Across seven basic civic questions, a majority of Gen Z correctly answered only one.
That doesn't prove that poor civic knowledge causes someone to embrace socialism, communism—or any other political philosophy.
But surely it raises a question worth asking:
Are we adequately preparing young Americans to understand the system they will eventually be responsible for governing?
This Is What You're Getting for Your Tax Dollars
When you pay property taxes supporting public education, you're not merely purchasing algebra lessons for somebody else's child.
You're investing in the next generation of American citizens.
That means taxpayers have every right—and I would argue a civic responsibility—to ask what students are learning.
Can graduating students explain the Constitution?
Do they understand federalism?
Separation of powers?
Freedom of speech?
Religious liberty?
Property rights?
Free enterprise?
Can they explain capitalism, socialism and communism accurately enough to distinguish among them?
Do they understand America's failures?
Do they understand its accomplishments?
Most importantly, have we taught them enough to make informed decisions for themselves?
Local Elections Matter Because Governance Matters
This is where School Board elections become much more consequential than many voters realize.
School Boards aren't simply debating bus routes, calendars and school boundaries.
They establish policy and governance for institutions entrusted with educating our children.
Those decisions eventually reach classrooms.
That should make every taxpayer pay attention.
You don't need a child in school.
You don't need to attend every Board meeting.
You don't need to become an expert on every education statute.
But we should know who governs our schools, what policies they adopt, how those policies are implemented, what students are learning and whether the results justify the investment taxpayers are making.
And we should participate.
Paying Taxes Isn't Enough
This may be the uncomfortable part.
Writing the check doesn't complete our responsibility.
Neither does complaining about government on Facebook.
Self-government requires something from us.
Pay attention.
Read.
Ask questions.
Attend a School Board meeting occasionally.
Know what is being taught.
Understand the issues before elections arrive.
Learn about the people asking to govern your schools.
And vote.
Not because someone tells you how to vote.
Because informed participation is the price of maintaining a government that ultimately belongs to us.
Thomas Jefferson put it well:
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
The operative words are well informed.
Perhaps that's the ultimate answer the next time someone asks:
“What am I getting for the taxes I pay toward public education?”
You're helping educate the citizens who will someday make decisions about your community, your property, your economy, your freedoms—and the country you leave behind.
That seems like a pretty important investment to keep an eye on.
Paying for public education gives us a stake in it. Living in a self-governing republic gives us a responsibility to stay involved in it.
