Author: BelieveAgain

A sharp debate over religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates is intensifying across the nation, just as vaccination rates of schoolchildren are declining and childhood diseases such as measles are making a comeback.In West Virginia, which has never allowed religious exemptions under state law, a monthslong policy and legal battle over the governor’s efforts to require them by executive order is headed to the state’s highest court.Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, has backed religious exemptions in West Virginia and warned other states and local jurisdictions to…

The Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily put on hold proposed new social studies standards for K-12 public school students that include conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.The state’s high court issued a temporary stay on Monday while a lawsuit filed by a group of parents and educators challenging the new standards is being litigated. The court’s order directs the State Department of Education to keep the previous social studies standards in place while the case is being decided.“This is a victory for transparency, fairness, and the constitutional rights of all Oklahomans,” said Brent Rowland, legal director of Oklahoma Appleseed, which is…

The Trump administration’s education grant cancellation spree has accelerated in recent weeks, with millions of dollars abruptly cut off for several dozen ongoing projects promoting civics, arts, and literacy education, and preparing K-12 students for college.In the last few weeks, the U.S. Department of Education has quietly issued “non-continuation” notices for at least nine federally funded projects helping middle and high schoolers prepare for college; at least nine arts education initiatives; close to 20 projects centered around American history; and at least two efforts to supply free books to schoolchildren from low-income families, according to interviews with grant recipients and…

I hate the business of using horrific events as a “hook” for a column. Unless you’re a news reporter, it feels like a cheap way to cash in on a tragedy. But over the past several days, I’ve repeatedly fielded questions from reporters and education leaders seeking to understand why the millions (and counting) who followed Charlie Kirk on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, a huge share of them boys and young men, were so passionately invested in Kirk—and why his murder hit them in such a devastatingly personal way.I think I can offer a bit of insight, especially to educators…

As two Virginia school districts late last month fought the U.S. Department of Education’s threat to terminate federal funding, they were dealt a swift legal blow: A judge dismissed their lawsuits within a week and directed them to a different federal court.The school systems’ funding had been imperiled because of the Trump administration’s objections to their transgender student policies. In response to their legal challenge, the judge said their case belonged in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which requires a higher burden of proof and would offer more limited relief, even if a decision went in their favor.The districts…

A Virginia school board violated students’ First Amendment rights when it restored the name of a Confederate general to its high school, a federal judge decided this week.District Judge Michael F. Urbanski determined in a 71-page opinion Tuesday that the Shenandoah County school board’s decision last year to reverse course and reinstate the name “Stonewall Jackson High School” made students “mobile billboards” for the restored Confederate name and the school board’s message, thus violating their free speech rights.The complaint—brought by the Virginia chapter of the NAACP and the parents of five students who attend the high school—challenged a May 10,…

When states overhauled their school funding models to promote equity, they helped narrow the financial gap between high- and low-income districts, but those efforts did not narrow racial and ethnic gaps, a new study finds. In some cases, differences in funding between largely white and more diverse districts widened. The inequality was most pronounced between states, rather than within them, researchers found, largely because wealthier, less diverse states typically fund their schools at higher levels.“There’s been a lot of work showing that those reforms did successfully increase equality by student income,” said Emily Rauscher, a sociology professor at Brown University…

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Trump administration restrictions on services for immigrants in the country illegally, including the federal preschool program Head Start, health clinics, and adult education.The order from the judge in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island applies to 20 states and the District of Columbia, whose attorneys general, all Democrats, sued the administration. It puts the administration’s reinterpretation of a Clinton-era federal policy on hold while the case is decided.Under the proposed changes, some community-level programs would be reclassified as federal public benefits, making them inaccessible to people without legal status. Individual public benefits, such as…

The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday denied a request by South Carolina to pause a federal appeals court injunction allowing a 9th grade transgender boy to use school restrooms consistent with his gender identity while he challenges a state ban restricting that right.Over the dissent of three justices in South Carolina v. Doe, the court said in a brief order that the denial was “not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation. Rather, it is based on the standards applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this court.”The court’s action comes amid a growing national…

The U.S. Department of Education will soon put out guidance around “protecting the right to prayer” in schools, President Donald Trump announced Monday—an effort that comes amid a number of states pushing up against the church-state divide, but one that would also reinforce a right students already have.Trump, who made the announcement during a Religious Liberty Commission meeting focused on public education, did not offer specifics on what the guidance could look like. He touted it alongside his efforts to roll back protections for transgender students and to kill “the woke agenda” in schools.The guidance would come as Republican-led states…