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
As School Meals Have Gotten Healthier, 1.4 Million Students Drop Out of School Lunch Program
Michelle Obama’s healthy school meal standards have scored not too tasty. Over a span of three school years, 1.4 million children dropped out of the National School Lunch Program, reports the Government Accountability Office (GAO). While the first lady’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act has brought healthier items to lunch trays, sugary and salty foods that…Leah Jessen -
- News
How Dennis Prager’s Conservative Online University Reaches Millions
Radio host Dennis Prager and his business partner Allen Estrin had a big problem on their hands. It was October, 2013. Several years earlier, the duo—friends for decades—co-founded PragerU, a small digital university for conservatives with a modest audience. Now, a stranger was suing them. The man, a photographer in Ireland, alleged through a Houston…Madaline Donnelly -
- Opinion
Is Planned Parenthood Targeting Schoolchildren?
Why is Planned Parenthood interested in a local school board election in the battleground state of Colorado? That is what parents and voters are asking themselves in Jefferson County, Colo., this week after Planned Parenthood waded into a local recall election aimed at ousting three Republican school board officials in the middle of their terms….Jennifer Kerns -
- Opinion
This School District Is Standing Up to the Federal Government’s Bullying Over Transgender Students and Locker Rooms
When it comes to locker rooms, does a public school have the right to say it should be restricted to of the students of the same physiological sex? Right now, a school district north of Chicago is squaring off with the federal government on that question. Township High School District 211, like many school districts,…Katrina Trinko -
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Should Teachers Be Allowed to Ditch Their Classrooms to Work For the Union? Two Lawmakers Want to Stop Practice.
PHILADELPHIA—City schools are struggling to find teachers, but the district and local teachers union have an agreement that permits dozens of them to abandon their classrooms to go work for the union every year. As part of the contract between the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, up to 63 teachers…Evan Grossman -
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Boehner’s D.C. School Choice Program Passed by House: ‘We Owe the Kids in This City a Chance’
Speaker John Boehner cinched victory Wednesday as House Republicans smoothly extended his linchpin private school voucher program for low-income students through 2021. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides students in Washington’s struggling school districts with federally backed vouchers to attend a private school of choice. The House confirmed its reauthorization Wednesday evening in a near…Natalie Johnson -
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Should Some High School Teachers Have to Have a Masters? In Minnesota, That’s a Fight
Minnesota educators, legislators, and students took turns at an unusual October legislative hearing, schooling the Higher Learning Commission’s top official on the “crippling effect” of a new HLC requirement for high school faculty teaching college-level classes to get master’s degrees. “The key to the Minnesota model for concurrent enrollment or dual credit programs is that they…Tom Steward -
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Idaho Legislature Wants Stronger Protections for Parents. Idaho School Boards Say No.
A new Idaho School Board Association resolution reveals that the group wants the Idaho Legislature to “hold at bay any expansion of the parental rights in regard to education.” The resolution, one of a handful like it passed by the group’s central committee, suggests that parents’ rights might conflict with districts’ attempts to comply with federal…Dustin Hurst -
- Opinion
It’s Time for a Change in Education Funding
“We must provide a good education for every boy and girl—no matter where he lives,” President Lyndon B. Johnson declared in 1964. President Johnson sought and ultimately secured passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which would be a major element of the education component of his War on Poverty. Ineffective Title I…Blair Kacynski -
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Teacher Unions Fight to Keep Their Clout in Right-to-Work States
Proposals to stop state and local governments from deducting union dues from their employees’ paychecks are likely to gain traction in coming months, those on both sides of the issue say. Such “payroll protection” measures arise as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide next year on a free speech challenge to rules compelling…Kevin Mooney -
- Opinion
Cementing a School Choice Legacy in the Nation’s Capital
I spend an enormous amount of time thinking (and worrying) about the children of Washington, D.C. Advocating for quality educational opportunities for them has been a priority in my life since the late 1990s. With Speaker John Boehner’s announcement of his decision to step down, I automatically began to reflect on the 10-plus years we…Virginia Walden Ford -
- Opinion
‘You’re It’: School District Bans Tag During Recess
Update: According to The Seattle Times, “[t]he Mercer Island School District reinstated the game of tag following an outcry from parents” on September 25, 2015. A school district in Washington state has banned tag, the popular game, because it’s too violent for today’s children. School district officials told a local television station that students are…Eric Boehm -
- Opinion
Boehner’s Final Push for Parental Choice in Education
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, who will retire at the end of October, will not be leaving office without one final push for parental choice in education. Boehner has been a strong supporter of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP), which was the first bill he presented to Congress as Speaker of the…Mary Clare Amselem -
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Teachers Union Significantly Ups Spending on Political Activities, Boosts Liberals
The 2015 American Federation of Teachers annual report shows a left-wing political machine humming on all cylinders—with teachers buying the gas. For the fiscal year ending June 30, the union reported $37.6 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures, a $12.7-million increase from the previous year. Even more political spending was tucked away elsewhere in AFT’s annual U.S. Department of Labor…Jason Hart -
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Recess Consultant Hired in Minnesota Schools, Kids Get Coached Through Play Time
What happens when an adult steps onto the recess playground with new rules and a game list in hand that reads “Animal Tag,” “Four Square Volleyball,” and “Basketball Bowling?” Two elementary schools in the Minneapolis area, in the town of Edina, have gone from the usual “on duty” recess supervisor to hiring a recess consultant….Leah Jessen -
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Meet the Social Studies Teacher Who Ditched the School Union and Created His Own
Like most teachers, Jim Perialas didn’t have a choice about joining a teachers union. But in 2012, after becoming fed up with rising membership dues and inadequate representation, he and his fellow teachers in the Roscommon area public schools voted to break from the Michigan Education Association. Instead, they formed the Roscommon Teachers Association, where…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
A Huge Education Innovation May Get Squashed in Nevada
In January, Beverly Rogers, wife of late Nevada media mogul Jim Rogers, told 25 students at Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School in north Las Vegas she was launching a new foundation to honor her husband’s memory. The first act of the Rogers Foundation, she told the kids: each of them would get a full ride to college,…Mary Tillotson -
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Seattle School District Concedes to Union, 53,000 Kids Return to School
After a two-week standoff, Seattle Public Schools and the teachers union reached an agreement on a contract, putting an end to a strike that left 53,000 students out of class for six days. “This agreement signals a new era in bargaining in public education,” Jonathan Knapp, president of the Seattle Education Association, said in a…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
Ahmed’s Clock and the Hysteria of American Schools
Social media are ablaze with the story of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, a student at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. On Monday morning, the amateur inventor brought a home-made clock to school to show to a teacher. Shortly later, he was led out by the police in handcuffs. I expect they will have more to…William Gribbin -
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Nonprofit Health System Executive Brings After-School Chess Program to Ferguson-Florissant Schools
An after-school chess program for 20 elementary and middle schools in the Ferguson-Florissant school district started with a simple conversation between a father and his 10-year-old son. Nick Ragone, senior vice president and chief communications and marketing officer at Ascension, the nation’s largest Catholic nonprofit health system, says the idea came to him eight weeks…Leah Jessen