A 1922 Oregon initiative that sought to ban private education inadvertently strengthened parents' ability to pursue options outside the public school system, building the legal case for homeschooling.

A 1972 Supreme Court decision about Amish children and education helped pave the way for homeschooling in the US.

Homeschooling was illegal in some US states until 1993.

Homeschooling's 1970s advocates came from both the left and the right of the political spectrum.

The origins of public education in the US stem from Puritan religious views

The 1647 Old Deluder Satan law reflects Puritan belief that illiteracy allowed Satan’s influence. The law—the first of its kind in the colonies—mandated towns of over 50 households hire a teacher and over 100 support a grammar school.

After public schools were integrated, segregation found a home in private schools

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling banned segregation in public schools, but it didn’t eliminate the problem: Many white families moved to “segregation academies,” which were private schools founded to skirt the new law

Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025) broadened parents' rights regarding what their children learn in public schools

The case, brought by parents in Maryland, focused on religious objections to books with same-sex and transgender characters in elementary classrooms. The court ruled that the district's denial of parents' opt-out requests violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

Massachusetts passed the first law requiring children to be educated as early as 1642.

Private education offered an alternative for Black Americans

The early public school system was ostensibly designed for all Americans, but it was also racially segregated, offering substandard schools for Black Americans. Some private schools were founded to combat that problem, including St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the United States' oldest predominantly Black Catholic high school.

Visually explore the federal government's evolving role in education.

In 1976, segregation was outlawed in private schools

Over two decades after Brown v. Board of Education, Runyon v. McCrary banned the segregation academies, forcing them to admit non-white students or shut down.

School choice allows families to use public funds for private education

Some private school advocates support school choice, a broad policy that provides families with public money (sometimes called “vouchers”) to spend on private education, including religiously affiliated schools.

After expanding significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, homeschooling has continued to grow since.

The earliest colonial schools were often religious

The earliest American schools were far from our notions of “public” or “private”—they were neighborhood institutions, often founded by religious groups, that sought to educate children academically and spiritually.

'Unschooling' advocates believe education should be student-directed, with adults acting as facilitators.

Some parents who began homeschooling their children during the COVID-19 pandemic said the experience convinced them it was more beneficial than traditional school.

Child labor was widespread until the formation of the National Child Labor Committee in 1904.

Pregnant teachers were once banned from public school classrooms after their first trimester, with school boards believing that they were bad influences on students.

...and allowed newly arrived European immigrants to maintain their cultures

19th-century public schools often included Protestant spiritual instruction, something that was disturbing for Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland, and elsewhere, who found homes in neighborhood “parochial” schools.

Horace Mann was America's leading champion for free, standardized public schooling in the 19th century and helped build the template for the modern public school system.

Tinker v. Des Moines affirmed that students maintain the right to free speech at school

In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that two Iowa teenagers had the right to wear black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War, establishing that students retain First Amendment protections in public schools.

Brandenburg v. Ohio set the modern standard for when speech can be punished as incitement

A Ku Klux Klan leader's conviction for a threatening speech prompted the Supreme Court in 1969 to rule that speech is punishable as incitement only if it is directed at—and likely to produce—imminent lawless action.

Private schools are free to experiment with teaching styles

Because they’re not beholden to national curricula, private school teachers can use different pedagogical approaches, like Harkness, which was developed at New Hampshire’s Phillips Exeter Academy. The method brings students to a large round oval table and encourages them to lead the lesson through inquiry.

Most states don't require homeschool students to take standardized tests.

A Gilded Age moral crusader convinced Congress to pass a law banning 'obscene, lewd or lascivious' materials from the mail that's central to today's debate over abortion pills.

Plessy v. Ferguson legalized segregation until Brown v. Board of Education overturned it

In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine, enabling decades of discrimination. This explainer traces how Brown later ruled school segregation unconstitutional and reshaped civil rights law.

Approximately 10% of American K-12 students are enrolled in private schools.

Explore an archive of Growing Without Schooling, the influential homeschooling newsletter published by 'unschooling' advocate John Holt.

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) created a 3-part test for church-state entanglement

In this case, the Supreme Court established a three-part test—requiring a secular purpose, no advancement of religion, and avoidance of excessive entanglement—for laws concerning the Establishment Clause. The test was later effectively sidelined in recent rulings.

The Supreme Court decided that a public school coach's postgame prayers were protected speech

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of a high school football coach who had been suspended for kneeling in prayer at midfield after games. The decision shifted away from the Lemon test and toward a more expansive view of religious freedom in the Establishment Clause.

The First Amendment established religious freedom as a constitutional right—a safeguard no other nation had before

Europe had limited religious tolerance for centuries, but always as a privilege granted by rulers who could revoke it. The First Amendment in the United States was unique for the time: It banned the government from interfering with religion, making religious freedom a permanent constitutional limit on state power.

