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

    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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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • news

    Politicizing College Football, UMass Trolls Liberty University With ‘Pride Day’
    College football season is back—and so is the politicization of a fall pastime that used to unite Americans across the aisle. This year’s game day rivalries on the University of Massachusetts’s home field consist of a little more than fans with opposing school spirit. With plans to host the Liberty University Flames on its territory…
    Marjorie Jackson
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  • news

    Vanderbilt University Medical Center Under Fire After Videos Expose ‘Big Moneymaker’ Allegations About Transgender Surgeries on Kids
    The governor of Tennessee is calling for an investigation into Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic following viral tweets exposing alarming attitudes toward transgender surgeries and procedures for children. Daily Wire host Matt Walsh shared Tuesday afternoon that his team has been investigating the transgender clinic, claiming that “Vanderbilt drugs, chemically castrates, and performs…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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  • news

    Lawmakers, Parents Vow to Stop Infiltration of LGBT Gender Ideology in Schools
    As parents become more aware of what radical activists are teaching their kids in school, a group of House Republicans held a “Back-to-School Roundtable” on Capitol Hill aimed at protecting children from LGBT ideology.  “We have seen school boards, teachers unions, and even the Department of Justice attempt to hijack parental rights. But these people…
    Douglas Blair
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