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

    Major Standardized Testing Org Used by Catholic Schools Promotes Gender Ideology, Drag Queens, ‘Trans Kids’
    The NWEA, which says it provides map-testing assessments to Roman Catholic dioceses and almost two thousand Catholic schools across the country, features articles on its website encouraging educators to help students to "come out" and promoting gender ideology to children. Formerly known as the Northwest Evaluation Association, the NWEA boasts of developing Pre-K through 12th…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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  • news

    Missouri Schools Took Kids to a Drag Show Without Informing Parents. AG Bailey Is Working to Prevent It From Happening Again.
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Missouri's attorney general sent a letter to the state's association of school boards, urging it to adopt a resolution mandating that parents and guardians receive advance notice and the ability to opt their children out of sexual instruction, following news that a middle school took students to a drag show without…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    For National School Choice Week, Sen. Lee Wants to Empower Parents, not Educrats
    Teachers unions have long opposed efforts to give parents more choices in education. But parents today should quote something from Samuel Gompers, who founded the American Federation of Labor in the 19th century, to union members: “Doing for people what they can and ought to do for themselves is a dangerous experiment.” That surely applies…
    Jonathan Butcher
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  • opinion

    Iowa Marks National School Choice Week by Enacting Students First Act
    Jan. 22 to Jan. 28 is National School Choice Week, and what better way to highlight the fact that parents today have more choices for their children’s education than ever before than by celebrating Iowa’s Students First Act being signed into law on Tuesday? The year 2011 was deemed “the year of school choice” after…
    Madison Marino Doan
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  • opinion

    Iowa and Utah Lead States on School Choice Progress in the New Year
    As America celebrates National School Choice Week, two states—Iowa and Utah—have made the first moves this year to empower families with a greater say in how their children are educated. Additionally, the evidence from states with robust school choice policies is debunking opponents’ charges that choice harms rural students and homeschoolers. Last week, the education…
    Jason Bedrick
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  • news

    Blake Masters Slams Tucson School District for SPLC Curriculum, Warns About ‘Left-Wing Power Grabs’ in Education
    Blake Masters, the former Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona, slammed his Tucson school district for its curriculum's reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center, a leftist activist group known for branding conservative organizations "hate groups" on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. "The SPLC is as extreme as it is dishonest….
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    Iowa Governor Leads on Ambitious School Choice Initiative
    Iowa came very close to enacting an expansive education choice policy last year. This year, after supporting school choice advocates who successfully primaried incumbents from her own party opposed to reform, Gov. Kimberly Reynolds is determined to see her ambitious education agenda over the finish line. Her proposal is a package of reforms that includes…
    Jason Bedrick
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  • news

    Elite University Department Bans Use of Word ‘Field,’ Claiming It’s Too Racist
    The University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work will no longer use the word “field” in its curriculum or its practices as part of its anti-racist framework, according to an email reportedly sent Monday. The school reportedly stripped the word from use due to alleged ties to “anti-Black” and “anti-immigrant” rhetoric, according to the…
    Alexa Schwerha
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  • opinion

    DeSantis Tackles Divisive ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ Programs on College Campuses
    The average American university has more than 45 individuals with jobs devoted to promoting so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI programs push divisive identity politics as well as distorted narratives about American history. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is once again leading on this issue, taking a first step in clamping down on these…
    Lindsey Burke
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  • opinion

    Kentucky Loses Distinction for Education Freedom After Flawed Court Decision
    Kentucky long has lagged in giving families access to education choice. However, that changed dramatically in 2021 when, in the wake of school shutdowns over COVID-19, Kentucky joined a wave of states expanding education opportunities by enacting the Education Opportunity Account program. Unfortunately, Kentucky children who stood to benefit from access to a greater number…
    Jason Bedrick
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  • opinion

