Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star, is sounding the alarm over what he describes as a foundational crisis in America: the collapse of the nation’s public K–12 education system.
On Thursday’s edition of his talk radio show, The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy cited newly released data revealing that one in four young adults in the U.S. is functionally illiterate, even though over half of them have received high school diplomas.
Citing an article published by The74, Leahy explained how between 2017 and 2023, the percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds reading at the lowest literacy levels surged from 16 percent to 25 percent, while literacy test scores among diploma-holders dropped significantly.
Leahy warned these trends represent a “fundamental threat to our constitutional republic.”
“The future of the United States, our constitutional republic, is in deep peril. Why? Because our K-12 public schools are failing our young citizens,” Leahy said. “There are two problems: basic reading, writing, and arithmetic are not happening among young kids. And the second problem, the understanding of what our constitutional republic is not happening.”
Leahy went on, saying that if students cannot read or write proficiently, they cannot meaningfully engage in civic life or understand the principles that underpin the U.S. Constitution.
Rather than serving students, Leahy argued that the public school system has become a self-serving institution dominated by teachers’ unions and administrative bureaucracy and, to be sufficient once again, needs a complete overhaul.
“Public schools are not working, they’re not getting the job done. They are not serving the students. They are serving the teachers unions and the administrators…Interestingly enough, if you can’t read or write properly, how are you going to be able to be a good citizen and to understand civics?…We’re going to have to totally change [the system],” Leahy said.
“The problem going on right now is that the teacher’s unions and the public schools are propagandizing young Americans and are not teaching them basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. What they are doing is giving them an anti-American worldview,” he added.
In an effort to directly address the drop in academic performance and civic engagement among students being failed by the public school system, Leahy is relaunching the National Constitution Bee in October 2026 – a scholarship competition for students in grades 8 through 12 centered on the U.S. Constitution.
Open to students in grades 8 through 12, the competition will award $17,500 in scholarships, with a structured format that includes three competition rounds all centered on content from The Guide to the Constitution and Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students – a textbook Leahy co-authored from an originalist perspective.
“[The National Constitution Bee] is much needed because these kids are not getting an understanding of our constitutional republic,” Leahy stressed.
For more information about the 2026 National Constitution Bee scholarship competition, visit nationalconstitutionbee.org.
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
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– Read more at @TheTNStarhttps://t.co/ajVLdtUXsu— MichaelPatrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) October 16, 2025
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
