Those with the means are fleeing America’s public schools. A recent article in The 74 reports that enrollment has dropped more in affluent Massachusetts districts than in all of the state’s low- and middle-income communities combined. That “rich flight” shows up even in a state whose schools routinely rank near the top nationally.

The 74 points to a July 2025 study by Joshua Goodman and Abigail Francis, published in Education Next, that compares actual Massachusetts enrollment to what pre-COVID trends predicted. The authors found a clear shift away from public schools and toward nonpublic options. Public-school enrollment came in 1.9% below the projected level. Private-school enrollment ran 15.6% above projections. Homeschooling rose 50% above projections.

Parents want options. If conservatives are serious, they will treat the school-choice win included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a starting point, not a finish line.

Charter enrollment moved the other way: 18.9% below pre-trend predictions, though nearly flat compared with 2019. The study notes that Massachusetts law caps the number of charter schools statewide and limits how much district funding can flow to them, which likely constrains charter growth even when demand rises.

The income story is the most revealing. Enrollment losses proved “substantially larger” in high-income districts. Top-income districts lost nearly 50% more students than the lower-income four-fifths combined.

The authors also compared Massachusetts to national 2023 data and found similar patterns, suggesting that this is not a Bay State anomaly. It is a national trend with a clear lesson: Families with options are using them.

That matters for at least three reasons.

First, affluent families are choosing private schools even though they already pay for public schools through taxes. That means they are paying twice — once to support a system they are leaving and again in tuition to exit it.

If families with the greatest ability to navigate public-school choice still choose to walk away, that should raise a blunt question: How many more middle- and working-class families would leave if they could afford to?

It also raises another: How much bigger would charter schools be if Massachusetts did not restrict their growth by law?

Second, Massachusetts is not a cautionary tale of failing schools. It is widely viewed as a high-performing state. Yet the families most able to choose still choose private education. If families are leaving in a state with strong academic reputations, how much faster would the flight be in states with mediocre outcomes and chronic disorder?

Third, Massachusetts offers choice largely within the public system, not through broad state-supported private-school options. Even charter expansion is restricted. Families who can afford to buy their way out are doing it anyway. Families who can’t are stuck.

The conclusion follows: Private education is winning the revealed-preference test. Parents with money choose it — even when it costs them twice.

RELATED: Teaching kids to hate America will have real-world consequences

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Now imagine what happens when parents don’t have to pay twice. How popular would private-school options be if families could use a tax credit or scholarship to offset what they already pay into the system?

That question should terrify teachers’ unions. It should energize lawmakers.

School choice has already become a major political force, and it will only grow as parents lose confidence in public schools. That may help explain why Americans keep moving south. The biggest population gainers from 2014 through 2024 included states like Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida — states with low taxes and high growth, yes, but also states that have embraced school choice more aggressively than Massachusetts has.

Meanwhile, the broader K-12 picture remains grim. Public dissatisfaction has risen sharply in recent years, and the academic and behavioral fallout from COVID-era closures has not fully receded.

Chronic absenteeism remains high. Math scores remain depressed. School leaders report more disruption, more fighting, more bullying, more classroom chaos, and more fear among parents. Seventy-five percent of college faculty “say current students are less prepared in critical thinking, reading, and analysis compared to pre-COVID students.”

At some point, blaming the pandemic becomes a dodge. The system’s decline began before COVID, and it has not reversed since.

If conservatives are serious, they will treat the school-choice win included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a starting point, not a finish line. Parents want options. The country needs academic recovery. Competition would do more to improve outcomes — and to break the political stranglehold of teachers’ unions — than another decade of excuses.

​Public schools, Charter schools, Covid, Massachusetts, Public education, Homeschooling, Private schools, American education, School choice, Opinion & analysis 

Police said in a press release that they arrested a middle school vice principal in a child sex sting operation in San Jose, California.

The San Jose Police Department said officers were conducting the sting operation ahead of the Super Bowl game when they got 31-year-old Ruben Guzman to respond to their decoy.

Police asked for help from the public to identify other possible victims, given the suspect’s access to children at his job.

The suspect believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old boy when he allegedly offered to exchange money for sexual acts, according to police.