    Dr. Ben Carson Diagnoses American Schools’ Greatest Ailment as ‘Loss of Vision’
    With the start of a new year, Dr. Ben Carson says he is concerned that America’s schools have lost their vision.  Americans have lost “vision of what education is there for,” says Carson, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and renowned neurosurgeon.  “Education is there to teach you how to function successfully in…
    Virginia Allen
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  • opinion

    Indiana School Board, Superintendent Refuse to Explain Secret Transgender Policy to Parents
    The school board and superintendent of an Indiana school district refused to comment Monday on a recently uncovered transgender policy for students that keeps parents in the dark, nearly two weeks after a public meeting at which parents demanded that officials explain why they're hiding information. Concerned parents in Pendleton, Indiana, flocked to the Dec….
    Tony Kinnett
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  • opinion

    RETALIATION? Teacher Sues School District After Losing Her Job for Offending Trans Orthodoxy
    Ohio middle school English teacher Vivian Geraghty lost her job in August when she refused to call two students by new names and preferred personal pronouns.  Geraghty was informed in August that two of her students were beginning to “socially transition” to another gender. A school counselor emailed Geraghty and several other teachers with instructions…
    Virginia Allen | Lauren Evans
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  • opinion

    Cross-Dressing Book Given to Pre-K Pupils Forces School District to Revamp Vetting Process
    A school district that gave preschoolers a book on cross-dressing has changed its procedures for giving out books after news of the incident surfaced late last month. As first reported exclusively by The Lion and The Heartlander news sites, a 4-year-old preschooler in the Turner School District in Kansas City, Kansas, took home the book “Jacob’s New Dress.” It’s a…
    Michael Ryan
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  • news

    ‘After School Satan Club’ Persists in Effort to Meet at Elementary School
    News that a Satanic temple is attempting to start an after-school club for children on school property in Virginia is the latest in a rising pattern of public activity by groups that openly identify as followers of Satan. Reports surfaced Tuesday that The Satanic Temple in Chesapeake, Virginia, had been approved to use a room at…
    Dan Hart
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  • opinion

    ‘What Else Are They Willing to Lie About?’: Indiana School Compels Staff to Hide ‘Gender Support Plans’ From Parents
    An email unearthed by parents at an Indiana high school has revealed a districtwide support plan for students undergoing gender transition and a policy to withhold and hide information from students’ parents. An Aug. 16 email sent by a counselor at Pendleton Heights High School in Pendleton, Indiana, informed teachers that a student had changed…
    Tony Kinnett
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  • opinion

    From Plummeting Test Scores to Woke Curriculums, Ben Carson Addresses America’s ‘Crisis in Classroom’
    There’s a “crisis in the classroom,” and American children are paying the price, say Armstrong Williams, host of “The Armstrong Williams Show,” and Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon and former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.   It’s “very concerning in our society today, as you see the dumbing down of our…
    Virginia Allen
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  • news

    Catholic University of America Opposes Radical ‘Respect for Marriage Act’
    The Catholic University of America said Tuesday that it is aligned with top United States Catholic clergy in opposing the so-called Respect for Marriage Act. "The Catholic University of America is committed to upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church, which includes the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman," the university…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: Father Banned From Kids’ School After Speaking Up at School Board Meeting
    Luis Sousa was ordered not to enter his children’s school after he spoke up at a school board meeting.   Now, the father is taking the local Massachusetts school district to court.   The ban by the school system impedes Sousa’s “right to observe his government … [and] participate in government,” his attorney, Marc John Randazza, told The Daily…
    Virginia Allen
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  • opinion

    Parental Rebellion Pays Off: Conservatives Win School Board Seats
    The midterm elections didn’t quite sweep Democrats out of power. However, some positive developments occurred, especially in noteworthy state and local elections. The parental rebellion against wokeness, radical gender ideology, and misguided COVID-19 policies continued, producing some solid results in school board elections across America. Again, it wasn’t a red tidal wave, but commonsense candidates…
    Jarrett Stepman
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