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.
Filter articles by
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • Opinion

    DeSantis-Endorsed School Board Member Is Training Parents to Run for Office

    Bridget Ziegler was among the 30 school board candidates to earn the endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this year. It was a novel approach for a governor to endorse school board candidates, but one that paid off big time for conservatives who support education freedom and parental empowerment. Nationwide, many first-time candidates won election…
    Rob Bluey
    Read More
    • News

    After Supreme Court Ruling, School District Will Reinstate Football Coach Fired for Praying

    Coach Joe Kennedy is headed back to the high school football field, eight years after he lost his job for praying on the gridiron.   Kennedy won his religious liberty case before the Supreme Court in June after a long legal battle. The fight began in 2015, when the Bremerton School District in Washington state outside…
    Virginia Allen
    Read More
    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Vermont Family Accuses School District of Retaliating Against Them for Pushing Back Against Biological Male in Girls’ Locker Room

    A Vermont school district punished both 14-year-old Blake Allen and her father for stating that a biologically male student who identifies as a transgender girl is male. Now the Allens are suing the school district—and accusing it of retaliating against their family for speaking out. Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Travis and Jessica Allen…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
    Read More
    • Opinion

    My University Forced Me to Take ‘AUx1,’ ‘AUx2’—aka Leftism 101, 102 

    As I accepted an offer to enroll at American University in the spring of 2020, I knew what I was getting into.    With American University currently ranked by Niche, a large college-information aggregator and review platform, as the single most liberal university in the country, you’d think I’d be a fool for even considering going there….
    Wallace White
    Read More
    • Opinion

    New NAEP Test Scores Are a Disaster. Blame Teachers Unions.

    In a predictable, yet nonetheless shocking outcome, the latest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress record the biggest decline in math in three decades. In mathematics, eighth grade students’ NAEP scores dropped eight points from 2019 to 2022, according to results released Monday. Just 26% of eighth graders now perform math proficiently, down…
    Lindsey Burke
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Rhode Island Priest Rebukes Public School for Pornographic Books in Library

    When the public high school in Westerly, Rhode Island, made available to students two books with pornographic content, the Rev. Giacomo Capoverdi sprang into action with more than a dozen other pastors. The books—“Gender Queer” and “Fun Home”—are not appropriate for high school students, according to a letter 14 clergy wrote to The Westerly Sun…
    Rob Bluey
    Read More
    • News

    America’s Schools Warm to Climate Change, Without Question

    Public school districts are adopting curriculums on climate change from well-funded progressive groups casting the issue as a threat to life on the planet that students should respond to through activism.  As of fall 2020, 29 states and the District of Columbia had adopted standards that require science classes to teach human-caused climate change as…
    Steve Miller
    Read More
    • News

    ‘I Had No Power Over My Kids’ Education,’ Maryland Mom Says After Asking to Opt Her Second Grader Out of LGBT Lessons

    An elementary school just outside the nation’s capital touted Gay Pride Month and defined words such as “transgender” in a video sent to students. A middle school in the same school system displays pride flags and “LGBTQ+ stories” in class. A local mom, who wishes to remain anonymous but whom The Daily Signal will refer…
    Gillian Richards
    Read More
    • News

    ‘I Will Take This as Retaliation’: Another Vermont Father Says School District Is Punishing Him for Speaking Out Against Biological Male in Girls’ Locker Room

    Another Vermont parent has told The Daily Signal that he believes the school district is punishing him for speaking out against a biological male using the girls’ locker room. John Helfant is one of the volunteer coaches of the Randolph Union High School girls’ varsity soccer team, he said in a Wednesday phone interview. He…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Judges Fighting Yale Law School Show They Know ‘What Time It Is’ in America

    Late last month at the sixth annual Kentucky Chapters Conference of The Federalist Society, Judge James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (disclosure: my former boss) issued a call to arms. Ho—who earlier this year ruffled feathers at Georgetown University Law Center by using the occasion of his own…
    Josh Hammer
    Read More
    • News

    High School Girls Explain Why They’re Uncomfortable Having a Biological Male in Their Locker Room

    RANDOLPH, VERMONT—Blake Allen and her teammates spoke out when a biologically male student used their locker room. Now these young girls face heavy criticism—and maybe even punishment. Our Daily Signal team traveled up the coast this week to the town of Randolph in northeastern Vermont, just in time to catch the last few days of…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
    Read More
    • News

    Public School Fires Substitute Teacher for Raising Concerns Over Book Depicting Same-Sex Couples

    Lindsey Barr was fired from her substitute teaching job after expressing concern over the content of a book in the school library.   Barr is a mother of three boys. All her children attend public school in Bryan County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Savannah, where she also works as a substitute teacher.   In August,…
    Virginia Allen
    Read More
    • News

    Gender Ideology Is ‘Half-Baked, Incoherent,’ Filmmaker Matt Walsh Tells Full House at Catholic University

    Despite efforts by a leftist group to prevent it from taking place, conservative commentator Matt Walsh, producer of a documentary film questioning the legitimacy of transgenderism, spoke Tuesday at the Catholic University of America.   Nearly 750 people attended the event in Washington to hear Walsh discuss his controversial new documentary “What Is a Woman?” One leader of…
    Gillian Richards
    Read More
    • News

    Guardian of Biologically Male Trans Student: School Closed Locker Room ‘to Protect My Child’

    Amid controversy over a biologically male student using the girls’ locker room at a Vermont high school, that student’s alleged guardian spoke out Monday, claiming that the school closed the girls’ locker room to “protect” her trans-identifying child from harassment. Melissa Sivvy said in a Monday afternoon phone interview with The Daily Signal that she…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
    Read More
    • News

    Vermont High School Under Fire as Girls, Parents Push Back Against Biologically Male Trans Student Using Female Locker Room

    Two Vermont high school girls did what few of their peers have dared: When a biological boy who identifies as a transgender girl entered their locker room, they asked that student to leave. The Randolph, Vermont-based Randolph Union High School told the community in a Sept. 23 email that it is “launching a harassment investigation”…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
    Read More
    • Opinion

    School Choice Opponents Concede Defeat Just Days After Declaring Victory

    On Friday, opponents of education choice in Arizona declared a “historic victory.” But by Monday, they were conceding defeat. They had sought to gather enough signatures to block Arizona’s newly passed massive expansion of education choice and put it on the ballot for voters to decide. But apparently, the voters weren’t interested in what opponents…
    Jason Bedrick
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Apparent Victory Rings Hollow for Group Opposing School Choice

    The effort to block a massive expansion of education choice in Arizona appears to be running out of steam. Beth Lewis, executive director of the anti-school choice group Save Our Schools Arizona put on her best game face Friday afternoon as she announced that her group has gathered enough signatures to put the recent expansion…
    Jason Bedrick
    Read More