Category: Education

Minnesota Parents Petition School Board for Improved Safety in Schools

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Ashley Ashbeck

A petition was presented to the Hopkins School Board during a June 11 meeting, calling on the board to provide a safe environment for students in Hopkins Public Schools following a violent incident that occurred at the end of May.

“We, the undersigned members of the Hopkins Public Schools community, are deeply concerned about the violent assault last Thursday against a transgender student at Hopkins High School,” the petition reads. “Just two days prior, there were three fights at the high school and the police were called to prevent a fourth.”

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Biden Rule Extending Title IX to Trans Students Blocked in More GOP States

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Girls Basketball

A federal judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked four more states from expanding the Biden administration’s new Title IX policy to protect LGBTQ+ students.

The Biden administration’s new Title IX policy outlined federal protections for LGBTQ+ students and victims of sexual assault while expanding the definition of sexual harassment for schools and universities. The new Title IX provisions collide with Louisiana’s “Women’s Safety and Protection Act” which requires individuals to use the bathroom based on their sex, prohibiting transgender people from using bathrooms and other close-quartered facilities corresponding with their gender identity, according to the court documents.

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Commentary: The Parallel Education System Can Fix America’s Education Problem

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Home Schooling Parents

Millions of Americans have woken up to the fact that their education system is rotten to the core. As elite universities are engulfed by antisemitic riots, their veil of prestige has been torn to shreds. It is by now clear to many that, in the words of Christopher Rufo, the radical left has conquered everything.

What, then, is to be done? Many, Rufo included, are doing their best to stem the tide of revolutionary ideology through direct political engagement. Their hard work is paying off. In recent months, universities are beginning to move away from mandatory diversity statements. This is just the beginning.

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16-Year-Old Minnesota Girl Speaks Out About Having to Share School Restrooms and Locker Rooms With Males

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Women's Locker Room

A 16-year-old Minnesota girl forced to share private spaces with males under a public school transgender policy says that girls deserve privacy in their restrooms and locker rooms.

“It’s really uncomfortable, because I was in gym class, and I was just about to change, but then I heard this voice, and I was, like, ‘That does not sound right.’ So, I look, and it’s a male,” said the rising junior at Stewartville High School, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely on the controversial issue.

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Teachers Union Issues List of Climate Demands as Students Struggle to Read at Grade Level

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Chicago Teachers Union

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is making climate-related demands in contract negotiations as the city’s students continue to struggle mightily in the classroom, according to E&E News.

The CTU will push the city to include initiatives like electric school buses, green jobs training programs for students and reducing emissions from buildings with solar panels and other retrofits, among other initiatives, according to E&E News. Those demands are being made while 2023 testing data shows that about 75% of Chicago’s public school students were unable to read at grade level and 83% of students were behind grade level proficiency in math, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

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Unorthodox Pennsylvania Program Challenges Traditional School Curriculum

The Center Square
Students enrolled in the Total Learning Experience program

An unorthodox learning program percolating across Pennsylvania schools infuses business innovation into traditional curriculum, leaving lawmakers split on its effectiveness.

Dr. Adelle Schade, founder of the Total Learning Experience, told a joint Senate committee on Tuesday about how she “reimagined” school curriculum to help students “win at capitalism.”

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Pennsylvania Charter Schools Hit Hard in Proposed Funding Formula

The Center Square
Dr. Anne Clark

A bill altering the state’s public school funding formula passed the lower chamber Monday, spawning both fanfare and consternation among lawmakers.

While supporters call the plan a victory for students held back by economic disparities, critics point out that 64 of the bill’s 87 pages focus on cutting financial support and tightening regulations for charter schools to save money.

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Florida University Civic Center Aims to Become ‘Premier Think Tank’ on Economic Freedom

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Carlos Diaz-Rosillo

Florida International University’s civics center has made an international impact in its first four years of existence by bringing together politicians and private sector leaders to promote individual and economic freedom.

The Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at the Miami university came about through efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature to bolster Western democratic thought in higher education. In 2023, DeSantis signed additional legislation to boost civic education centers in the state’s public universities.

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Shatter-Resistant Glass Films to Be Installed on Every Wilson County School Campus This Summer

Kaitlin Housler
WCS Meeting

The Wilson County School District voted unanimously to approve shatter-resistant glass films to be installed at each of its 24 brick-and-mortar campuses.

On Monday, board members Kimberly McGee, Larry Tomlinson, Carrie Pfeiffer, Jamie Farough, Melissa Lynn, Joseph Padilla, and Beth Meyers all voted to approve Director of Schools Jeff Luttrell’s recommendation that the board hire Osteen Construction to install the security film for a total of $900,105.36.

