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

    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
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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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    • 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…
    Robert B. Bluey
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    • 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
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    • 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
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    • 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
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    • 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
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    • 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…
    Robert B. Bluey
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    • 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
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