Education News
Reports on education reform, school choice, and classroom policies. The Daily Signal provides conservative commentary and opinion alongside education news.
-
news
Christian School’s Plea for ‘Equal Protection’ on Playground Goes to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a state natural resources agency violated the First Amendment when it refused to grant funds to a preschool and daycare run by a church. In 2012, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo., applied for a state grant to pay for replacing pea gravel at its Learning Center’s playground with recycled rubber material,… -
opinion
What School Choice Advocates Have to Celebrate
National School Choice Week has just kicked-off, and there is much to celebrate this year. National School Choice Week will feature over 16,000 events across the country this week, ranging from school pep rallies in support of school choice, to policy panels exploring the many school choice options that are now available to families. Over… -
opinion
School Choice Interest Skyrocketing as Public Schools Disappoint
This is shaping up to be the best year yet for National School Choice Week. The annual January event, which began in 2011, will feature 16,140 events, up from roughly 11,000 last year. The festivities officially kicked off across the country on Sunday and run through Jan. 30. Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice… -
news
District 211 School Allows Transgender Student to Use Girls’ Locker Room
A transgender student was granted access to an Illinois public school’s female locker room Friday after reaching an agreement with the school. The agreement with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights states that “Student A” will change behind curtains installed by the district in the girls’ locker room. The school has since upgraded… -
opinion
Detroit Public School Teacher ‘Sick Out‘ Underway While Just 8% of Students Can Read Proficiently
Nearly all schools in Detroit were closed Wednesday due to a massive teacher “sick out,” preventing students from attending class. Teachers have complained about over-crowded classrooms, poor school conditions, and dissatisfaction with the idea of charter school growth in Michigan. The teachers’ sick-out includes a planned march, which will conclude near a venue being visited… -
news
Meet the California Teacher Taking On the Unions
For teachers standing in the cold outside the Supreme Court on Monday, as well as thousands of educators across the country, California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs is mounting a battle that could change the power of public-sector unions. In the Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association that went before the nine justices today, Friedrichs is… -
news
California Teachers Gear Up to Take Fight Against Unions to Supreme Court
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Rebecca Friedrichs and nine other teachers are calling into question the agency fees that public-sector workers are required to pay to unions, which they say violate their First Amendment rights. If the Supreme Court rules in Friedrichs’ favor,… -
opinion
Why Sexual Orientation Laws Are a Threat to Local Education
Since the Department of Education was founded in 1979, the federal government has been increasingly involved in public education. The newest encroachment by the federal government into education comes with the arrival of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) laws. The Department of Education has unilaterally decided that “sex” in Title IX (a federal law… -
news
Ohio Teachers Union Officials Paid Twice as Much as Teachers
Ohio’s largest labor union is in the business of selling worker “solidarity,” and for union bosses, business is good. Ohio Education Association president Becky Higgins was paid $209,039 to preside over a union that took member dues and mandatory fees from 121,625 teachers during the fiscal year ending Aug. 31. Regular OEA dues for full-time teachers are… -
news
LGBT Group Calls on Government to Address ‘Disturbing Trend’ on Religious College Campuses
The largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activist group in the country is calling on the Department of Education to address what it calls a “disturbing trend” on college campuses. Specifically, the Human Rights Campaign is calling for more transparency towards what it sees as a trend of schools citing religious reasons for not adhering… -
news
Revealed: The Best and Worst Cities for School Choice
A recent report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute ranking America’s best and worst cities for school choice includes two consistent winners—New Orleans and Washington, D.C.—at the top, and a trio of Texas cities in the bottom half of the 30 areas surveyed, with Albany, N.Y., bringing up the rear. Fordham considered three criteria: political support,… -
news
Why These High School Girls Don’t Want a Transgender Student in Their Locker Room
Speaking out, they knew, could make them the public face of a very private issue. It could lead their classmates to call them “bigots,” “insensitive,” and “homophobes.” But after seeing their high school back down to threats that the U.S. Department of Education would strip away federal funding, and watching school officials overrule their parents,… -
news
Dispute Over Islam Homework Assignment Raises Questions About Public School Curriculum
A local dispute over a high school homework assignment made national headlines when parents in Virginia complained that a teacher was attempting to “indoctrinate” their children with the Muslim religion. “The sheet she gave out was pure doctrine in its origin,” Kimberly Herndon, mother of a 9th grade boy at the high school, told ABC affiliate… -
opinion
Why the Government Shouldn’t Subsidize Student Loans
Good government should always take account of human nature: one aspect of human nature is that you are more careful about conserving resources when you are dealing with your own property. Any child knows that if he breaks his toy by being reckless, he had better not be reckless. But what if the parent always… -
news
School District Casts Out Bible Verses From ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’
Elementary school students in Johnson County, Ky., performed a version of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” purged of Bible verses after the school district barred religious references in holiday programs. School district officials censored the Thursday night performance of the play at W.R. Castle Elementary School, along with other Christmas productions, after receiving a lone complaint about mentions of religion in… -
opinion
Should Religious Schools Be Allowed to Enforce Their Religious Mission?
Wheaton College is a private college in the suburbs of Chicago with the following mission statement: Wheaton College serves Jesus Christ and advances His Kingdom through excellence in liberal arts and graduate programs that educate the whole person to build the church and benefit society worldwide. When a professor wore a hijab to show solidarity… -
news
Liberty University Allows Concealed Carry in Student Dorms
A revision to Liberty University’s weapons policy will allow concealed carrying of firearms in dorms—the only area on campus where concealed carry wasn’t already permitted. Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. said students of the Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., will be required to have a concealed carry permit and obtain approval from the university’s police department. He announced… -
opinion
Study Finds School Choice Increases Integration in Schools
After decades of initiatives in American public schools to close the achievement gap, the gap between low-income and non-minority students persists. A new study by the Friedman Foundation suggests that school choice may be our best tool for narrowing gaps and increasing integration in schools. In the study, titled “The Integration Anomaly: Comparing the Effects of… -
opinion
Christmas Comes Early for Teachers Unions and Obama Administration With No Child Left Behind Rewrite
“It’s like Christmas Day,” exclaimed Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union. García was referring to passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama—who similarly referred to the new law as a “Christmas miracle”—earlier Thursday. On Wednesday, the U.S…. -
news
Two Christian Schools Denied Prayer Over PA System at State Football Championship
Representatives of two Christian high schools in Florida were not allowed to say a prayer over a loudspeaker before a state championship game. Cambridge Christian School in Tampa and University Christian School in Jacksonville agreed to have a public prayer said before their 2A state championship game kickoff Friday in Orlando. Florida’s high school athletic association, the host…