Public schools are collapsing across the country—and it’s not hard to understand why. Declining enrollment, record-low teacher retention, out-of-control discipline issues, bloated and broken government systems, and the unchecked spread of left-wing ideology have all taken a heavy toll.

You’d think, after nationwide protests at school board meetings, a wave of superintendent resignations, and new laws banning CRT and transgender grooming in the classroom, that school districts would’ve gotten the message. Right?

Wrong.

Rather than reforming, school districts have doubled down—ignoring parents, silencing dissent, and clinging to the same corrupt, nepotistic system. And now, they’re choosing to side with illegal aliens over American students.

Look no further than Fort Worth ISD. Since 2016, nearly 20,000 students have fled the district. Two superintendents have resigned in just the last three years. Academic performance has cratered. Yet the new superintendent, Karen Molinar—who has watched this decline firsthand—is keeping business as usual.

Molinar, who earns more than $360,000 a year (more than the Governor of Texas), told NBC 5 that the district is “not broken.” She also confirmed that Fort Worth ISD does not “request or seek information on the immigration status of students or their families.”

Why not? Because, like many other districts, Fort Worth ISD financially benefits from illegal immigration. Texas currently educates an estimated 110,000 illegal alien students at taxpayer expense. Nationwide, that number is closer to 620,000, costing American taxpayers billions annually to educate people who shouldn’t even be here.

In Fort Worth ISD, at least 33.5% of students are classified as English Language Learners. Are they all illegal? Not necessarily—but the numbers speak volumes. In Dallas ISD, it’s even worse. Nearly half—48%—of students fall into that category. Their superintendent, Stephanie Elizalde, proudly declared the district would “take them all,” regardless of legal status. Dallas ISD even provides legal aid resources for illegal aliens on its own website.

Instead of simply complying with ICE or stating they will cooperate, school districts would rather make public statements defending illegal aliens and undermining our law enforcement. It’s clear their priorities lie not with the law, but with the politics and profit tied to illegal immigration.

Let’s be clear: the public school system isn’t failing due to lack of funding—it’s failing because it refuses to prioritize American students and families. Instead, districts chase federal dollars and woke approval, abandoning the people they were meant to serve.

But parents are waking up. They’re pulling their kids out of the system in record numbers—and they’re not looking back.

The tide is starting to turn. President Trump has dismantled the Woke Department of Education, pledged to ban DEI nationwide, and vowed to deport every illegal alien in the country. And in Texas, school choice is on the verge of passing.

Now is the time for conservatives to take it even further. Plyler v. Doe—the 1982 Supreme Court ruling that forces American taxpayers to fund the education of illegal aliens—must be challenged and overturned. If we’re serious about ending illegal immigration, we must eliminate the education incentive that has quietly fueled it for nearly half a century.

Once Plyler is overturned, school districts will be forced to prioritize American students. The financial motive for harboring illegal aliens will disappear overnight.

Until then, as long as bureaucrats like Molinar remain in charge, we’ll keep seeing the same results: families fleeing, illegal immigration normalized in classrooms, teachers quitting, test scores collapsing, and leadership failing.

No one should be surprised that school choice is gaining traction—and it’s about to pass in Texas. Public schools can point fingers at Republicans all they want, but they ought to look in the mirror.

They did this to themselves. And now, they’ll have to learn the hard way.