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Colorado Discriminated Against Catholic Preschools by Starving Them of Funding, Court Rules

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Catholic School

A federal court ruled Wednesday that Colorado discriminated against Catholic preschools by refusing to allow them to participate in the state’s school voucher program over their faith.

St. Mary’s Catholic Parish and St. Bernadette’s Catholic Parish filed a lawsuit against the state in August 2023 after Colorado denied its application to the state’s universal preschool (UPK) program because the schools consider religious beliefs when deciding whether or not a student can attend the school. Judge John Kane Jr., a Jimmy Carter appointee, of the District Court of Colorado determined that the state had erred in allowing “faith-based providers” to receive exemptions in similar cases but not the preschool, according to the 101-page opinion.

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Ohio Attorney General Sues to Stop Potential Sale of Rare Jewish Books and Manuscripts

The Center Square
Dave Yost

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants to stop the sale of ancient Jewish texts and books at the nation’s first permanent Jewish institution of higher learning in Cincinnati.

Yost filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Hebrew Union College from selling copies of the Talmud and other ancient books after the school expressed interest in parting with them to offset growing deficits.

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UT Knoxville Advisory Board Votes to Increase Tuition, Asks for Public Guidance

Peter D'Abrosca
University of Tennessee, Knoxville Students

The University of Tennessee – Knoxville’s Campus Advisory Board has voted to increase tuition by 2 percent for for in-state students and 4 percent for out-of-state students, the school announced.

“A combination of enrollment growth and state support has allowed us to keep tuition flat for five of the last six years. The costs for delivering high-quality academic programs, however, have continued to rise in that time,” said Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Allen Bolton. “We have worked hard to keep tuition increases as small as possible while still ensuring we can give students the Volunteer experience they expect.”

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Commentary: Parental Freedom is Flourishing

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Parents homeschooling their child

It’s no secret that the government’s monopoly on education is in trouble. Across the country, public schools are emptying while parental choice is flourishing. Florida, perhaps the national leader in this movement, has four different private school choice programs: one education savings account (ESA), one voucher program, and two tax-credit scholarships.

One of the results of Florida’s success is that many of the state’s public schools are shutting down. Florida’s Broward County, the sixth largest school district in the country, housing some 320 K-12 schools, could see 42 of them shut down, including 32 elementary schools, eight middle schools, and two high schools.

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Michigan State Has over 140 Employees Working on 222 DEI Action Items

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Michigan State University

Michigan State University currently has more than 140 employees working on 222 different “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” agenda items.

The salaries for those employees, some of whom work on DEI full-time, totals more than $18 million dollars according to a College Fixanalysis. One of these goals included an “inclusive language” guide that instructed university employees not to say “America” or use Easter and Christmas imagery.

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Math Professor Fired After Criticizing Slavery Reparations Continues Legal Battle Pennsylvania College

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Saint Joseph's University campus

A math professor’s two-year-old lawsuit against Saint Joseph’s University, filed in the wake of controversy over his social media posts criticizing slavery reparations and other comments, continues to wind its way through the court system.

Gregory Manco sued the institution he taught at for nearly two decades, as well as coached baseball for, alleging some administrators conspired with a few left-leaning alumni to effectively “cancel” him over tweets that ran afoul of progressive dogma.

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One Pro-Palestine Protester Arrested at New Anti-Israel Encampment at University of Pittsburgh

Tom Pappert
University of Pittsburgh protesters

One pro-Palestine protestor was arrested on Sunday night after a new anti-Israel encampment was constructed at the University of Pittsburgh earlier that day.

The Office of Safety and Emergency Management at Pitt has confirmed on Sunday evening that the Cathedral of Learning remained “closed until further notice” on Monday due to “a protest in the vicinity” of the building.

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‘Deeply Regressive’: Riley Gaines Slams Biden’s Title IX Rules at Pro-Women Sports Rally

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Riley Gaines

The Biden administration’s changes to Title IX will reverse 50 years of progress for female athletes by allowing biological men to keep competing in women’s sports, pro-women’s sports leaders said Friday at an Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition rally.

The event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was one of the first stops on the coalition’s Take Back Title IX bus tour, which calls on America’s leaders to ensure equal protections for female athletes under the federal regulation.

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Free Speech Group Files Lawsuit Against Indiana University over ‘Bias Response Team’

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Indiana University

Indiana University is violating students’ First and 14th Amendment rights through its “far-reaching” bias reporting policy, a civil rights organization alleges.

