Author: BelieveAgain

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday denied a request by the Biden administration to partially curb injunctions that are blocking its new Title IX regulation in 26 states and at least some schools in every other state.In an unsigned opinion, the court said that U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar had failed to show that the bulk of the new regulation could be separated from three challenged provisions that newly define sex discrimination to cover sexual orientation and gender identity.“On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the government has not provided this court a sufficient basis to disturb…

Jaime Green, superintendent of the Trinity Alps school district in rural northern California, doesn’t attend professional development conferences like most people in his role.Instead, he spends the vast majority of his travel time on Capitol Hill, urging members of Congress to pass the latest version of the Secure Rural Schools Act, which provides crucial funding for rural districts where abundant national forest land limits the amount of taxable property within district boundaries and thus the amount of funding they can draw from local taxpayers.Green estimates he’s met with 85 members of Congress during his six years leading the 700-student district.…

Most teachers don’t plan to address the 2024 presidential election in their classrooms, with many citing the possibility of parent complaints and disrespectful classroom discussions, according to a new nationally representative survey. Fifty-eight percent of K-12 teachers answered “no” when asked if they planned to talk about the election in an EdWeek Research Center survey of 678 educators, including 423 teachers. Of those respondents, 53 percent said they would avoid talking about the election because it “is entirely unrelated to the subject” they teach. But 22 percent said instruction about the election “could lead to parent complaints,” and 19 percent…

Cat Briggs has spent the last decade driving a bus every morning and afternoon during the school year for the Rosemount schools in Minnesota. She calls it the best job she’s ever had.Before that, she worked grueling hours year-round as a paralegal. Spending two or three months during the summer with no job and no source of income was a new experience.But when school wasn’t in session, she found herself falling behind on mortgage payments and scrambling to find local employers that would hire her for only two months at a time.“You’re not making a windfall working for a school…

To the Editor:As a former special education paraprofessional during COVID-19 and a current school board member responsible for voting on budgets, I was disappointed by “education policy maven” Rick Hess’ flippant account of Project 2025’s impact on schools in his opinion essay “The Great Project 2025 Freakout” (July 19, 2024).Instead of dedicating nearly 25 percent of an essay to a walk down the conservative movement’s memory lane (with references to Hess’ childhood ), I encourage Hess to defend policy agendas by explaining policy, not reactions. In discussing block grants, for example, providing context for how little federal money goes to…

A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated an Iowa law that bans books depicting sex acts from school libraries and bars instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation through 6th grade.The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, based in St. Louis, was not an outright ruling on the merits of the Iowa law. It vacated a preliminary injunction issued late last year by a federal district judge, saying the judge had conducted a flawed legal analysis.Still, the panel may have provided some hints about the merits of the law known…

School choice has made historic strides since the start of the pandemic, with states adopting (or expanding) education savings accounts (ESAs) and school vouchers at a head-spinning pace. This has been cause in some quarters for celebration and in others for fury. But I wanted to set aside the back-and-forth for a moment to go deeper into what we’re seeing in legislation and what we’re seeing in the research. For that kind of conversation, one of the first people I’m inclined to turn to is Patrick Wolf, the 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice at the University of Arkansas.…

Next month, Mankato West High School is set to have a first day of the school year that’s sure to stand out.While students are receiving their syllabuses for biology, U.S. History, and calculus, the American people will have their eyes set on one of the southern Minnesota school’s own—former social studies teacher and football coach Tim Walz.The elevation of a former teacher to the No. 2 spot on the Democratic presidential ticket has thrust the 1,200-student school and the 8,500-student Mankato school district into the limelight. The district has been fielding calls from reporters from across the country while locals…

The U.S. Department of Education will use a phased approach to roll out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, this fall, in hopes of being able to address technical glitches before the revamped form becomes available to all students by Dec. 1. The federal agency on Aug. 7 outlined its more gradual approach for rolling out the form that helps students apply for federal grants, and that colleges and universities use to determine students’ financial aid packages, after the rollout of last year’s form was dominated by major technological glitches and other defects.Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, criticized…

Public schools can meet the requirements of a new Louisiana law that calls for a Ten Commandments poster in every classroom without violating students’ constitutional rights, Attorney General Liz Murrill argued.The law, signed June 19, has already been challenged in federal court. But supporters of such displays are emboldened by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions they see as cracking open the door to more religious displays and texts in schools. Teachers could display the text alongside classroom rules, historical quotes, cartoon jokes, and even quotes from the musical “Hamilton” to add context without promoting a specific religion, Murrill’s office said…