MAKE THE BEST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: The grace period is over: It's time for America to be the grown-up our kids are counting on.

• Author: Bourenane, Heather DuBois
• Position: On Wisonsin

Amid the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, something beautiful happened in the realm of education: There was an immediate, staggering rush of grace.

Parents gave grace to districts scrambling to meet basic needs. Superintendents gave grace to teachers scrambling to work day and night, some totally unfamiliar with online instruction, many dealing with their own kids at home.

Teachers gave grace to administrators scrambling to develop new plans and protocols. And everyone gave grace to students, dropping the pretenses of standardized testing and grades, and doing everything possible within the madness of the moment to simply connect.

But as these connections were exposed, so were the inequities that made it harder to reach some students. More people began asking the hard questions:

Why are students and communities of color disproportionately impacted by this crisis?

Why are rural students and students in poverty so much more likely not to have the technology needed for distance learning?

Why do some districts have the resources and support to reach every student, while others struggle?

The murder of George Floyd also cast into sharp relief the inequities that are built into our systems. Teachers, parents, and students took to the street with a new set of demands:

Enough with systemic racism. Stop policing our schools and criminalizing the childhood of students of color. Fund counselors not cops in our public schools. Invest in the resources our kids deserve and our communities demand so that every child can thrive.

Black Lives Matter became a rubber band on the wrist of educators that snapped them into taking action on issues they have long ignored. People began to talk about what it would mean to have schools with more counselors, school psychologists, and mental health support staff and fewer school resource officers. What if we prioritized students' holistic needs over preparing them for standardized testing?

But then, just as suddenly, the grace that felt like a gift at the start of this crisis turned into something far less attractive. Politicians and partisans began to bicker about everything. The HEROES Act--which would provide critical but insufficient support for reopening schools--passed in the House of Representatives but stalled in the U.S. Senate. And, through it all, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Americas chief privateer, manipulated the crisis at every turn, looking for new and less accountable ways to funnel public...