Education
39. EDUCATION
Parents bear primary responsibility for their children's education.
MPA supports excellent public education while protecting reasonable access to:
• Charter schools
• Private education
• Homeschooling
• Vocational education
• Apprenticeships
• Technical training
Schools should emphasize:
• Reading
• Writing
• Mathematics
• Science
• History
• Civics
• Financial literacy
• Technology
• Critical thinking
• Practical life skills
College is valuable.
It is not the only respectable path.
PROPOSED / DRAFT — EDUCATION MODERNIZATION, MASTERY & THREE MEALS
Education should prepare students for adulthood, citizenship, employment, skilled trades, higher education, public service, and lifelong learning. Schools must place academic growth and student well-being ahead of institutional convenience, rankings, or athletic prestige.
YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL WITH REGULAR BREAKS
Public K–12 schools should operate on a year-round calendar instead of closing for one long summer break. The year should include regular scheduled breaks for students, families, and staff, while reducing the learning loss and childcare disruption caused by an extended shutdown.
States and local districts remain responsible for designing the calendar, transportation, staffing, and daily schedule. The calendar must provide adequate teacher planning time, family notice, reasonable vacation periods, accommodations for agriculture and local needs, and additional instruction for students who need help mastering required subjects.
THREE HEALTHY MEALS AND WEEKEND AVAILABILITY
Every public K–12 school should make a nutritious breakfast, lunch, and evening meal available to every enrolled student during the school day or extended-day program without stigma. Schools may provide dinner on site, through an after-school program, or as a safe take-home meal when transportation schedules make on-site service impractical.
Schools should also offer nutritious meals on weekends when students voluntarily come to an approved school meal, tutoring, enrichment, recreation, or supervised community program. Weekend participation is optional; a child receives the available meal by attending the participating school or program. Districts may coordinate transportation and service with community organizations when practical.
Meals must meet evidence-based nutrition and food-safety standards. States and districts may use local agriculture and culturally appropriate menus. No child should be denied a meal because of family debt, missing paperwork, disciplinary status, or inability to pay. Funding and administration must be transparent, coordinated with existing nutrition programs, and designed to minimize waste.
MASTERY BEFORE PROMOTION
Students should advance because they demonstrate readiness, not merely because another year passed. A student who has not mastered essential reading, writing, mathematics, science, and civic competencies should not be automatically promoted into work for which the student is unprepared.
Retention must not be automatic or punitive. Before retention, the school must provide timely notice to parents, targeted tutoring, summer or extended learning, diagnostic evaluation, disability and language accommodations, and a written improvement plan. Parents should receive an explanation of the evidence and a fair appeal process. Promotion decisions should consider demonstrated mastery across multiple measures, not one test score.
FAIR AND COMPARABLE GRADING
States may operate their own schools and curricula, but student records must be honestly comparable. Transcripts should report:
• The school’s local GPA
• A common unweighted 4.0-scale GPA
• Any weighted GPA, clearly labeled
• Course rigor and level
• Mastery results in core subjects
• Career, technical, artistic, civic, and service accomplishments
No state or school should gain an artificial advantage merely because its grading scale allows numbers above 4.0 or uses substantially lower proficiency standards without transparent disclosure.
BETTER ASSESSMENT, NOT TESTING ALONE
Testing remains one tool, but education should measure more than test-taking ability. A balanced assessment system should include:
• Reading comprehension and communication
• Mathematics and practical financial literacy
• Scientific reasoning
• History, civics, and constitutional understanding
• Research and source evaluation
• Digital and AI literacy
• Career and technical competence
• Problem solving and applied projects
• Writing and oral presentation
• Portfolios, laboratory work, and demonstrations
• Growth over time as well as grade-level proficiency
Assessments must be accessible to students with disabilities and English learners while preserving meaningful expectations. Results should identify where help is needed, not merely rank or label children.
ACADEMICS BEFORE ATHLETIC PRESTIGE
Athletics, physical education, music, art, clubs, and extracurricular activities are valuable parts of education. They must not consume resources, scheduling, admissions preferences, or institutional attention in ways that weaken the core educational mission.
Participation rules should support academic progress, and schools should provide tutoring and recovery opportunities rather than simply excluding struggling students. Public reporting should distinguish instructional spending from athletics and major facilities spending.
THE UPDATED CLASSROOM
Schools should modernize instruction through smaller targeted learning groups where needed, tutoring, updated laboratories and career equipment, secure technology, teacher training, apprenticeships, dual enrollment, financial literacy, skilled-trade pathways, responsible AI instruction, and direct connections with employers and colleges.
Technology should support teachers rather than replace them. Student data must be protected, screen time should be age-appropriate, and districts should publish the educational purpose and cost of major technology purchases.
Status: Proposed / Draft — not yet formally adopted.
Last updated: August 24, 2026.
Version: Draft 0.3.