“Guzman arranged to pick up the child in the city of San Jose,” Police Sgt. Jorge Garibay said in the release. “But when he arrived, he was apprehended by officers with the SJPD Covert Response Unit who immediately took him into custody.”

Police said that when they searched him as well as his vehicle, they found “items consistent with the planned encounter” but did not elaborate on what those items were.

They then discovered that Guzman was working as an assistant principal at Sunrise Middle School located in San Jose.

Guzman was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on a charge of communicating with a minor for sex.

Police asked for help from the public to identify other possible victims, given the suspect’s access to children at his job.

RELATED: Oklahoma attorney allegedly took Viagra and bought condoms before meeting to sexually assault 5-year-old, but it was a police sting

A KRON-TV report noted that his bio on the school’s website read, “My job as a teacher is to make students believe in themselves and take an active role in their community.”

Sunrise Middle School administrators said in a statement to KRON that Guzman was removed from the campus immediately and would not be allowed to have contact with students.

“Last Wednesday, we were informed by law enforcement that our assistant principal had been arrested in connection with allegations involving a minor that did not involve our school. Our immediate priority was student safety,” administrators said in part. “We have spoken with students in age-appropriate ways, communicated directly with families, and made counseling support available on campus. At this time, there is no information indicating that any Sunrise students were involved. While this is deeply upsetting, it does not reflect who we are as a school.”

Another 10 men were nabbed in the sting operation.

RELATED: Note saying ‘Call the police’ leads to arrest of elderly man’s live-in caretaker, police say

Image Source: San Jose Police Department press release composite

The suspects were named Cesar Rodriguez-Vela, Jose Garcia-Hernandez, Nelson Mejia-Rivas, Dexter Goody, Luis Medina De Leon, Gonzalo Yesca, Michael Valdeolivar, Harjeet Singh, Joey Minh Truc Nguyen, and Frank Huang, according to a separate press release.

They were also booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on charges that included attempted lewd acts with a minor, arranging meetings with a minor for sexual purposes, and child exploitation crimes.

The suspects ranged in age from 25 to 72 years old.

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​Middle school principal, Child sex sting operation, Ruben guzman arrested, Super bowl child sex sting, Crime 

America is edging toward a major economic crisis. Not a routine downturn or a mild recession, but something far worse. The Big One. We haven’t hit it yet, and we still have time to change course. But if Washington stays on its current track, trouble is coming.

You don’t need insider access to see it. It isn’t hidden. You only need to look at the numbers.

If Americans insist on responsible budgeting and smaller government, elected leaders will follow. That is how representative government works.

Federal budget documents describe an unsustainable path. Economists across the spectrum say the same. Credit rating agencies have issued warnings. The basic point is simple: We spend far more than we take in, year after year, and the bill keeps compounding.

What makes this moment dangerous is that we have little room left to respond when the next shock hits. We have nearly exhausted our fiscal space, which limits how much more we can borrow without triggering serious consequences. When the next crisis arrives, Washington won’t have the flexibility it relied on in the past. That’s when a bad situation turns into a true break.

Markets are already sounding alarms. Gold and silver prices have climbed. The dollar has weakened. Long-term rates have risen even as short-term rates fall. Foreign governments and major funds have reduced their appetite for U.S. debt. Investors don’t do that out of ideology. They do it when they see risk.

The hard part is not explaining the fix. The hard part is getting the country to accept it.

Too many Americans assume we are immune to the limits that bind every other nation. We are the biggest economy, the world’s reserve currency issuer, the greatest military power. So the thinking goes: Nothing can really happen to us.

That belief is the trap.

If we wait until the crisis becomes obvious to everyone, we will pay a much higher price. The damage will land on ordinary households first, and it will not be easily reversed. It is also immoral to hand our children and grandchildren a country buried under obligations it cannot meet.

RELATED: Washington printed promises. Gold called the bluff.

Damian Lemanski/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The remedy starts with first principles.

America’s founders did not build a system designed for permanent deficits and permanent expansion. They assumed limited government, manageable levels of debt, fiscal balance over time, and rules that protect the public without choking growth.

