How to Love Your Local Public School
Even if you have kids in private education—or no kids at all—you can be the hands and feet of Christ on campus.
Recent years have seen a large shift away from public education in America. Beyond private school options, charter schools are popping up across the country, and homeschool curriculum options are expanding. As a public school teacher and a Christian, I’ve empathized with friends as they pray and toil over the weighty, complex question of how to educate their kids.
I believe we can honor God in any schooling choice. Are you loving Christ? Are you caring for your neighbor as yourself? Are you discipling your children? Parents living within these biblical guardrails have much freedom to discern God’s specific will for their circumstances, including where they send their kids to school.
But it’s important to realize that our individual choices have communal consequences. As enrollment drops across public school districts, what students remain, and what happens to their education? How does our absence affect the most vulnerable within the neighborhood? Christians can and should support public schools even if we have kids enrolled elsewhere—or no kids at all.
As Christians, we’re called to seek the welfare of our cities (Jer. 29:7), and partnering with a neighborhood public school is a uniquely effectual way to do this. Where do children in poverty congregate daily en masse? Where do orphans build healthy attachments? Where do homeless kids get clean clothes? Where do students with disabilities learn fundamental life skills? In much of America, the answer is: At your local public school, every Monday through Friday.
The variety and number of needs in a public school classroom can be overwhelming. It’s far too great a load for the shoulders of one teacher. If you know an ...