Schools across the country face enormous challenges nowadays. Keeping students and teachers safe from violence is the No. 1 priority. School shootings have become so common that we are no longer surprised when they happen. There were more than 300 shooting incidents on school grounds last year, easily surpassing the totals in 2021 and 2020, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Our youths’ mental health and social-emotional issues are another priority that schools should address consistently. From 2016 to 2019, more than 13% of youths ages 3 to 17 were diagnosed with anxiety and depression, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem. An estimated 44% of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless in the years surrounding the pandemic, according to CDC data.

There was a time when schools’ top priority was providing students with a quality education. Preparing them for the labor force meant improving their knowledge base in a broad number of subject areas, including vocational. Teacher colleges across the country echoed this philosophy.

In the 1950s and 1960s, we were united as a country to make America’s educational system first-rate. After the Soviet Union released Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, we responded collectively. The National Defense Education Act helped pour more than $1 billion into America’s educational system to improve the academic output of students, particularly in math and science.

Unfortunately, providing a competitive and quality curriculum is not enough nowadays, and a spirit of working together and finding common ground seems to have escaped us. Far too many local school districts are facing enormous pressure from policymakers to censor what students are learning in schools. This includes threats of having teachers arrested or their licenses revoked.

Lest we forget the obvious: The growing teacher shortage presents a challenge for America’s educational system and indeed our labor force. The demand for teachers is exceeding the supply for grades K-12 in public education, according to a report by the Learning Policy Institute, an education research and policy advocacy group. This situation is not limited to urban and rural areas; shortages are apparent in areas of the country that usually don’t experience a drop in teacher supply. The problem has been made worse by a high number of teachers leaving the profession. Up to half of teachers leave the profession within five years, a 2014 report by the advocacy Alliance for Excellent Education shows.

The implications are far-reaching and could have a deleterious impact on our labor force. As conversations continue about what students should be allowed to read and study, it’s important that parents and guardians understand that public education is historically a local matter.

The 10th Amendment, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” allows parents input into local school matters. Policymakers take their cue from the local community. And parents play an integral role in that process.

The latest poll by Phi Delta Kappan, a professional organization of educators, shows that parents generally have a positive view of their local schools and give their child’s school relatively high marks. That’s because they see the hard work that teachers put in daily. They listen to the stories their children share about the sacrifices teachers make, the times they spend their own money to help students and the tireless efforts teachers put in to help the neediest students.

This indicates that parents and schools are not at odds with each other, despite the rhetoric of some policymakers. Through collaboration and shared decision-making, schools work hard to provide the best educational environment for students. The risk of the politicization of many aspects of education not only stymies creativity but also could drive more teachers out of the profession. It also may form a wedge between schools and the citizens of a community.

Undoubtedly, parents and other stakeholders should have a say in local educational matters. They always have. However, having them dictate, without input from teachers and school boards, what should be taught to students runs afoul of how public schools have functioned in America for centuries. It’s time to return to that place in time where we worked together and sought areas to agree on rather than disagree.

It’s not necessary nor advantageous to promote divisive rhetoric in schools. Dictating what schools do challenges and compromises the freedoms we relish in our democracy. Let’s continue to nurture and support dialogue among students, teachers, parents, administrators and school boards. It serves our nation well.

Jerald McNair, who has a doctorate in education and a graduate degree in public policy, is a school administrator at South Holland School District 151.