Education News
Reports on education reform, school choice, and classroom policies. The Daily Signal provides conservative commentary and opinion alongside education news.
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- News
Citizenship Is No Longer Required to Vote in San Francisco School Board Elections
Noncitizens can vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections after the city’s Department of Elections ruled Monday to do away with citizenship requirements. Noncitizens seeking to vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections must be at least 18 years old and residents of the city, CBS SF Bay Area reported Monday. They must also…Grace Carr -
- News
Freedom From Religion Foundation Tries to Bully School Into Removing Prayer From Graduation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation accused a Tennessee school of violating constitutional law by allowing prayer at its graduation ceremony, but the school won’t budge. Christopher Line, legal fellow with FFRF, wrote in a letter to Catoosa County Schools district that Ringgold High School should not have permitted public prayer at their May graduation ceremony, claiming…Joshua Gill -
- Opinion
Eliminating Identity Politics From the Schools and the US Census
Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Trump administration announced it is rescinding Obama administration policies that directed universities to use racial preferences in the admissions process. Because this type of discrimination is the gateway drug of the identity politics balkanizing America, Tuesday’s decision is a boost for unity and a setback for…Mike Gonzalez -
- News
Legal Group Appeals Ruling That Backed Opening School’s Restrooms, Locker Rooms to Transgender Students
A conservative legal organization is asking the full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the May ruling of a three-judge panel against school privacy in upholding a Pennsylvania school’s opening of its locker rooms, showers, and restrooms to students of the opposite sex. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already spoken: The real differences…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Against Parents’ Wishes, School District on the Radar of LGBT Group Imposes New Sex Ed
Most Americans have probably never heard of Fairfax County, Virginia—but their children could be the next victims of its latest policy. That’s because the 10th-largest school district in the country rewrote the rules on sex ed—and the LGBT activists who helped are about to take the model everywhere. It was one of the fiercest debates…Tony Perkins -
- Opinion
Court’s Janus Ruling Is a Win for Teachers’ Rights and School Choice
In a win for individual liberty, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled, in a much-anticipated decision in Janus v. AFSCME, that public employees will no longer be required to pay involuntary agency fees to special-interest groups. The 5-4 decision overturns the 1977 Supreme Court ruling in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which upheld agency…Jude Schwalbach -
- News
University Settles Lawsuit After Discriminating Against Republicans
A Washington university is shelling out big bucks to settle a dispute with a Republican student group that filed a lawsuit alleging the school discriminated against it by charging exorbitant security fees for speaker events. The University of Washington settled with the university’s College Republicans Monday, agreeing to pay $122,500 to make the lawsuit go away….Grace Carr -
- Opinion
These Small Changes to the PROSPER Act Could Unlock Higher Education Accreditation Reform
“Underwater Basket Weaving,” “Tree Climbing,” the “Art of Walking.” Believe it or not, those are all courses taught at accredited colleges and universities in the United States. The modern system of accreditation, codified in the Higher Education Act of 1965, supposedly exists to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not go toward courses of questionable value….Mary Clare Amselem -
- News
Northeastern University Professor: ‘Why Can’t We Hate Men?’
