America’s Public Schools—Public Goods or Monopolies

Today’s public school leaders and educators face unique challenges. Recent AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice issues have presented themes on how adaptive or autonomous leadership skills are essential for succeeding in such complex times.

The accepted articles for the Spring 2024 issue examine similar complexities:

• the changing roles of and demands on the modern principal;
• unprecedented challenges of school safety and mental health;
• addressing legal yet paradoxical mandates.

The designation of public schools as a monopoly inspired me to revisit this categorization, its roots, and the arguments for and against its use. Since monopolies are defined as market powers seeking to control prices to maximize profit, how does this definition comport with the mission and vision of the public school system?