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

    How LGBTQ Groups Are Quietly Dismantling Norms, Changing Education
    Virtually every week, there seems to be another issue that preoccupies the country. But while our attention is focused on President Donald Trump, Google, Charlottesville, Russia, impeachment, Jeffrey Epstein, the next elections, racism, a trade war with China, the #MeToo movement, or something else, LGBTQ organizations are quietly going about their work dismantling ethical norms,…
    Dennis Prager
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  • opinion

    Common Sense in Free Fall on College Campuses
    Evidence is mounting that political ideology is corrupting the liberal arts. According to Campus Reform, in late July, Portland State University accused one of its professors, Peter Boghossian, of “‘questionable ethical behavior’ and banned him from conducting academic research.” What was the professor’s offense? He successfully convinced several prestigious, peer-reviewed journals to publish articles that…
    Jason Snead | Kaitlynn Samalis-Aldrich | Greg Walsh
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  • news

    Stand on Marriage Costs Christian School Its Place in Voucher Program
    When the state of Maryland found out that Bethel Christian Academy affirms the biblical view of marriage in its student handbook, officials last fall cut the Baltimore-area school from a state-sponsored school voucher program, arguing it practiced sexual discrimination.  Now the principal says at least six students no longer can afford to attend Bethel, a…
    Carmel Kookogey
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  • opinion

    A Time for Trade Schools
    Solving the huge debt incurred by young adults who took out loans to attend college has become a key policy debate. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for example, recently announced proposed legislation to eliminate student loan debt by taxing bonds and stocks. By the beginning of 2019, student loan debt was at an all-time high: Over…
    Nayeli Riano
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  • news

    San Francisco School Board Votes to Paint Over George Washington Mural
    The San Francisco Board of Education unanimously voted last month in favor of painting over a George Washington mural series on a school wall depicting Washington standing over a Native American’s corpse and another in the company of slaves on his Mount Vernon estate. “This is reparations,” Education Board Commissioner Mark Sanchez said in a…
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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  • opinion

    Supreme Court Set to Hear School Choice Case Next Term
    Before hitting the road for their summer vacations, the justices of the Supreme Court announced last week that they would hear a major school choice case in the next term. If the court rules in favor of the families that brought this case, it could pave the way for educational freedom and opportunity for millions…
    Elizabeth Slattery | Lindsey Burke
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  • opinion

    Expand School Choice in DC
    Families in the nation’s capital deserve a choice about educating their children. This year, Congress has the chance to make changes to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program—up for reauthorization—that could positively affect the future of D.C. children for decades to come. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides scholarships to cover private school tuition for low-income…
    Jude Schwalbach
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  • opinion

    Why Military Families Overwhelmingly Support Education Choice
    While protecting American freedom, the active-duty men and women of our armed forces want education freedom as well. That’s the general finding of a new report by EdChoice, a nonprofit organization that promotes educational choice through research and advocacy. The report includes results of a survey of nearly 1,300 current members of the U.S. military…
    Kerry McDonald
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  • news

    Tussle Over Charter Schools Puts These NAACP Branches on Side of Betsy DeVos
    The NAACP’s support for a moratorium on new charter schools across America has put the nation’s oldest civil rights group at odds with three of its local branches—and in California, of all places.  Not only that, but the local NAACP chapters appear to agree with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that charter schools offer valuable opportunities…
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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  • news

    Parents Call Out School Board’s Transgender Policy Proposal
    ARLINGTON, Va.—A group of concerned parents held a press conference just ahead of a scheduled Arlington County School Board meeting Tuesday evening about the adoption of a policy concerning transgender student protections in the school district. “[Arlington Public Schools] has far overreached its authority in this matter, and needs to be reminded by concerned parents…
    Kaylee Greenlee
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  • opinion

    Christian School Kicked Out of Voucher Program for Biblical Views on Sexuality
    Don’t say America wasn’t warned. During the oral arguments for same-sex marriage in 2015, a question came up about the fallout for Christian education. Asked if religious schools could be punished for holding a natural view of marriage, U.S. Solicitor Donald Verrilli was surprisingly honest. ” … [I]t’s certainly going to be an issue. I…
    Tony Perkins
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  • opinion

    Treasury Department Just Fixed a Situation That Threatened School Choice
    Lawmakers intended with the 2017 tax cuts not only to promote economic growth and job creation and to allow families to keep more of their hard-earned money, but also to make the federal tax code more neutral toward state tax policy. But state-based tax credit scholarship programs got unintentionally caught up in the broader reform….
    Adam Michel | Lindsey Burke | Jonathan Butcher
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  • opinion

    How Anti-Semitism Became a Staple of ‘Woke’ Activism on Campus
    Recent events in higher education have led many to conclude that college campuses are hubs of anti-Semitism. Stanford University student and resident assistant Hamzeh Daoud declared in July 2018 his intent to “physically fight Zionists on campus.” Oberlin College professor Joy Karega asserted in November 2016 that U.S. intelligence agencies conspired with Israel to commit…
    Dion Pierre
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  • news

    Grandmother Asks Governor Not to Scrap School Choice Program
    A North Carolina woman with three grandchildren in the state’s school voucher program says she isn’t too proud to beg the governor not to reduce funding and phase it out, as he proposes. “I would just really hope to beg him not to make this cut to this program,”  Lisa Davis told The Daily Signal….
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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  • opinion

    Child Safety Accounts Bill Is an Escape Route from Violence in DC Schools
    Gerald Watson, a high school freshman in Washington, D.C., died in December after he was chased down and shot 17 times near an after-school program center. His killing occurred less than four miles from the U.S. Capitol Building. Watson’s death reverberated through the local community, affecting its youngest members. Marilyn Wiggins, a volunteer at the…
    Jude Schwalbach
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  • opinion

    Cruz Fights for More Flexible Education Savings Accounts
    Before Congress adjourned for Memorial Day weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz objected to a new retirement saving bill passed by the House because it left out one important reform. The Texas Republican is standing up for expanded access to personal savings options for family education choice. In 2017, college savings plans, or “529s,” were modified to…
    Adam Michel
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  • news

    North Carolina Governor Under Fire for Proposing Freezing School Voucher Program
    A billboard campaign in North Carolina is taking aim at Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper after his announcement proposing freezing and eventually ending a scholarship program that has benefited minority students—more than 30% of which are African-American, according to North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority. The billboard says the governor is “failing when it comes to…
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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  • opinion

    School Choice Breaks the Poverty Cycle, Not ‘Adversity Scores’
    The College Board’s recent announcement that it will no longer score students based only on their ability to correctly answer questions on the SAT exam is about as welcome as a pop quiz. Students will now also be assigned “adversity scores” of one to 100 using 15 different metrics regarding their background. The more disadvantaged a student is…
    Mary Clare Amselem
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  • opinion

    How Charter Schools Empower Inner-City Children to Escape Failing Public Schools
    Butler College Prep, a top-rated charter school on the South Side of Chicago, provides an atmosphere that reflects and engages the local community. The founder and principal, Christopher Goins, built his school community by intentionally hiring teachers from historically black colleges so students would have relatable role models. “If [students] don’t love the school and…
    Jude Schwalbach
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  • news

    Satisfaction High in DC School Voucher Program, Study Finds
    Students who participated in a school choice program for low-income families in the nation’s capital were less likely to miss classes than peers who applied but did not get scholarships, a government evaluation has found. Students in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program also were more likely to give their schools a positive safety rating, concluded…
    Joshua Q. Nelson
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