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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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: High School’s ‘Oppression and Privilege’ Slideshow Links to Teen Sex Ed Website
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Tenth-graders at a Missouri high school last week had to watch a slideshow on “oppression and privilege” that appears to violate state law by using information from a Planned Parenthood affiliate that lists abortion clinics on its website.  The website of the Planned Parenthood affiliate tells teens about "porn literacy" and…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • opinion

    Why Is Education Department Afraid of Innovation in Higher Ed?
    Online learning has revolutionized higher education, but a recent move by the federal Department of Education is threatening to tear down systems that are helping millions of students learn. An extremely wide diversity of students choose to take online courses or to get entire online degrees. Colleges that offer them need to be nimble as…
    Adam Kissel
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  • opinion

    School Choice Is Better for Democracy Than Government Schooling
    As state after state embraces policies that empower parents with more options in K-12 education, opponents of school choice are claiming that it is a “threat to democracy.” But if anything, school choice is better for democracy than government-run schooling. In Texas, the legislature is considering an education choice bill that would make every K-12…
    Jason Bedrick | Keri D. Ingraham
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  • news

    Study Debunks School Choice Critics on Tuition Increase Claims
    Critics of school choice often say it leads to higher tuition at private schools, but that doesn’t actually happen, a new study has found.  To the contrary, the study by The Heritage Foundation found that school choice significantly held down the cost of tuition of private elementary schools and had no impact on tuition at private high schools.  (The Daily Signal is…
    Lucy Gilbert
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  • opinion

    Parents Who Object to Pornographic Material in School Libraries Aren’t ‘Book Banners’
    Randi Weingarten, president of America’s second-largest teachers union, didn’t even wait for Banned Books Week to begin before posting on X: “Texas teacher fired for reading Diary of Anne Frank to class—THIS Speaks for itself!!!” Just the latest example of “book banning” in our schools, it seemed. But like almost every other aspect of overwrought book-banning claims,…
    Max Eden | Jay Greene
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  • opinion

    What K-12 Schools Could Learn About Transparency for Families From Early-Childhood Education
    Does anything compare with having the peace of mind of knowing that your child is safe, happy, and learning during the school day? While a parent is working, knowing that your child is getting the care and attention he or she needs while apart from the family is invaluable. Many early-childhood education and care providers…
    Lindsey Burke | Ginny Gentles
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  • news

    Stop Sanitizing Education: ‘If It’s Not Offensive to Anyone, It’s Probably Not Important Either’ 
    The American education system used to be the envy of the world, and we need to return to the tried and true ways of traditional classical education, according to the founder of a standardized test for classical education that’s an alternative to the College Board’s SAT. “The mainstream education system is at fault in a…
    Lucy Gilbert
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  • news

    Leader of 5th Largest School District in the Nation Signs Pledge From Group Demonizing Moms for Liberty
    As Moms for Liberty galvanized concerned parents across the country, a left-leaning group called Defense of Democracy sprouted up to oppose the growing parental rights movement. Now, a Nevada superintendent has become the first top school district leader to sign this new organization’s pledge to put “education professionals” ahead of parents when it comes to…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    ‘Groundbreaking Legal Victory’: Court Rules School Cannot Trans Kids Without Parental Consent
    A Waukesha County Circuit Court ruled Tuesday in favor of Wisconsin parents, deciding that a Wisconsin school district "abrogated" parents' rights when it decided to socially “affirm” their daughter as a transgender boy against their wishes. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, two sets of Wisconsin parents had…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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  • news

    ‘Schools Not Shelters’: Legislation Would Prohibit Conversion to Housing for Illegal Aliens  
    Sen. Ted Cruz has introduced a bill that would prevent educational institutions from being turned into shelters for illegal immigrants.   The border crisis has placed unprecedented demands on state resources, and the educational experience of taxpayers’ children should not be compromised to accommodate the migrants, according to Cruz’s bill.  The legislation serves as the…
    Sara Garstka
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  • opinion

    TRANSGENDER INQUISITION: Newsom Weaponizes Schools Against Non-‘Affirming’ Parents
    It’s official: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched the transgender inquisition against non-“affirming” parents that I warned about earlier this month. Yet the Democrat found a cunning way to hide it: He made news by vetoing a horrible bill he was expected to sign. When conservatives brand Newsom a radical opponent of parental rights, he…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    How Marxist Left Captured Higher Education
    The mission of a university is to discover truth and transmit that essential knowledge to future generations. That has been achieved by what we call in the West the Socratic dialogue—that is, ferreting out what is good, true, and beautiful by testing ideas in an academic setting. None of that is possible in an educational…
    Mike Gonzalez
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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: School District Censored Watchdog Group After It Exposed Teacher’s Tirade Against Parental Rights
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The person behind a popular X (formerly Twitter) account aimed at exposing leftist ideology in schools is threatening legal action after a Maryland school district that has become notorious for clamping down on parents restricted the account's access to what courts have ruled constitutes a public forum. Montgomery County Public Schools…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    Progressives Hate School Choice Until It’s Time to Send Their Kids to School
    Another week, another batch of teachers union officials lobbying against school choice while sending their own children to private schools. Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and Illinois Education Association official Sean Denney send their kids to private schools while devoting their time to fighting against poorer parents’ rights to send their children to…
    Tony Kinnett
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  • news

    School District Can’t Punish Teachers Who Refuse to Lie to Parents About Their Children, Court Rules
    A federal judge has blocked a Southern California school district from punishing teachers who notify parents about their child's purported gender transition in violation of district policy. One of the lawyers who represented the teachers claims the ruling provides a "framework" for striking down policies banning parental notification across the country. "It’s hard to overstate…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    3 Things Parents Should Know as Kids Head Back to School
    As the fall season kicks off, parents across the country are searching for new notebooks, bigger backpacks, and maybe even better schools for their children at the start of the new academic year. Schools serve as crucial environments for teaching, discourse, and the imparting of values, and they are the arenas—second only to the home—that…
    Madison Marino Doan
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  • opinion

    PragerU Is Now in Schools. Teacher Unions Are Fuming.
    For more than a decade, we at PragerU have been dedicated to helping America’s next generation live and think better by producing pro-America educational content that doesn’t just reach billions of people each and every year, but also changes hearts and changes minds. And now, with our recently announced partnerships with the states of Florida,…
    C.J. Pearson
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  • opinion

    Education Around the Country Looks Different This School Year. Here’s What Parents Need to Know.
    Jennifer Wolverton has a plan for her child’s education: A great laptop, software programs for practicing writing and designing artwork, piano lessons, and art classes. She is also looking for education therapy sessions for help with ADHD and dysgraphia (difficulty writing by hand). But that’s just for ninth grade. She has plans for her student’s…
    Jonathan Butcher | Jason Bedrick
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  • news

    Schools, Universities Bringing Back Mask Mandates, Shutdowns
    Schools and universities around the U.S. are bringing back mask mandates and shutdowns as COVID-19 numbers rise, according to public records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Runge Independent School District in Texas, Magoffin County Schools in Kentucky, Lee County School District in Kentucky, and Rosemary Hills Elementary School in Maryland are all reimplementing some form of COVID-19…
    Brandon Poulter
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  • opinion

    Parents’ Nightmare Shows It Matters How States Implement School Choice
    Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that we were not able to reach Christine Accurso prior to publication. (We reached out to Ms. Accurso's former place of work and a phone number provided to us.) At the end of this article, we have added Ms. Accurso's full response. This article has also…
    Tony Kinnett
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