Education Policy & School Reform News

This section covers K12 policy, school board elections, curriculum transparency, parental rights, school choice, charter and voucher programs, and state and federal rules that shape classrooms. The Daily Signal includes news reports, analysis, commentary, and opinion pieces to explain how these decisions affect students, families, and educators.
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  • opinion

    One Small Step for School Choice
    When the One Big Beautiful Bill Act came up for a vote on the Senate floor on July 1 of last year, 50 senators voted for it, and 50 senators voted against it. Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote in that chamber—so the bill could go back to the House for…
    Terence Jeffrey
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  • news

    Heritage Foundation Awards $1M in Prizes to Nonprofits
    The Heritage Foundation on Thursday announced the recipients of its annual “Innovation Prizes,” a program that awards $1 million in prizes to nonprofit organizations for their work to strengthen society. This is the sixth year that Heritage has given the awards to organizations that put conservative principles into action. Recipients of this year’s prizes include…
    Francesca Cella
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  • opinion

    I Ran Arizona’s ESA Program. Here’s What the Critics Won’t Tell You.
    I ran Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account Program as its executive director, and I am here to tell you that the public conversation about this program is missing something critical: the truth about how it actually works. You have heard the claims of school choice opponents: fraud, waste, lack of accountability. What you have not heard…
    Christine Accurso
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  • opinion

    The Trans Flag Flies Over the Teachers Union 
    Teachers unions continue to embrace woke gender ideology and force it on young children.  When a transgender flag flies over a building, make no mistake: That building has been conquered by left-wing extremists.  Today, a rainbow flag flies over the building of the nation’s largest teacher union, the National Education Association, in Washington, D.C. The union is publicly declaring its dedication to gender ideology over and above…
    Zac Briley | Laura Bryant Hanford
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  • opinion

    The Academic Achievement Gap Is a Knowledge Gap
    Children of married parents with high education levels are more likely to be healthy and succeed in school and life than their peers. Children from these families are also more likely to live above the poverty line and benefit from extracurricular activities such as music lessons, sports, and summer camp. These activities offer students prized…
    Ella Jackson | Jonathan Butcher
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  • opinion

    Stop the Scam: Minneapolis Students Need Education Choice
    One classical school in Minneapolis offers a lesson on how to create opportunities in tough areas. Policymakers and special interest groups should pay attention. In May, at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., described a reality that has been obvious to parents in…
    Jonathan Butcher | Zac Briley
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  • opinion

    How to Help Boys
    It would be better for boys if society stopped expecting them to act like girls. A Texas mom recently shared a video of her son at his kindergarten graduation. The clip shows him squirming in his chair, playing with his hands and stretching over his seat. She captioned the video, “You’re six and the ceremony…
    Victor Joecks
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  • opinion

    Louisiana Schools Wave Goodbye to Bureaucratic Red Tape
    Who would have thought education dollars were best used when actually directed toward the education of students? Attempting to follow every letter of federal regulation in education is a monumental task. School personnel spend tens of millions of hours (and dollars) each year on federal compliance. What they get in return for this investment is…
    Zac Briley | Madison Marino Doan
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  • exclusive

    Harris Sounds Alarm, Feds Launch Title IX Probe Into North Carolina Schools
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education has launched an investigation into a North Carolina public school district as officials continue to allow biological men in women’s restrooms, violating presidential executive orders and Title IX. Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., called the violations “deeply disturbing” and thanked the secretary of the department for “quick action.”…
    Virginia Grace McKinnon
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  • opinion

    Fairfax School District Prioritizes ‘Green Initiatives’ Over Academic Proficiency
    As Virginia’s largest public school district continues to decline academically, Fairfax County Public Schools’ environmental and sustainability program has exploded in scale since 2020, transforming from a small initiative into a heavily staffed central operation. Meanwhile, despite a $197 million increase from the fiscal year 2026 budget, Fairfax County’s school board members voted last month…
    Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
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  • exclusive

    Trump Admin Slashes Burdensome Regulations for State Education Reform
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education is slashing federal regulations that could hinder states from improving their schools, the administration’s latest move in its dismantling of the agency and its effort to return education policy to the states. The Education Department has approved Education Flexibility applications for the states of Florida and Illinois,…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • opinion

    Study Examines Whether Advanced Degrees Are Worth Costs
    The Left believes there is a contrived war on higher education. However, recent analysis counters that claim by showing that there is an economic disadvantage for many Americans taking on the cost of an advanced degree. The analysis has now landed firmly on the conclusion that much advanced education is a rigged game. This is…
    Bruce Bialosky
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  • news

    Ohio’s School Choice Program Moves Through the Courts
    The 10th District Court of Appeals this week heard arguments regarding Ohio’s school voucher program, EdChoice, and will decide whether to uphold a judge’s ruling that the program is unconstitutional. A decision from Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page was appealed last July by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who has defended school choice. Whatever…
    Rebecca Downs
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  • opinion

    Fairfax Schools’ Response to Financial Scandal: Denial, Deflection, and Spin
    Fairfax County Public Schools’ superintendent, Michelle Reid, refuses to let facts get in the way of her finely tuned narrative. Last Friday afternoon, as the public was growing increasingly aware that district leaders are shuffling resources from classrooms to administrative bloat, she sent an email to the district’s employees, assuring them that FCPS remains a…
    Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
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  • opinion

    When Educational Institutions Drift, Build New Ones
    Recently, comedian Rob Schneider posted on X: “I would like to start a CONSERVATIVE TEACHERS UNION as an alternative to the WOKE EMOTIONAL LUNATICS in the @NEA Teacher’s Communist Union…” While those are not the words I would have used, the underlying point resonates: Many educators and parents feel that the nation’s largest teachers unions…
    Paul Runko
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  • opinion

    Self-Censorship and the Silenced Generation
    Are America’s college students doing to themselves what the Chinese Communist state does to its citizens? An Ivy League professor—an old-fashioned liberal who actually cares about free speech—recently warned me about what’s happening in classrooms like his. He encourages class discussion of the great books he teaches in class—but students are afraid to speak, not…
    Daniel McCarthy
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  • exclusive

    ‘HYPOCRITES’: Top Ed Official Slams Democrats for Opposing Rule to Lower College Costs
    Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent slammed congressional Democrats for attempting to block a rule that would lower higher education costs for Americans. “Democrats are hypocrites,” Kent told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview. “For years, they have purported to care about student debt, but now they’ve reaffirmed what we’ve all been saying, which is,…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • opinion

    Top Research University Skirts Civil Rights Laws, Pushes DEI
    Carnegie Mellon University is skirting civil rights laws, making the university ripe for investigation. Pennsylvania lawmakers and the U.S. Department of Education should use CMU as an example to demonstrate that private schools are not above the law. CMU, which has had contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense totaling some $2.8 billion since 2008,…
    Jonathan Butcher
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  • opinion

    President Trump Proposes Meaningful Cuts to the Education Budget
    President Donald Trump’s administration is closing the U.S. Department of Education, and his latest budget proposal is a step in that direction. This month, Trump released his fiscal year budget request for 2027, proposing approximately $76.5 billion in funding for the Education Department, a 3% cut from one year ago. Top-line funding levels do not…
    Madison Marino Doan
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  • opinion

    School Choice Demands Improved Student Transportation
    School choice and student transportation have a lot of Venn diagram overlap. A 2009 survey of parents in Denver and Washington, D.C., found that more than a quarter of respondents reported not enrolling their child in the school they preferred due to transportation difficulties.  The Heritage Foundation recently released a report on modernizing student transportation for an era of school choice. Currently,…
    Matthew Ladner
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