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

    Verizon Denies Relationship With Leftist Group Despite Promoting Its Education Program After Black Lives Matter Riots

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Right after the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis, Verizon promoted education materials from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center that advocated for teaching Black Lives Matter in school. The company now denies any relationship with the SPLC. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm that urges companies to…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • Opinion

    End Woke Higher Education Act Is a Big Win for First Amendment

    Rarely does a piece of education legislation deserve a grade of A+. But the End Woke Higher Education Act, which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, has earned it. The policies in the bill—which passed 213-201 on Sept. 19—are right on point and are articulated well. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of…
    Adam Kissel
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: School District Sued for Withholding Public Records About Gender Transition Plans for Children

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The nonprofit that has been exposing radical gender ideology in California filed a lawsuit Monday against the public school district in Lynwood, California, for failing to comply with state law by providing requested documents about its "gender transition" plans for schoolchildren. Lynwood Unified School District in Los Angeles County hasn’t responded…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • News

    School Threatened to Arrest Parents for Wearing Pink Wristbands in ‘Protest’ of Boys in Girls Sports

    DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—A coalition of parents sued the Bow School District in New Hampshire on Monday after being punished and threatened over a “silent protest” standing up for women’s sports. Multiple parents and one grandfather decided to wear pink wristbands during a soccer game to show support for protecting women’s sports, to which the…
    Jennifer Nuelle
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    • News

    School Board Violated First Amendment by Blocking Journalist From LGBTQ Social Media Profile, Court Rules

    A school district's LGBTQ affinity group violated the First Amendment by blocking a journalist on social media amid a heated debate about parents' right to opt their children out of hearing teachers read LGBTQ-themed books, a federal judge ruled last week. Atheist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other parents demanded the right to opt out of…
    Tyler O’Neil
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    • Opinion

    Don’t Jail Parents for School Shootings. Arm Teachers.

    Understandably, we want to blame someone besides the 14-year-old who murdered four people Sept. 5 at Apalachee High School in Georgia. People are shocked and upset that the father taught the boy to shoot and hunt, and bought the boy a rifle for Christmas. But that doesn’t mean it made any sense for police to…
    John R Lott Jr.
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    • News

    School Board President Shares Strategies Handling ‘White Parents’ in Presentation at ‘White Privilege’ Conference

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—An Illinois school board president gave a presentation at a "White Privilege Conference" accusing "white parents" of stirring controversy against racial progress, according to documents obtained by Parents Defending Education and shared with The Daily Signal. Pat Savage-Williams, the school board president at Evanston Township High School District 202 in a…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    ‘What Did You Learn in School Today?’

    It is an undeniable reality that children are the custodians of our future, destined to shape the world we leave behind. Children indisputably hold the responsibility of safeguarding our future and have the inherent potential to influence the world we will ultimately pass on. It is an obvious fact that our children will become our…
    Armstrong Williams
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    • Opinion

    Critical Race Theory Is Still Plaguing Some K-12 Schools. Here’s How Parents, Lawmakers Can Fight Back.

    Critical race theory gripped the nation’s attention after the summer of 2020 and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. According to Google Trends, the search term peaked in June 2021, then interest tapered off going into 2022. But the radical philosophy has not disappeared from public life. Rather, Americans are more familiar with this…
    Jonathan Butcher
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    • Opinion

    Irresponsible School Districts Force Teachers to Create Amazon Wish Lists

    For several weeks, social media has been flooded by teachers’ posts with Amazon wish lists, soliciting others to stock their classrooms with basic supplies. Creating these lists has been commonplace in recent years as teachers look outside their schools and districts to fill their supply needs. Some of the most popular requested items are dry…
    Keri D. Ingraham
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Case Could Make Unenforceable a Law That Prohibits Schools From Disclosing Gender Transitions to Parents

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A California mom's lawsuit against the school district that helped her daughter identify as a boy without her knowledge could block the enforcement of a new California law that mandates schools hide students' so-called gender identities from parents.   The Center for American Liberty first filed a lawsuit against Chico Unified School…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    What’s Wrong With Gov. Tim Walz’s Education Policies

    In herdlike fashion, the media describe Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as “folksy,” suggesting that he is just a regular guy with whom Middle America can identify easily. Supporters on social media liken the Democrat to a cool grandpa. Judging from his education policies, however, Walz would be like your folksy grandpa only if you are…
    Jay Greene
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    • Opinion

    Back to School, and Time to Foster Creativity

    Back-to-school season is here, and with the recent examples of race-based classroom activities and sexually charged curriculum in schools nationwide, parents are right to wonder what their students will be taught this fall. A recent commentary by an education reporter about his own children revealed that last year his sixth grader had no homework, spelling…
    Rachel Guerra
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    • Opinion

    Biden’s Illegal Title IX Rule Is Set for Enforcement. The School Year Is Going to Be Complicated.

    It may still be the dog days of summer, but parents, students, and educators everywhere are already looking to the start of the school year. And this year will bring one massive change to schools and colleges across the country. On Aug. 1, President Joe Biden’s Department of Education is set to enforce its massive…
    Sarah Parshall Perry
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    • News

    EXCLUSIVE: Parents Petition Denver Schools to Stop ‘Seal of Diversity’ Program

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Denver high school allows students to take classes such as Queer Literature and Gender Studies to earn a “Seal of Diversity” award. Students can submit a short, five-minute application to be part of the program, then take “diversity, equity, and inclusion”-related classes and engage with a DEI-related club or organization…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • News

    Parents Outraged School District Forces Children to Room With Trans Students on Overnight Trips

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Students in a Southern California school district could be forced to choose between rooming with a transgender-identifying student or missing out on an overnight school field trip.  If parents complain about their child rooming with a transgender-identifying student of the opposite biological sex, staff in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District listen…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • News

    RELIGIOUS LIBERTY VICTORY: Va. Court Deals Blow to School District’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Pronoun and Bathroom Policies

    A Virginia court ruled Wednesday that students can challenge unconstitutional “transgender” pronoun and bathroom policies. “We are pleased with the court’s decision recognizing that students can, in fact, challenge unconstitutional policies implemented by school boards in Virginia,” America First Legal attorney Andrew Block told The Daily Signal. Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia requires…
    Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
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    • Opinion

    Can US Department of Education Really Be Closed? Yes, Starting Here.

    A congressional committee’s recent vote should be a message to taxpayers: Yes, it is possible to close the U.S. Department of Education. The House Appropriations Committee approved a proposal to cut an entire program from the agency, demonstrating how lawmakers can downsize and then eliminate the department. The Appropriations Committee voted to defund Title II,…
    Jonathan Butcher
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    • News

    The New GOP Litmus Test on School Choice

    Party platforms are a way of signaling to voters the policies that politicians are likely to pursue if they’re elected to office. But platforms also send a message to a party’s candidates about what policy positions the party expects them to support. If elected officials go against their own party’s platform, they might expect to…
    Jay Greene
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    • News

    Rep. Donalds Rips Democrats for Not Being ‘Pro-Choice’ on Education

    Rep. Byron Donalds made a case for school choice in a speech Monday on the opening night of the Republican National Convention.  The Florida Republican talked about his own story of growing up poor, while his mother pushed to ensure he had a good education. But he said too many children today are trapped in…
    Fred Lucas
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