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

    Homeschooling Is on the Rise. Here Are 4 Tips to Effectively Homeschool Your Children.

    I wish I had been given more advice about homeschooling when I first started about eight years ago. I didn’t know the first thing about home education. I felt unsure and nervous. The weight of responsibility on my shoulders was nerve-racking. I can’t say homeschooling is easy, but it is rewarding. If you are thinking…
    Eve Deborah
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    • News

    Connecticut Parents Claim Schools Teach Kindergarteners About Transgenderism

    Connecticut parents claimed a school district is indoctrinating elementary school students about transgenderism, including with a book for kindergarteners. Officials of the West Hartford Public Schools told parents that they could not opt out from the materials, according to a release from advocacy group Parents Defending Education. The reading list for kindergarteners included the book “Introducing…
    Harold Hutchison
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    • News

    Parent Activists Warn That Fight for Education Far From Over

    Parent activists, school board members, and a congressman gathered Monday in Washington to remind Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department that the fight for education is only just beginning.  “Whether it’s radical transgender policies in our schools, whether it’s putting masks on our children, which is paramount to child abuse, whether it’s forcing…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • Opinion

    The Rise of ‘Chief Diversity Officers’ at K-12 Schools

    Diversity officers slowly are corrupting K-12 education by bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives into schools and teaching children divisive topics such as critical race theory, a Heritage Foundation scholar says. A new report from Jay Greene, a senior research fellow in education at Heritage, highlights how harmful these diversity officers and their initiatives can…
    Douglas Blair
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    • News

    School Choice Denied to Most Rhode Island Families, but Not These Union Teachers

    A local chapter of the nation’s largest teachers union has acknowledged the importance of school choice, at least for its own members.  Thanks to an agreement quietly reached between the South Kingstown, Rhode Island, chapter of the National Education Association and the South Kingstown School Department, teachers there now have access to an exclusive school…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    How Montana’s Revamped Focus Makes for Better K-12 Civics Education

    Civics education has become a flashpoint in American politics. Many schools are asking how students should learn about themselves and their country in a way that fully encompasses American history, both good and bad. Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen recently updated the state’s standards for social studies to better teach students about civics…
    Douglas Blair
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    • News

    Taxpayers Take School Board to Court for Trying to Silence Parents’ Criticism

    Four taxpayers in Pennsylvania have decided enough is enough after footing the bill for a school board attorney who told them that the school system could limit their First Amendment rights. The taxpayers filed a free speech lawsuit in federal court that could set a precedent for invalidating policies that shield both school administrators and…
    Kevin Mooney
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    • News

    Schools Chief Complained That Sheriff Rejected Request to Monitor Parents as ‘Extraordinary’

    A county schools superintendent in Virginia complained to the county sheriff’s office over its rejection of “extraordinary” security requests for school board meetings in August, documents reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation show. Loudoun County School Superintendent Scott Ziegler requested personnel, a K-9 sweep, and undercover presence from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, which…
    Kendall Tietz
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    • Opinion

    Left Thinks It Should Be in Charge of Education, Not Parents

    The left has a new message for parents concerned about critical race theory and similar ideologies being foisted on their children in public schools: Sit down and shut up. The left has already pretty much abandoned the “critical race theory is not in schools” narrative. Parents just aren’t buying this absurdity. It’s clear that ideas…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • News

    ‘There Is No Rational Debate’: Loudoun County School Board Chair Trashes Parents

    Brenda Sheridan, chair of the Loudoun County Public Schools board, criticized parents protesting the use of critical race theory in schools, claiming “[t]here is no rational debate” on the issue. Sheridan made the comments during an interview with Chuck Todd during the Oct. 27 episode of “Meet the Press Reports,” a weekly podcast. “I’ll echo that we…
    Harold Hutchison
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    • News

    Mom to Sue After Son Vaccinated at School Without Consent

    A Louisiana mother is threatening to sue, claiming that her 16-year-old son was vaccinated for COVID-19 while at his Jefferson Parish high school without her consent. Jennifer Ravain alleged that during a visit by an Ochsner Health System mobile vaccination clinic to East Jefferson High School, her son was allowed to sign a consent form and receive…
    Harold Hutchison
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    • Opinion

    We Hear You: Public Schools, Private Beliefs, and Rising Inflation

    Editor's note: The Daily Signal's audience isn't happy with how school system leaders in Loudoun County, Virginia, responded to a rape in a girls' restroom at one of its high schools, nor with the continuing rise in inflation, as evidenced by these letters from the mailbag at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: As a retired…
    Ken McIntyre
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    • Opinion

    School Spending Up, Test Scores Down

    Thirteen-year-old children in American public schools were not quite as good at math and reading in 2019 and 2020 as they were in 2012. This is despite the fact that American taxpayers invested more money per pupil in the nation’s public schools in each of the last two fiscal years than they did in 2012….
    Terence Jeffrey
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    • News

    Fired Teacher Sues School Board, Claims He Was Terminated for Conservative Political Activism

    Fired Louisiana teacher Jonathan Koeppel is suing his former school board and superintendent on grounds of unlawful termination.  Koeppel was fired in August, he says, for his conservative political activism and for refusing to wear a mask, even though he had received a medical exemption.  “I was told [by school leadership] that my political commentary…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    Top Berkeley Scientist Resigns, Says School Excludes Scientists Based on Political Views

    David Romps, director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center, publicly resigned Monday over his concern that the school excludes scientists based on their political beliefs. “Excluding people because of their political and social views diminishes the pool of scientists with which members of BASC can interact and reduces the opportunities for learning and collaboration,” Romps…
    Laurel Duggan
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    • News

    #MeToo Groups Silent Over Boy Allegedly Raping Girl in Loudoun School Girls Bathroom

    Advocacy groups that once emphatically urged the public to “believe all women” are now silent over a viral report that a skirt-wearing male student allegedly raped one of his peers in her school bathroom. “The left’s silence on the accusations of sexual assault inside Loudoun County schools is absolutely deafening,” Lauren Adams, legal director of…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • Opinion

    Why We Must Protect School Choice

    It takes brave men and women to stand up to the inhumanities that are occurring today. As we see many fighting for our freedoms—holding the line, risking it all—I am motivated to talk about another freedom that we depend on: school choice. Why is school choice important to protect? School choice prevents the government from…
    Eve Deborah
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    • Opinion

    Media Ignores Story About ‘Gender-Fluid’ Boy Accused of Raping Girl at School

    If we sat in a boardroom and tried to decide the kind of story that the liberal media is the most hostile to covering—hostile to the point of wishing it had never existed—it may be this: Teenage boy describing himself as “gender-fluid” accused of raping a girl in a high school bathroom. This is a…
    Tim Graham
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    • News

    Seattle School Nixes Halloween Parade for Fear It ‘Marginalizes Students of Color’

    A Seattle elementary school canceled its Halloween parade, citing concerns that the annual event “marginalizes students of color who do not celebrate the holiday,” according to KTTH-AM radio talk-show host Jason Rantz. Benjamin Franklin Day Elementary, part of Seattle Public Schools, also said black males do not celebrate Halloween, Rantz reported. The school administration said its…
    Kendall Tietz
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    • Opinion

    In Temporary Win, Mom Gets Dirty Books Removed From School Libraries

    Northern Virginia continues to be a battleground between parents and their school boards over what should be taught in public schools. One of the latest incidents involves books in the libraries of Fairfax County Public Schools that contain graphic depictions of sex between children and adults. Stacy Langton, a Fairfax County mother, made headlines after…
    Douglas Blair
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