Speech First filed a federal lawsuit against Indiana University on Wednesday arguing that the school is violating the rights of students by enacting a speech policy that “is designed solely to deter, discourage, and otherwise ‘prevent’ students from expressing disfavored views about the political and social issues of the day.” Under the policy, students can report others for “any conduct, speech, or expression, motivated in whole or in part by bias or prejudice meant to intimidate, demean, mock, degrade, marginalize, or threaten individuals or groups” on some aspect of their identity, like race or gender identity, according to Indiana University’s website.

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Despite Board Directive Prohibiting It, Arizona State University Asks for DEI Commitments in Hiring

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ASU Admin building

Arizona State University continues to ask potential job candidates questions regarding their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion despite a board policy prohibiting the use of diversity statements in hiring, according to a document obtained by The College Fix.

In August 2023, the Arizona Board of Regents decided public universities in the state can no longer require applicants to submit diversity statements.

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Commentary: Teachers Also Think American Public Schools Are in Decline

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Teacher

Eighty-two percent of teachers say that the general state of public K-12 education has gotten worse over the past five years. This is according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted in October and November of 2023. That’s not the only shocking statistic from the survey, either, which overall offers a grim statistical map of the fault lines fracturing our education system. However, these trends may offer some insight into how to fix our schools.

First, the teachers. Most teachers (77 percent) find their job frequently stressful, and a large majority (70 percent) say their school is understaffed, which may contribute to the fact that over 80 percent of teachers say they do not have enough time in the work day to complete all necessary tasks.

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Public Schools Push ‘Climate Crisis’ Narrative, as Skeptics Try to Offer Other Perspectives

Just the News
Paul Tice, senior fellow for the National Center for Energy Analytics

Paul Tice, senior fellow for the National Center for Energy Analytics, took the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal to criticize the climate change curriculum in New Jersey public schools.

The educational materials, Tice explained, are not just found in sections of science courses, but in all school subjects. Districts are encouraged to insert lessons on climate change into English language arts and mathematics. In foreign language classes, students discuss the impacts of climate change “on the target language of the world.”

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UCLA Med School DEI Leader Accused of Major Plagiarism Refuses to Address Allegations

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Natalie Perry

Another university diversity, equity, and inclusion administrator is facing allegations of plagiarism – but neither she nor her employer, the University of California at Los Angeles, has responded publicly to the report.

Natalie Perry, the leader of the Cultural North Star program at the UCLA School of Medicine, and UCLA did not answer multiple requests for comment from The College Fix since a recent investigation alleged she plagiarized large portions of her doctoral dissertation.

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Commentary: Abiding Child Abuse in Schools

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Kids in the classroom

The stories of pedophile teachers not being held accountable for their abominable crimes are endless. In an in-depth piece, reporter Matt Drange investigates the issue and what he finds is positively revolting.

A case in North Carolina is typical. In Durham County, a student at Neal Middle School said her chorus teacher, Troy Pickens, had groped her, only disclosing a few years later that he’d raped her. James Key, the school’s principal, didn’t open an investigation until the child’s mother got involved, and even then, according to a subsequent civil suit that settled out of court, the principal “failed to report the groping allegation to law enforcement or child protective services, as required by state law.” Instead, Key allowed Pickens to resign, paving the way for him to remain in the field.

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American Tax Dollars Fund Laundry List of Left-Wing Books

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People sitting under a transgender flag

American tax dollars are funding an array of book projects covering topics like “trans reproduction” and the “neglected queer history” of homosexuality in post-colonial Ireland, federal records show.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) spends hundreds of thousands of tax dollars a year funding academics to write full-length books on a variety of subjects, according to grant records. While many of the books center on innocuous topics, like the history of criminal procedure in China or philosopher Immanuel Kant, others the NEH funded in 2023 and 2024 veer into left-wing topics.

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State of Oregon Attempts to Force Christian Ministry to Remove Christian Beliefs in Order to Receive Funding

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71Five Ministries

The state government of Oregon enacted a new restriction on a Christian youth ministry group, withholding crucial funding on the condition that the group specifically hire non-Christians or people who otherwise don’t agree with the group’s beliefs.

As reported by Fox News, the group, 71Five Ministries, is struggling with a large budget deficit following the Oregon Department of Education’s decision to revoke its funding due to its Christian beliefs. The ministry filed a lawsuit against the state in March, with the support of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), declaring the state’s decision to be a violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. Oral arguments in the case ended last week, and both sides are now waiting for the judge’s decision.

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Gov. Bill Lee Confirms He’s ‘Engaged’ with Republican Candidates to Determine School Choice Stance Ahead of Primary Elections

Tom Pappert
Bill Lee

Governor Bill Lee confirmed in a Monday press conference that he is “engaged” with Republican candidates to determine their stance on school choice following the defeat of his Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which would have provided 20,000 Education Savings Accounts for Tennessee students.