A Northeastern University professor’s Washington Post op-ed “Why Can’t We Hate Men?” has received a flood of negative feedback. Northeastern sociology professor Suzanna Danuta Walters, also director of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, authored the article published Friday, which appears to advocate contempt toward individual men, instead of institutions, and instructs men to relinquish their grasp on power. “Pledge to vote…Rob Shimshock -
- News
Kentucky Board of Education to Keep God and the Bible in Schools
Kentucky will keep God and religion in schools after its education leaders approved a Bible standard that all public schools in the state must meet. The Kentucky Board of Education approved "Bible literary" standards in a unanimous affirmative vote that allow students to take religion and Bible classes as electives, The Associated Press reports. The classes…Grace Carr -
- Opinion
We Hear You: Poor School Discipline, Hard-to-Fire Bureaucrats, Obstructive Democrats, and ‘Colluding’ Green Groups
Editor's note: Some personal chords were struck by Kelsey Harkness' video report on one Maryland family's bad brush with the nation's lax school discipline policy. Their responses lead this week's roundup of comments. Write us at [email protected]—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: Bullying is a bigger problem than school officials know or will admit, as indicated…Ken McIntyre -
- News
School Board Fights to Preserve Bathroom Policy After Judge OKs Trans Student’s Lawsuit
A Virginia public school district will pursue an appeal after a federal judge ruled that a transgender student can challenge the district’s bathroom access policies under federal civil rights law and the Constitution. Gloucester County Public Schools asked U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen to allow its appeal on Friday. Allen’s late May decision allowing the student…Kevin Daley -
- Opinion
Why There’s an Increased Interest in Homeschooling
There’s a lot to dislike about many public schools—and right now, student safety is at the top of the list. “After a gunman opened fire on students in Parkland, Florida,” a new Washington Times feature explains, “the phones started ringing at the Texas Home School Coalition, and they haven’t stopped yet.” Like so many state organizations,…Tony Perkins -
- News
San Diego Parents Pulling Their Kids From School Over Inappropriate Sex-Ed Curriculum
San Diego parents pulled their kids from school and rallied outside the district’s headquarters Tuesday, expressing anger and frustration over a sex-ed curriculum they allege is completely inappropriate for their young children. The sixth grade curriculum includes lessons on gender identity, birth control, the stages of sex, STDs, HIV, and pregnancy. Parents are calling the material “too much,…Grace Carr -
- Opinion
Why It’s OK for This School Choice Program to Underperform on Standardized Tests
K-12 education in the nation’s capital has struggled for decades. Yet since 2003, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program—a voucher program open to low-income children in the District of Columbia—has been a bright spot for educational opportunity. But a new report by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, released Tuesday, found…Lindsey Burke -
- News
School Can Force Students to Share Bathrooms With Transgender Students, Federal Court Rules
A Pennsylvania student said Thursday that her school opening its locker rooms, showers, and restrooms to students of the opposite sex is unfair and wrong. “There are good ways to make room for everyone, without letting a boy into the girls’ locker rooms, shower areas, or restrooms,” said Alexis Lightcap, a senior at Boyertown Area…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
Federal Court Sides With Trans Student Barred From Preferred School Bathroom
A federal judge in Newport News, Virginia, ruled Tuesday that federal law allows a transgender teenager to sue his school district for barring his access to the bathrooms of his preference. Though the ruling is not a decision on the merits of the controversy, U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen’s decision is a boon to the…Kevin Daley -
- Opinion
Only in America’s Schools Could ‘Partying Like It’s 1776’ Be Offensive
At the rate we are going, saying “good morning” might become offensive. The principal of Cherry Hill High School East in New Jersey issued an apology after some students deemed the public school’s prom theme, “Party Like It’s 1776,” to be insensitive. “I am writing to apologize for the hurt feelings this reference caused for…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
‘Party Like It’s 1776’ Theme Too Offensive for New Jersey School Prom
A New Jersey high school principal apologized Friday for a “Party Like It’s 1776” theme at prom. Dennis Perry, principal of Cherry Hill High School East, posted on his Twitter feed an apology for the theme printed on prom tickets, calling the decision “insensitive and irresponsible,” reported Fox News. “I especially apologize to our African-American students,…Rob Shimshock -
- Opinion
UN Poses Danger to Free Speech, Parents’ Rights. Here’s How Trump Administration Can Fight Back.
A dangerous alliance between United Nations bureaucrats and LGBT activists poses a new danger to free speech, free exercise of religion, and parental rights—not just for Americans but for people around the world. Under the leadership of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador Nikki Haley, the Trump administration should strengthen protections of the fundamental…Emilie Kao