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

    Podcast: What It’s Really Like to Be a Conservative on a College Campus
    The Daily Signal’s two interns this semester, Kyle Perisic and Chrissy Clark, join us to weigh in on life as a conservative at the university—and what they think of a new Gallup poll that found 6 out of 10 college students believe “campus climate prevents people from speaking freely.” Plus: We talk about Hillary Clinton’s…
    Katrina Trinko | Daniel Davis
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  • opinion

    My University Stripped a Campus Ministry of Recognition, Until It Fought Back
    My school, Wayne State University, doesn’t typically get much media attention. It’s the third-largest university in Michigan, with over 27,000 students, yet it often gets overshadowed by the bigger universities in the state. So I was surprised last week to see Wayne State make national headlines for reinstating a Christian student group on campus. The…
    Jake Goeddeke
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  • opinion

    My Bill to Expand Education Options for Military Families
    All across America, military families are making personal sacrifices to keep our country safe. As a veteran who served overseas and away from my family, I know the toll service takes on those who wear the uniform and their families. But military families should not have to sacrifice the quality of their children’s education to…
    Rep. Jim Banks
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  • opinion

    Here’s What Congress Is Doing to Tackle School Safety
    In the wake of the recent horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a number of proposals involving federal grant programs have been offered in Congress to try to address the critical issue of school safety. Empowering states and localities to implement evidence-based programs that meet their needs represents a sensible…
    John G. Malcolm | Lindsey Burke
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  • news

    Schools Safer Now Than They Were in 1990s, According to New Study
    According to a new study, school shootings have declined since the early 1990s. “There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law, and public policy at Northeastern University. “The thing to remember is that these are extremely rare events, and no matter what you can come up…
    Kyle Perisic
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  • news

    Fact Check: Did Broward Sheriff’s Department Get 23 Calls Beforehand About School Shooter?
    Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said his department received only 23 calls involving shooter Nikolas Cruz or his family before the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Verdict: False Records show that the sheriff’s department received 39 calls requesting service from authorities at Cruz’s family home since 2011, though it is…
    Emily Larsen
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  • news

    Betsy DeVos Urges Americans to Embrace ‘Education Freedom’
    Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is calling on Americans to embrace a vision of “education freedom” that empowers students and parents with a “multitude of pathways” toward new opportunities. DeVos, speaking during a question-and-answer session Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said one such pathway would be educational savings accounts to benefit military families who…
    Kevin Mooney
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  • news

    Education Department Won’t Investigate Transgender Bathroom Complaints
    After much speculation pertaining to the Trump administration’s official policy on transgender restroom policies, a White House spokeswoman indicated that the U.S. Department of Education won’t investigate any complaints regarding transgender restroom policies. Spokeswoman Liz Hill told BuzzFeed News that specific kinds of  transgender complaints may be investigated, but no bathroom complaints will garner the Department of…
    Grace Carr
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  • news

    Georgetown University Pro-Family Group Gets Back Money Wrongly Given to LGBT Organizations
    A pro-family student organization at Georgetown University has received its donations back after an investigation of faculty and others who the group accused of misappropriating funds contributed to it. The group, Love Saxa, said that Georgetown officials had taken private donations intended for it and deposited them into other student organizations’ accounts. The organizations who…
    Chrissy Clark
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  • opinion

    School Loses Dad-Daughter Dance Because of Gender-Neutral Policies
    Kids see plenty of offensive things at school—but when did fathers become one of them? Ask New York’s Department of Education. As far as its officials are concerned, nothing can damage a child more than hosting a special event for dads. And now, with the state’s “gender nonconforming” guidelines on the books, they can put…
    Tony Perkins
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  • opinion

    Puerto Rico’s Bold School Choice Plan Mirrors New Orleans’
    In the months following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in September, Puerto Rico has struggled to find its footing and rebuild. Unfortunately, dysfunction was already rampant in the debt-ridden territory before the storm. Now things are worse, but perhaps there is an opportunity to finally make some badly-needed changes. Bailouts and federal meddling are unlikely…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • opinion

    Podcast: Why School Choice Matters
    Lindsey Burke, an education expert at The Heritage Foundation, joins us to discuss why parents love school choice options like education savings accounts, and her push to allow military families to choose their children’s education. Plus: As the good news about tax reform keeps coming, liberals are saying $1,000 isn’t that much.
    Katrina Trinko | Daniel Davis
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  • opinion

    Red States Drop the Ball on School Choice. Here’s Why That Needs to Change.
    Fixing our country’s system of education needs to be a priority, especially for those who have an opportunity to do something about it. In a speech Monday proclaiming National School Choice Week, President Donald Trump said, “By giving parents more control over their children’s education, we are making strides toward a future of unprecedented educational…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • opinion

    School Choice Helped This Girl Escape a Broken School, Then Become Valedictorian
    The right to choose where your kids attend school should be common sense. But for too long, it’s something too many parents have been denied for their children. Thankfully, we live in a day when access to education choice is gaining ground. More kids across our country are now being freed from broken schools and…
    Virginia Walden Ford
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  • opinion

    Public School Assembly Tells Kids That Sex Changes Are Perfectly Normal
    A Northern Virginia public school held a school-wide assembly before Christmas break featuring transgender crusader Amy Ellis Nutt. George Mason High School in the city of Falls Church brought in Nutt, a Washington Post reporter, to lecture students on her book “Becoming Nicole,” about a boy who “identified” as a girl as a toddler, had…
    Cathy Ruse
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  • opinion

    Here’s How Bad Left-Wing Antics on Campus Were in 2017
    A frequent point I have made in past columns has been about the educational travesty happening on many college campuses. Some people have labeled my observations and concerns as trivial, unimportant, and cherry-picking. While the spring semester awaits us, let’s ask ourselves whether we’d like to see repeats of last year’s antics. An excellent source…
    Walter E. Williams
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  • opinion

    In a Harsh New Hampshire Winter, Passage of Education Savings Accounts Is a Breath of Spring
    As New Hampshire hunkers down for another brutal January, lawmakers are giving families something to look forward to once the snow melts: namely, more opportunities. The state House of Representatives on Jan. 3 voted in favor of an education savings account proposal, which would give families and students more options for where and how a child…
    Jonathan Butcher
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  • news

    University Offers ‘Problem of Whiteness’ Class, Again
    The University of Wisconsin-Madison will reintroduce a class this spring that teaches students why being white is a bad thing. The “Problem of Whiteness" course—part of the African Cultural Studies program—makes its mission to help students “understand how whiteness is socially constructed and experienced in order to help dismantle white supremacy.” The class will  investigate how white…
    Grace Carr
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  • news

    College Republicans Say Conservative Speaker Was Treated ‘Unfairly’ at Southern New Hampshire University
    Conservative activist Matt Walsh came to Southern New Hampshire University at the request of the SNHU College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation, but Walsh and College Republicans believe his speech was not treated fairly. Walsh is a conservative columnist for the Daily Wire, a news website run by Ben Shapiro. As the day of…
    Joshua Israel
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  • opinion

    House Proposal Would Bring Needed Reforms to Higher Education. Here’s Where It Can Still Improve.
    The House Committee on Education and the Workforce introduced a bill last week, formally known as the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act, which would reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965. While the bill has much to praise, it leaves significant room for improvement. Here are some of the…
    Mary Clare Amselem
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