Author: BelieveAgain

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.In a statement posted on social media, Chavez-DeRemer praised Trump and wrote, “I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor…

Despite ongoing efforts to transition federal education programs to other agencies, billions of federal dollars for K-12 schools will continue to flow through the U.S. Department of Education’s grant portal this summer, the nation’s top K-12 official told states last week.Programs like Title I aid for disadvantaged students and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for special education allocate funds for school districts, but by law the money flows first to states in two batches: one on July 1 and another three months later.Kirsten Baesler, the assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education, told state education chiefs on April 17…

Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, handing a significant legal victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into classrooms.The 9-8 decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the law, delivering a boost to backers of similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana. Opponents have argued that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms amounts to government endorsement of religion and risks pressuring students, while supporters say the displays reflect the nation’s historical foundations.Writing for the majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals…

Should the federal government require school districts to develop their own student cellphone ban policies?That’s one of the Center for American Progress’ five federal policy recommendations to address cellphone use in schools, which many educators and advocates argue impedes student learning and is detrimental to student mental health. Whether a policy change of that scale could ever take hold is unclear at best. Some members of Congress have suggested that the federal government should do more to report on the impact of the devices in schools. Others have said national policymakers should consider taking steps to restrict the presence of…

School choice has exploded in recent years. Is this development as novel as our heated debates suggest? Neal McCluskey, the former director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, is out with a new edited volume that seeks to bring some historical perspective to our current clashes over tax-credit scholarships, education savings accounts, vouchers, and charter schools. In Fighting for the Freedom to Learn: Examining America’s Centuries-Old School Choice Movement, he and James Shuls of the Institute for Governance and Civics at Florida State, have assembled a collection of essays that trace the history of school choice back to…

Catholic preschools say Colorado violated religious rights by excluding them from a state-funded program over admission policies. 2026-04-20 20:17:36 Source link

The nation’s governors want K-12 schools to reshape their work to better align with workforce needs, improve the youngest learners’ education, and hire and retain talented teachers—all while setting and maintaining high standards for academic achievement.Thosekey themes emerged from governors’ 2026 state of the state addresses, according to an analysis by the Education Commission of the States, an organization that tracks state-level trends in education policy. ECS reviewed addresses delivered by governors of 42 states, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands before March 31.Here are five key trends. 1. A call for focus on foundational academic skills At…

In the recent decision Chiles v. Salazar, the U.S. Supreme Court held that state laws banning conversion therapy may be unconstitutional if those laws restrict free speech.The term “conversion therapy” is largely a misnomer. Some scholars have more accurately characterized such things as “conversion practices.” Fundamentally, conversion practices seek to delegitimize LGBTQ+ identity. Whether by 20th-century aversion techniques that were once widely employed (including electroshock treatments), religious rituals (including so-called “deliverance prayers” or exorcisms), or talk therapy, conversion practices all scream to LGBTQ+ youth: “You are not OK.”Schools are not mentioned in the court’s opinion, but we should all be…

The governor of a state with one of the shortest school years in the country has issued an executive order aimed at blocking any further erosion of instructional time as schools face budget pressures that have previously led some to reduce instructional hours and as the state confronts its below-average math and reading achievement.“We cannot lose any more time,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said at an April 16 news conference announcing the executive order. “We have to protect what we have, and why I’m acting today with this executive order is I’m hearing from district after district that…

Educators at Eastside Elementary in Chattanooga, Tenn., have spent years building trust with immigrant students and their families.That trust was tested last year when fears of immigration enforcement led some families to leave the community, and the school saw its enrollment decline, according to Greg Wilkey, the school’s principal.Now, that trust could be further tested, if not derailed, Wilkey said, if Tennessee lawmakers succeed in passing legislation this year that would require schools to defy federal law and collect students’ immigration status information.“If we start tracking and recording and asking these questions, I just don’t think the parents are going…