Conservative think tank database equips parents seeking ‘alternatives’ to deteriorating school systems

The Heritage Foundation released a database Thursday allowing parents to identify classical schools in their area as an alternative to the deteriorating state of public education.

The Classical Schools Database features over 900 public and charter schools that are committed to “passing down the wisdom of past generations” and teaching students traditional liberal arts as opposed to many of the divisive and unnecessary topics found in many public schools. Parents are choosing to take their children out of publicly-funded education as school choice initiatives gain popularity throughout the country and as public schooling is becoming defined by plummeting test scores and an increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender ideology topics.

“Classical education is seeing a resurgence today, demonstrating that parents are looking for alternatives to assigned schools,” Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow in education policy for Heritage, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We used to just use the word ‘education’ to describe what we now call ‘classical education’ because the skills of rhetoric, writing, and rigorous math have been lost in the traditional system. Given the poor academic results on national comparisons in reading and math among U.S. students, we need the new ‘classical’ education more than ever.”

The database allows parents to search for classical schools based on location, religious affiliation, and grade level. The website displays details about each school’s curriculum, such as whether it teaches the Socratic method, etiquette, the Great Books, and classical languages like Latin.

“This database is a tool that parents can use to find quality learning experiences for their children,” Butcher told the DCNF. “It is the most comprehensive catalogue of its kind, and families from across the country can use it to find resources to help their children succeed in school and become lifelong learners.”

American students have rapidly fallen behind in recent years, with test scores reaching some of the lowest levels ever recorded in the U.S. One-third of eighth graders failed to reach national reading assessment benchmarks in 2024, the largest percentage ever recorded, along with 40% of fourth grade students, the largest percentage since 2002.

“In fact, reports that competitive institutions such as Harvard are offering remedial coursework when their applicant pool is supposed to represent the most elite students in the country are still more evidence that we need to push back against the ‘intellectual childhood’ that traditional schooling is prolonging today,” Butcher continued.

Former President Joe Biden’s education plan included pouring millions of taxpayer funds into topics such as “climate literacy,” or climate change, “LGBTQ inclusion,” and “anti-racism and anti-oppression” into schools. Over $100 million worth of grants went to universities meant to train K-12 social workers in critical race theory, social justice, and DEI.

States like California and Maine currently have policies that allow, or even require, school officials to keep secrets from parents if their child desires to change their name or pronouns or use opposite-sex facilities. The Trump administration is cracking down on these policies, opening investigations and threatening federal funding to the states that do not comply with the president’s orders.

School choice initiatives are gaining popularity in recent years, with the Trump administration promoting state and local control of education by dismantling the Department of Education. A 2024 study by the Progressive Policy Institute found that school choice can help close the gap between low-income students and their peers.

President Joe Biden’s education department “decided to wage war” against religious institutions and stifle trade schools in order to “protect the higher education cartel against competition” and uphold “cultural marxism,” a letter from the American Principles Project (APP) stated to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) in February. The APP last year found that Christian institutions and career colleges made up nearly 70% of penalties imposed by the Office of Enforcement while representing less than 10% of college students.

The Biden administration took a similarly unfavorable stance against the parental rights movement. Former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was allegedly behind a push to use the FBI in 2022 to investigate parents who spoke out against schools that brought critical race theory and gender ideology into classrooms. Cardona reportedly called on the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to author a letter labeling such parents as “domestic terrorists.”

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