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

    High School Male Pushes Females Out of High Jump Honors

    A male high school student took 10th place in the girls’ high jump in a recent national indoor track meet in Boston, continuing a streak of elbowing out female athletes from placing in the event.  Lizzy Cohen Bidwell, a Connecticut resident whose name at birth was Lucas, qualified for the national meet by taking first…
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  • news

    School Closures During Pandemic Set Students Back More Than Half a Year in Math, Analysis Finds

    Elementary students fell behind in math by over half a year while schools utilized virtual learning services during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The New York Times. Learning loss has been a significant hurdle for schools to overcome in the wake of the pandemic, with many students suffering in subjects such as math, reading, and science, according to an…
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  • opinion

    Legislatures in These States Make Real Progress for Education Choice

    In the midst of the school choice movement’s most successful legislative season last year, The Hill asked: “School choice won big in states this year. Is the movement about to hit a wall?” If it did hit a wall, as the news outlet suggested, the school choice movement burst right through that wall. Sure, the…
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  • news

    WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? School Librarians Admit They Hid Card Catalog From Parents While Pushing BLM, LGBTQ Issues

    At least one school library in a South Carolina school district restricted access to its online card catalog in order to hide “critical race theory books” from parents, internal documents obtained by the parental rights group Moms for Liberty show. The school district claims that it required all schools in the district to unlock their…
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  • opinion

    WATCH: Accuracy in Media Investigations Reveal Red State Rot in Higher Education

    Public universities in Texas are in the sights of the latest undercover investigation by the Accuracy in Media team to reveal schools’ flagrant disregard for the law in red states. “Now that a number of states have prohibited DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] and critical race theory in higher education, we decided to take our…
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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: Teacher’s Assistant Sues Union, School District for Illegally Withholding Dues From Her Paycheck

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—An Ohio teacher’s assistant who helps special needs students is suing her school district and former union because the district withheld union dues from her paycheck even after she left the union and formally asked it to cease taking her money. “Using the coercion of government to take money from a…
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  • opinion

    This Education Proposal Would Reduce Federal Subsidies, Increase Accountability

    The Higher Education Act, signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, profoundly influences almost every facet of higher education in America. Today, this law governs federal student aid, including all loans and grants and work-study. It defines what constitutes an academic year and “gainful employment.” And it authorizes numerous other federal programs that…
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  • news

    Teacher Who Criticized ‘Woke Kindergarten’ Put on Leave by School District

    An elementary school teacher who questioned a California school’s spending $250,000 on a teacher training program called “Woke Kindergarten” was placed on leave Thursday by his school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Glassbrook Elementary School used $250,000 in federal funds for underperforming schools to pay for training for teachers on how to be “anti-racist” and…
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  • opinion

    Florida’s Education Freedom Folly

    Florida long has been a pioneer in providing families with education freedom and choice. It was among the first states to enact both tax-credit scholarships and education savings accounts, and to expand those options to every K–12 student in the state. With 350,000 students participating in the state’s K–12 scholarship policies, Florida has both the…
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  • opinion

    Arizona’s Students Crush Academic Records With Innovative School Choice Options

    Touchdown Arizona! Philanthropist Janine Yass penned a column recently that was so delightfully perfect about the importance of school choice and how we as a country seem to be more engaged in football scores than test scores that I can kick myself for not having written it myself. She referenced an NFL upset victory of…
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  • opinion

    ‘Micro’ K-12 Schools Offer Big Solutions for Students

    New research estimates that some students’ grades will never catch back up after falling during the pandemic. Recently, some in the mainstream media worried that the federal taxpayer money that lawmakers sent to K-12 schools during COVID-19 may not be enough to help schools turn things around. But public schools—also known as “assigned” schools—had money…
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  • opinion

    ‘Black Lives Matter at School’ Week Is a Marxist Attack on the Family, Moms for Liberty Leader Warns

    As students across the United States struggle to master basic reading and math skills coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools are dedicating the first week of February to “Black Lives Matter at School” in a “Week of Action.” Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, urges parents to see whether their school district…
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  • news

    It Took 22 Minutes for Revolt After High School Put Tampon Dispenser in Boys Restroom

    It only took roughly 20 minutes for a tampon dispenser in a boys restroom at Brookfield High School in Brookfield, Connecticut, to be torn down, according to a report from CT Insider. Principal Marc Balanda sent an email out to students and their families on Jan. 24 and explained that the new dispenser had been…
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  • news

    EXCLUSIVE: Mom Sues School District For Socially Transitioning 12-Year-Old Girl Without Parental Consent

    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A New York school district socially transitioned a girl without her mother’s consent, repeatedly lying to the mother about the child’s mental health and social struggles, according to a new lawsuit. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, Jennifer Vitsaxaki of New York filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Skaneateles Central School District…
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  • opinion

    School Choice Revolution Empowers Homeschoolers, Too

    A school choice revolution is sweeping the nation. Ten states have passed universal education choice initiatives in the past two years. In addition to private school tuition, most of these new programs allow families to use their children’s taxpayer-funded education dollars to cover certain homeschool expenses.  The loudest and most influential pushback against school choice comes from…
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  • opinion

    Charter School Authorizers Need a New Association Focused More on Students, Innovation

    Charter schools, which are public schools authorized by state laws, differ from traditional public schools, primarily because they enjoy exemptions from most of the state’s educational bureaucracy and regulations in exchange for accountability to parents and authorizers. The authorizers negotiate the charter contract, under which the school promises to operate in certain ways, and those…
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  • opinion

    This National School Choice Week, Let’s Celebrate Return to Founding Principles

    The school choice policies sweeping the nation may be among the most innovative—and promising—enacted in recent memory. Yet they also embody a return to principles first enshrined in American law nearly 400 years ago. In 1642, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony crafted the nation’s first education law, its objective was clear: Parents must educate their…
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  • opinion

    The Empire Strikes Back During National School Choice Week

    National School Choice Week begins Sunday after the school choice movement’s most successful year ever and with the promise of more momentum going forward. But not everyone is celebrating. A highly organized, well-financed coalition of two dozen national and local left-wing advocacy organizations, teachers unions, and associations of government bureaucrats have teamed up to fight…
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  • opinion

    Moms for Liberty Hosted a Town Hall in NYC About Its Failing Schools. Here’s What I Saw.

    Moms for Liberty held an event in New York City on Thursday night to discuss and diagnose the woeful state of education in the Big Apple. Residents and local representatives were invited to take part in the education organization’s town hall on the Upper East Side and the follow-up discussion. Moms for Liberty has been…
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  • opinion

    Will Education Choice Momentum Continue in 2024?

    National School Choice Week begins on Sunday, and this year, there’s much to celebrate. In 2023, the school choice movement made more progress expanding education options than ever before. The Year of Education Freedom saw seven states pass new education choice policies and nine states expand existing choice policies. There are now nine states with…
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