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

    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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • 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
    Read More
    • Opinion

    FOLLOW THE MONEY: Is This the Real Reason the Left Is Freaking Out About the Department of Education?

    Judging from the Left’s responses to President Trump’s order to wind down the Department of Education, you might be forgiven for thinking the president had just started World War III. “Donald Trump has officially declared war on America’s students,” Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., posted on X. Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, responded…
    Tyler O’Neil
    Read More
    • News

    ‘The Department of Education Has Not Improved Student Achievement’

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon that aims to eliminate as much of the Department of Education as he can. The move comes after a decades-long expansion in unilateral federal influence over education without accompanying improvement in student educational outcomes.  “The Department of Education has not improved student achievement. It hasn't made…
    Jacob Adams
    Read More
    • News

    Cheers, Jeers on Capitol Hill for Trump’s Move to Dismantle the Department of Education

    President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education has sent a seismic shock wave throughout Washington, with Republicans celebrating and Democrats mourning. The order, which directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department, fulfills one of Trump’s promises, as he pledged on the campaign trail to undo the colossal department, which…
    George Caldwell
    Read More
    • Opinion

    Another Federal Court Determines Parents Had No Right to Know School Was Socially Transitioning Daughter

    A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit recently determined that the efforts of a Florida middle school to help a minor child socially transition to a different gender behind her parents’ backs were not sufficiently egregious to “shock the conscience” and allow the parents’ claim to proceed. But in granting…
    Sarah Parshall Perry
    Read More
    • Opinion

    ‘A Is for Abortion’: Public High School Teaches ABCs for Women’s History Month

    America’s public high schools are strange places to find displays of the alphabet. Perhaps with plummeting standardized test scores and a substantial increase in English-as-a-second-language students in sanctuary districts, high school educators feel the need to review kindergarten basics. In Fairfax County, Virginia’s West Springfield High School, located just 17 miles from the White House,…
    Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
    Read More