Renewing Public Education’s Purpose

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Stuart Foundation are pleased to co-sponsor this series of diverse essays on the purpose of public education. The authors write from different vantage points, but each takes seriously a core question: In a time of widespread change, what is public education for, and how can it evolve to meet its promise?

We start from a shared premise. Public education has been a cornerstone of America’s democracy and economy, and at its best extends opportunity to all its participants. Yet a set of converging forces—from AI disruptions, to democratic turmoil, to inequality, to youth mental health—makes clear that the system as currently designed cannot deliver on its promises. We all agree that public education needs to transform, but there is far less agreement on what transformation looks like. Some argue for expanded school choice or vouchers; others believe the task is to build stronger public systems; still others emphasize new models of learning, deeper career pathways, more community connection, or greater student agency. The essays in this series don’t paper over such differences, nor do they treat them as mutually exclusive.

In doing so, these essays model the sort of debate on educational redesign we want to see—creative, pluralistic, and grounded in a shared commitment to rich learning experiences that prepare all students to thrive in careers and civic life. Philanthropy has a particular obligation to support this kind of  public dialogue, to ensure it doesn’t remain just esoteric but actually charts a path forward. What we cannot do is stand still, pretending that the system today is the one we need, or that our democracy can flourish absent a vibrant public education system in some form.

Our commitment to the institution of public education runs deep, even as we recognize that its form must evolve to meet the demands of a new era and better live up to its ideals. We invite you to read, debate, and bring this conversation into your own work.

—Ash Vasudeva, Education Program Director, Hewlett Foundation and Sophie Fanelli, President, Stuart Foundation