Question 1: What is the value of a public school education and are you the product of a public school education?
David Rullo:
The value of a public school education is somewhat difficult to quantify. Children who go to well performing public schools enjoy higher college acceptance rates, better employment outcomes, and higher wages. And this is just what studies can tease out of the data. There are countless other benefits to a public education both tangible and intangible that are much harder to quantify. For example, the social benefits of going to school with neighbors and the community building that comes from being involved in activities in the town where you live. In thinking about the value of public education more broadly – I believe that its value is limitless. A robust public education system serves to level the playing field for all Americans and has done so since the backbone of system we have today sprang forth from Horace Mann’s head in the mid-nineteenth century. This is the signal that I believe tends to get lost in all the noise around what is or isn’t wrong with public schools.
The catch here is obviously making sure that the schools maintain the seemingly arbitrary moving target of being considered a “high performing school”. In order to do this, you need to simultaneously be on top of the cutting-edge research surrounding education and adhere to the fundamentals that have made U.S. public education so successful. While it is clearly not impossible and not likely governed by some sort of black magic, it still requires a steady hand at the wheel, creative minds, and attention to detail by people who understand the value of public education as an equalizing force in American life.
As for me, I am very much a product of a public education. But unfortunately, I am a cautionary tale. I came up through the public schools before our current systems for understanding learning disabilities and other awareness around the idea that not all students can be taught in the same way had come fully into their own. I slipped through the cracks of an otherwise amazing public school system (I won’t name it – but it won’t be hard to figure out) I was ushered along from grade to grade mostly due to no one having any real good idea what to do with me. I wasn’t a “problem” kid, just an abysmal student. I was respectful with a good disposition that teachers seemed to like, so I squeaked by, and in this, the system failed me. It was only after fifteen years, two wars, and some hard years walking a beat that I came to understand the importance of education.
A big part of my motivation to run for Board of Education was to make sure that our system doesn’t let kids like me slip through the cracks. My life so far has been rewarding beyond measure and I would not trade it for the world. I would have likely been called to service even if I had been an excellent student. But taking away agency from children is unfair and leaves way too much up to chance. I would like to think that it speaks volumes that I had the experience that I did growing up, but maintain that American public education is one of our finest institutions (next to the United States Marine Corps) and that I deserves all of the talent, love, and attention that we can throw at it.
