The Truth About Public Schools

By Dr. Laurie Putnam, Superintendent of St Cloud Area School District 742.

It’s fashionable these days to use public schools as a political talking point. Depending on who holds the microphone, schools are either failing our youth, wasting taxpayer dollars, or not doing enough to “fix” society’s problems—everything from declining civic engagement to the rise of mental health concerns to poor workforce preparedness. Public education is often framed as the source of society’s ills.

But that is not the truth about public schools.

I serve as the superintendent of a school district that educates about 9,500 students. Seventy percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch, meaning they face food insecurity. One in four receives special education services. One in four is learning English as a new language. About 10 percent are homeless in a given year. These aren’t statistics; they are our children. And what I see every day is not failure. It is extraordinary, often invisible, acts of love, creativity, and commitment that cannot be measured by a soundbite or a test score.

Take the story of one of our students who, just a few months ago, was sleeping in a car with his family. A promising football player, he wanted nothing more than to continue showing up for his team. Every day, his middle school social studies teacher—who also happens to be one of our football coaches—teamed up with a volunteer coach, a local wealth advisor, to pick him up, make sure he got to practice, and help keep his dreams alive. When they found out he might have to give up his beloved dog because of their living situation, these coaches worked tirelessly to find a foster placement.

This is the truth about public schools.

Or consider our local Rotary Club. Every year, without fail, these community volunteers raise over $150,000 to fund preschool access for 80 four-year-olds in our city—children who would otherwise start kindergarten already behind their peers. They do this not because anyone mandates it, but because they believe in our kids and in the transformative power of early education.

Or think about the bus driver who noticed a newly arrived immigrant student waiting for the morning bus without a winter coat, standing shivering in the brutal Minnesota cold. She didn’t shrug it off. She called the school, helped us connect with the family, and made sure they got the help they needed.

This is the truth about public schools.

Our schools are not faceless government institutions. They are intricate, resilient networks of people—teachers, paraprofessionals, coaches, volunteers, custodians, bus drivers, secretaries—who step in where families can’t and society often won’t. Public schools are among the last remaining civic institutions that belong to everyone and serve everyone, no matter their background, their needs, or their dreams.

Yes, we talk about funding, because funding matters. When schools are underfunded—and let’s be clear, most of ours are—the burden does not fall on programs or buildings. It falls on the backs of children and the educators who try to compensate for every missing resource with personal time, money, and endless energy.

Yes, we must wrestle with real challenges. But blaming public schools for society’s fractures misses the point entirely. Public schools don’t create these problems; they reveal them. And, far more often, they quietly, heroically, work to repair them.

The truth about public schools is that they are places of extraordinary hope. Every day, educators and communities rise to meet needs they didn’t create, doing work few will ever see and for which even fewer will ever give them credit.

In a time when so much energy is spent tearing down public education, it’s time we tell the fuller story. Not one of perfection—but of relentless, compassionate, human dedication.

Because the truth about public schools is not a soundbite. It’s a lifeline.

Written by: Dr. Laurie Putnam, Superintendent of St Cloud Area School District 742