Hear from both sides of the attempt to ban books across the country, which spiked by more than 1,100% between 2020 and 2022

During that period, more than 2,500 titles were challenged across 37 states, with activists targeting books on race, slavery, and gender identity. This CBS report hears from the founders of Moms for Liberty, a teacher removed for giving students access to banned books, and "Maus" cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

The Third Amendment bars the forced housing of soldiers in private homes

The amendment was designed to address a specific grievance of the Colonies and remains the only Bill of Rights provision that has never been directly tested by a Supreme Court ruling on its merits.

A Tennessee teacher was put on trial in 1925 for teaching evolution in a public school

John Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but the conviction was later overturned on a technicality. Tennessee's anti-evolution law stayed on the books until 1967, when it was finally repealed.

In 1978, lower courts ruled that neo-Nazis had the right to march through Skokie, Illinois

Skokie was home to a large community of Holocaust survivors, making the planned march an extreme test of First Amendment principles. The courts ultimately ruled that even deeply offensive speech remains protected by the Constitution.

Many private schools follow Dewey's experiential learning model

John Dewey is perhaps the biggest figure in American education. He is known for emphasizing active, experiential learning and founding one of the country’s most renowned private schools: the Experimental School, which would later become the Laboratory Schools in Chicago.

Private K-12 schools rely on tuition; colleges rely on funding for research

Tuition, endowments, donors, and grants often fund private schools, allowing them to eschew national curriculum standards. Private colleges and universities also charge tuition, but often rely on federal funding for research.

Federal government supports—but doesn't run—K-12 schools

The Department of Education contributes about 8% of K-12 funding and administers targeted grants, civil‑rights enforcement, research, and data collection. Crucially, it is legally prohibited from directing curriculum, personnel decisions, or instructional content, leaving that control to states and districts.

The Supreme Court's first major free-speech ruling rested on a legal standard that was later overturned

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the court introduced the "clear and present danger" test—permitting the government to restrict speech that posed an immediate threat to public safety. Although the doctrine was later replaced, the ruling upheld the conviction of a man who had distributed anti-draft pamphlets.

Native religious practices were suppressed for centuries before receiving federal protection in 1978

During the first two centuries of American history, the government frequently banned Native ceremonial dances, took sacred sites, and enrolled children in boarding schools where they were prevented from practicing their faith. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 committed the federal government to safeguarding Native spiritual practices.

Reynolds v. United States (1878) established that religious belief is not a defense for a crime

In the first major Supreme Court case on the free exercise clause, the court ruled that the government cannot regulate religious belief, but it can regulate religious practice if it violates the law. The case arose from a Mormon man convicted of polygamy who argued his faith required it.

With the help of one photographer who took photos of children at work, child labor in the US was eventually restricted by law in the mid-1900s.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation and discrimination nationwide

The Civil Rights Act, signed into law in 1964, prohibited racial segregation in public accommodations and ended discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment, while also strengthening protections in education. It established protections enforced across federally funded programs.

15 states offer school voucher programs, serving nearly 350,000 students

Voucher programs direct public K–12 funding to families in the form of tuition grants for private schools and are typically targeted to low-income or special-needs students.

School integration is designed to improve student outcomes

This American Life follows a Missouri district’s court-ordered integration program that dramatically improved achievement gaps, revealing how desegregation remains an effective yet underused education reform.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided federal aid to tackle inequity in public schools

Signed into law April 11, 1965, ESEA authorized over $1B in grants during its first year—boosting Title I programs which now provide $18.4B annually to support low-income students.

Economists warn that private schools can negatively affect public schools

Lower public school enrollment often means less public school funding. Private school parents, however, frequently argue that public schools simply aren't offering the right education for their children. This podcast episode investigates that back-and-forth in San Francisco, where 30% of children attend private schools, nearly three times the national figure.

Hear how the 2 religious clauses in the First Amendment have been tested and evolved over time

This podcast examines the evolution of the free exercise and establishment clauses, tracing their development from federal restrictions to state and local laws. Discover the believers who challenged the limits of religious freedom throughout American history.

Americans are divided over Christian prayer in public schools

A 2024 Pew survey found that over half (52%) of US adults favor allowing teachers in the public school system to lead their classes in prayers that mention Jesus, though results vary widely by state.

Kurt Vonnegut's letter to the school board that banned his book

In 1973, a high school English teacher in North Dakota taught Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five," the classic time-hopping novel about World War II and the bombing of Dresden. The head of the school board was outraged by what he considered to be obscene material in Vonnegut's novel and ordered all of the students' copies of the book burned. When Vonnegut caught wind of those plans, he wrote this letter to the school board, protesting the decision.

School choice vouchers have had mixed results

This podcast breaks down the arguments for and against vouchers and untangles what data suggests about them. While some states showed vouchers improving student learning, studies in Louisiana and Indiana showed that students who left public schools for private schools performed worse.