Education Department Hangs Banner of Slain Conservative Charlie Kirk Alongside MLK and Franklin

The Department of Education hung banners from its Washington D.C. headquarters on Tuesday honoring notable American educators, including slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk — placing his image alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Benjamin Franklin. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA who was assassinated in 2025, has become a polarizing posthumous figure: a martyr to the conservative movement and a symbol of political violence to both sides. The decision to include him in the department's 'Great American Educators' series generated immediate controversy, with critics arguing Kirk was a political provocateur rather than an educator and supporters countering that his campus organizing transformed a generation of young conservatives.