Author: BelieveAgain

California will add a financial literacy course to its high school graduation requirements after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law June 29, following an agreement with an advocacy group that had collected enough signatures to take the issue to voters.Californians for Financial Education, a group founded by businessman Tim Ranzetta, asked state election officials to remove their question from the November general election ballot after lawmakers passed a similar bill last week, an 11th-hour move to beat the withdrawal deadline.While Ranzetta and other supporters argued students need lessons in concepts like the tax system and credit to succeed…

In a decision that may be felt in schools and colleges across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overruled a major precedent on when courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of the laws that apply to them.The 6-3 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo could have near-term implications on matters such as the U.S. Department of Education’s recent final regulation interpreting Title IX to protect transgender students. The rule, scheduled to take effect Aug. 1, has been challenged in multiple lawsuits and has already been blocked from taking effect in 10 states.Chief Justice John G. Roberts…

Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters has ordered educators in his state to teach the Bible, a move that adds to a list of recent actions by state leaders who are testing the limits of the separation of church and state in public schools. Walters, who’s built a national profile as an outspoken critic of “woke indoctrination,” sent a June 27 memo to the state’s district superintendents directing them to incorporate the Bible into lessons for 5th through 12th grades as “one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization.”“This is not merely an educational directive but a…

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden didn’t mention K-12 education in their first debate in the 2024 election cycle.With no questions on the topic during the 90-minute debate at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta on Thursday, neither candidate took any clear stance on the issue even at times when they chose to stray from the moderators’ questions.Historically, education has not been a major factor in voters’ decisions in presidential elections. Policies and priorities for K-12 schools are likely to hold even less weight this year as the economy, immigration, foreign policy, Biden’s age, and Trump’s status as a convicted…

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the plan for a religious charter school that would receive state funds but be controlled by two Roman Catholic dioceses in the state violated the state and federal constitutions.The court voted 6-2 against the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa, which was set to begin its contract on July 1 with some 400 to 500 students in its first year, receiving some $2.5 million in state education aid in its first year.“Although a public charter school, St. Isidore is…

Civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Monday to block Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom, a measure they contend is unconstitutional.Plaintiffs in the suit include parents of Louisiana public school children, represented by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.Under the legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry last week, all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities will be required to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font”…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a state law that bars medical treatment for gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause. The court’s decision will likely hold implications for equal-protection claims for transgender and other LGBTQ+ students in schools.Separately, the justices turned away the appeal of two groups and several parents who sued over Connecticut’s 2021 decision to end religious exemptions to vaccination requirements for students to attend school.In the transgender-care case, United States v. Skrmetti, the court agreed to hear the appeal of the Biden administration, which had intervened in lawsuits…

In polls of teachers, parents, and employers, creativity regularly tops the lists of the most valued skills for students to develop . The largest international assessment of creativity to date shows how classroom practices can spur students to generate novel ideas and grapple with challenging social and academic problems.The 2022 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, measured the creative thinking of 15-year-olds across 64 countries and education systems in or partnered with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in data released on Tuesday. This is the third set of results from the 2022 PISA; results of the 2022…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a potentially important case involving the $4.5 billion federal E-rate program that provides discounted internet and other telecommunications services to schools. The court agreed to hear the appeal of a Wisconsin telecom provider facing a civil trial under a federal fraud statute for allegedly overcharging schools under the program.Meanwhile, the court declined to hear the appeal of a former student with an intellectual disability who was Tased by a school resource officer after a violent outburst at his high school.The telecom case, Wisconsin Bell Inc. v. United States ex rel.…

The U.S. surgeon general is calling for a warning label on social media alerting users that “social media is associated with significant mental health harms in adolescents.”In a New York Times opinion piece, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said there is enough evidence mounting that shows a connection between social media and adolescents’ deteriorating mental health that a surgeon general’s warning label—similar to what appears on cigarette packages—is warranted.“One of the most important lessons I learned in medical school was that in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information,” Murthy wrote in the New York…