The economy has two broad parts: the public sector and the private sector. The public sector enforces law, protects the country, and provides basic administration. The private sector produces the goods and services that create real prosperity. When government grows beyond what taxpayers can support, it crowds out growth, drives up costs, and invites the temptation to paper over deficits with money creation.

Fiscal balance means spending and revenue align over time. When spending consistently exceeds revenue, debt rises. When debt becomes too large, governments lean on the central bank, and inflation follows. Inflation pushes interest rates higher and erodes purchasing power.

A growing government paired with chronic deficits becomes a slow-motion squeeze on the middle class through higher prices, higher borrowing costs, and higher taxes.

Regulation has a legitimate role. But today’s regulatory state has expanded into a sprawling, unelected bureaucracy that writes rules with little accountability. Burdensome regulation raises costs, slows productivity, and makes the economy less resilient.

RELATED: Congress needs to go big or go home

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

We need to bring the size of the federal government back in line with what the tax base can support. That means controlling spending, reforming programs that drive long-term obligations, and reining in regulation that serves bureaucracy more than citizens.

None of this is easy politically. Elected officials won’t act if voters demand ever more benefits and services without acknowledging the costs. That’s why public understanding matters.

Reform will require hard choices. It will require changes to benefits. But we can protect those who truly need help while restoring sanity to federal finances. The alternative is allowing events to impose those choices on us in the worst possible way — through crisis.

If Americans insist on responsible budgeting and smaller government, elected leaders will follow. That is how representative government works. The window for orderly reform is still open. It won’t stay open forever.

​Gold, Silver, Markets, National debt, Long term bonds, Short term bonds, Economy, Government spending, Fiscal responsibility, Federal government, Opinion & analysis, Debt bomb 

Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show ignited controversy after Kid Rock took the stage — a choice BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey admits initially left her stunned.

“You’ve got Turning Point saying that they’ve got this family-friendly show, but then they have Kid Rock, who is not really a family-friendly guy, singing,” Stuckey explains, pointing out that this has become an “intra-Christian battle.”

When Stuckey initially heard that Kid Rock was playing at the Turning Point halftime show, she admittedly was skeptical.

“I don’t think of him as kid-friendly. … I know that he has a history of being very raunchy. He’s definitely about the, like, sex, drugs, and rock and roll; drinking; and things like that. So, I was very surprised,” she explains.

At one point in the show, Kid Rock began sharing the gospel.

“There’s a book that’s sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off. There’s a man who died for all our sins hanging from the cross,” he said, singing, “You can give your life to Jesus, and he’ll give you a second chance, till you can’t.”

“OK, I love that. I loved that message. I love the theme of this song. It’s called ‘’Til You Can’t.’ And that line is so true, that Jesus will give you a second chance. He’s got all of this grace to give, until you can’t, and until you take your last breath,” Stuckey comments.

However, Kid Rock also sang songs that celebrated degeneracy.

“So, very confusing, and a lot of people rightly pointed out this seems a little bit hypocritical,” Stuckey says, but one post on X helped her make sense of it.

“There seems to be a lot of confusion & backlash, especially from the Christian community, about Kid Rock’s performance during TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show. I believe I can clear things up …,” Jon Root began in a post on X.

“Kid Rock started his set by performing ‘Bawitdaba’, which came out in 1999. It is a vulgar song, referencing topless dancers, drinking, crooked cops, bastards, etc. Hearing that was a shock to a lot of us. Rightfully so. It felt worldly, which I believe was the point …,” he continued.

“Next, there was an acoustic set with two people playing a Christian hymn. It was meant to be an emotional bridge to what came next. … Finally, it transitioned to Kid Rock, his stage name, being introduced back to the stage as Robert Ritchie, his birth name. He then played a revised version of ‘Til You Can’t,’ which included lyrics about Jesus Christ,” he explained.

“He also spoke about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, encouraged people to follow Christ, and to read their Bibles. This was supposed to be an artistic way of portraying a redemption story. I don’t know Kid Rock’s walk with Christ, but he used this moment to point people to Christ, and I rejoice in that (Philippians 1:15-18),” he concluded.

“We should always praise God when the gospel is preached,” Stuckey comments. “That is my take on that.”

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