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

    Education Department to Launch Title IX Investigations to Mark Law’s Anniversary
    To mark the 53rd anniversary of Title IX, the Department of Education is announcing investigations into two apparent violations of the federal law protecting women’s spaces and sports. Title IX was enacted into law on June 23 in 1972, so President Donald Trump’s Department of Education will celebrate June as Title IX month. Secretary of…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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  • opinion

    Higher Education Faces an Existential Crisis of Its Own Making
    Harvard University is having a rough time. I know, how tragic, right? On Monday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that his administration was considering giving $3 billion in grant money initially slated for Harvard to trade schools. This comes right after he tried to block foreign students from attending the school. That move was initially…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • news

    Bills Allowing Prayer, Bible in School, Ten Commandments Head to Abbott’s Desk
    THE CENTER SQUARE—With days left in the legislative session, the Texas House passed bills authorizing prayer and Bible reading in public schools and requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms. Democrats opposed them, citing biblical references to slavery that teachers are not qualified to teach or shouldn’t be discussing. SB 10, filed by…
    Bethany Blankley
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  • opinion

    The School Choice Tide Lifts All Students
    Now that Texas and South Carolina have passed school choice bills, parents will be able to choose the best school for their kids in 17 states. Why not all states? After all, competition improves services. The Post Office couldn’t get it there overnight. Then FedEx showed it can be done. Quickly, UPS and DHL did it, too,…
    John Stossel
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  • news

    WHO VOTED AGAINST? Supreme Court Splits 4-4 on Catholic Charter School
    In a tied decision, the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday allowed an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision to stand, disqualifying a Catholic charter school from receiving state funding. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the ruling, resulting in the 4-4 decision. The court did not issue an opinion, only stating, “The judgment is affirmed by an…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    Union ‘Payoffs Will Continue’ Until the Department of Education Is Closed, Betsy DeVos Says
    The Department of Education under President Joe Biden loosened requirements for a student loan program specifically for public servants and nonprofit employees a few months after unions that stood to benefit from the change sent a letter to then-Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. The watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust, which obtained the letter via a Freedom…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    Judge Blocks School Board From Removing Explicit Books, Saying It’s Unconstitutional to Follow ‘Conservative Values’
    A school board in Colorado cannot remove sexually explicit, profane, and “transgender” books from school libraries because the school board is conservative, according to a federal judge touted as the first openly lesbian judge west of the Mississippi. The ACLU’s Colorado chapter filed a suit on behalf of two minors, the NAACP Wyoming State Area…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    The Left Ignores ‘the Science’ on Federal Education Programs
    Why do the folks who shout about “following the science” repeatedly object when decisions are made to shutter federal education programs that rigorous research—i.e., “the science”— has shown to be ineffective? A prime example of this selective embrace of “the science” can be heard in the howls of protest to proposed cuts in the Trump…
    Jay Greene | Lindsey Burke
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  • opinion

    From School Board Mom to National Leader: Tiffany Justice’s New Mission for Parental Rights
    The rise of parental activism in education has transformed America’s political landscape since COVID-19 lockdowns exposed what was happening behind classroom doors. Now, one of the movement’s most influential voices is taking on a new role to champion parental rights at the national level. Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, recently joined The Heritage…
    Robert B. Bluey
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  • news

    Supreme Court Considers Whether the First Amendment Allows ‘Religious Charter Schools’
    One of the Supreme Court’s last argued cases of the 2024-25 term may turn out to be one of its most significant. On Wednesday, the court heard arguments over whether states may insist that charter schools, which they all define as public schools, be nonsectarian. Nearly every state offers charter schools to provide an alternative…
    Thomas Jipping
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  • opinion

    Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes a Powerful Argument for School Choice
    During oral arguments in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson unintentionally made a practical and convincing case for universal school choice. A few years back, the Montgomery County, Maryland, school board instituted an “LGBTQ-inclusive” curriculum that included storybooks for kids as young as prekindergarten. The books are ostensibly part…
    David Harsanyi
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  • news

    Heritage Foundation Unveils Classical School Database
    The Heritage Foundation has compiled a searchable Classical Schools Database featuring nearly 900 schools across the United States that say they are “committed to offering a classical liberal arts education to their students.”  The guide allows parents to search by state, city, county, and ZIP code for their ideal school from 894 options. It also…
    Jacob Adams
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  • news

    Catholic Charter School Funding Fight Heads to Supreme Court
    Oklahoma consistently ranks among the worst states in the country for public school outcomes. In an effort to improve educational options, the state’s official charter school board and an online Catholic charter school are fighting what they say is religious discrimination all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.   Charter schools in Oklahoma are run…
    Moira Gleason
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  • news

    Public Opinion Shifts Toward Support for Bible-Based Character Education in Schools
    A strong majority of U.S. voters—78%—support teaching character and moral education to public school students, and 67% support that education being Bible-based so long as it is done legally, according to a new LifeWise Academy poll.  The poll was conducted Feb. 25-26, 2025, in partnership with Scott Rasmussen’s RMG Research, with a 3.1% margin of…
    R.E. Wermus
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  • opinion

    Save Your School, Don’t Donate Today
    It’s no secret that American colleges and universities, once revered as pillars of intellectual integrity, have devolved into hotbeds of anti-American ideologies and radical left-wing activism. Rather than fostering critical thinking, they are actively pushing toxic agendas and even championing dangerous extremism. But now, we have a chance to change all that. President Donald Trump’s…
    Nora Sullivan
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  • opinion

    Shut Down the Department of Education ASAP
    A recent report from the American Enterprise Institute summarizes results from the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress—also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The test, given every two years, reports scores of our nation’s children in reading and math at the fourth grade and eighth grade levels. American Enterprise Institute characterizes the most…
    Star Parker
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  • opinion

    Boston Judge Mark Summerville Should Go Back to Law School 
    Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville must have flunked Constitutional Law 101 from whatever law school he managed to graduate from. He apparently doesn’t realize that he can’t go after federal agents for enforcing federal immigration law.    Summerville held an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent named Brian Sullivan in contempt for detaining an illegal…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • news

    Cruz, Banks Seek to Give School Choice to Military Families in New Bill
    WASHINGTON—Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act on April 1, a bill aimed at giving military parents more control over their children’s education. The legislation, which amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, would allow eligible military families to opt into Military Education…
    Tony Kinnett
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  • opinion

    School Choice Soon Available to Half of US Kids, But How It’s Designed Is Critical 
    School choice will soon hit a tipping point. If Texas enacts a universal school choice bill, as seems very likely, then more than half of K-12 students nationwide will be eligible for private school choice. Already this year, three states—Idaho, Tennessee, and Wyoming—have enacted new universal education choice policies or expanded existing ones to make…
    Jason Bedrick
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  • opinion

    Real School Accountability Puts Families First
    Arkansas has been a national leader on education freedom, but a bill before the state Legislature would be a step in the wrong direction. In 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, signed into law the Arkansas LEARNS initiative, an ambitious education reform package that expanded education choice, restructured teacher compensation to pay more for…
    Jason Bedrick
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