Lee said he has “met with several candidates, some who are in open seats; some who are incumbents,” with the governor specifically asking the candidates for their stances on “what I’m talking about is education freedom and choice for parents.”

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Pennsylvania Bill Would Name Group Opposed to School Choice Vouchers as Sole Agency Capable of Training Directors

Tom Pappert
School with students learning

Legislation that passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would name the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) the only entity capable of training school directors, even though the organization has seemingly adopted political positions on school choice and charter schools.

While PSBA is currently the only agency approved by Pennsylvania to provide training for school directors, a Broad and Liberty report notes that HB 1743 would codify its monopoly status into law.

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Florida’s Public Schools Close as School Choice Takes Off

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School with students learning

As Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed school choice initiatives, leading to a spike in charter and private school enrollments, public schools are shutting down.

Across the state, public school enrollment is declining. Duval County Public School District, the sixth-largest school district in Florida and 20th largest in the country, is now considering campus closures due to dramatic dips in their enrollment.

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Conservative College Professor Investigated for Racism After Accusing Black Student of Plagiarism

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William Ascher

A Claremont McKenna College professor was dragged through a yearlong investigation over racism allegations — and ultimately cleared — after he accused a black student of plagiarism, according to a recently published report.

Professor William Ascher, a distinguished scholar whose CV notes he has worked as a professor of government and economics at the conservative college for nearly 25 years and also previously served as dean of faculty, faced the probe after he reported the student to the school’s Academic Standards Committee.

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Drexel Anti-Israel Encampment Dissolves as University Calls Philadelphia Police

Tom Pappert
Protesters Leaving After Police Come to Drexel University

The anti-Israel encampment at Drexel University disbanded early on Thursday after President John Fry asked the Philadelphia Police Department to assist with clearing the protestors.

After Fry warned protestors the university planned to act shortly before 5 a.m., the encampment was reportedly cleared by noon, with law enforcement telling 6 ABC that protestors “picked up their belongings for the most part and left by their own free will,” and evidence suggested police would “be able to complete this operation without having to make any arrests, any use of force, anything of that nature.”

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Northwestern University President Admits to Getting an ‘F’ from ADL with Combatting Antisemitism

Just the News
Northwestern University President Michael Schill

Northwestern University President Michael Schill admitted Thursday that he got an “F” rating from the Anti-Defamation League during a back and forth between him and Rep. Elise Stafanik, R-N.Y. during a hearing to address antisemitism.

“Isn’t it also true that Northwestern earned an ‘F’ for your failure to respond and combat antisemitism and they called for your resignation?” Stefanik asked Schill.

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Jasmine Crockett Silent amid Lack of Evidence for Alleged 2002 Hate Crimes

Tom Pappert
Jasmine Crockett

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) did not respond to a Wednesday inquiry from The Tennessee Star seeking more information to corroborate her previous claim that she and 17 students suffered a “series of hate crimes” on the Rhodes College campus in 2002.

Rhodes College Campus Safety similarly has yet to respond to requests for comment about the alleged hate crimes, nor have they supplied any documentary evidence including police reports, after Crockett claimed she and the other students were sent racist letters to their campus mailboxes.

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Drexel Students Learn Virtually as Anti-Israel Protestors Demand University ‘Terminate’ Jewish Organizations

Tom Pappert
Drexel Students for Justice Palestine

Drexel University continues to instruct students virtually on Wednesday after campus buildings were closed or locked down following the establishment of an anti-Israel encampment. In addition to calls to divest from Israel, the activists have demanded the university “[i]mmediately terminate” its chapters of the Chabad and Hillel Jewish community organizations.

Classes at Drexel were virtual for the fourth consecutive day, according to Fox 29. The outlet reported that members of the encampment told the outlet they “will continue to disrupt until Drexel University meets our demands.”

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Commentary: The Most Important Trait for Yale’s Next President Is Courage

RealClearWire
Yale University campus

On August 31, 2023, Yale’s 23rd president, Peter Salovey, announced he would be stepping down. Since this announcement, much has transpired in the world of American higher education: the resignation of Harvard and UPenn presidents, the creation of campus encampments nationwide, and the cancelation of commencements at Columbia and USC. These developments point to an American higher education system that is malfunctioning. The breakdown we are witnessing at Yale’s peer institutions will continue until leaders are chosen for their courage to apply wisdom to divisive issues.

America’s Founders understood the importance of higher education. Of all his great accomplishments, only three made it onto Thomas Jefferson’s headstone: Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the father of the University of Virginia. Jefferson knew that America’s ability to be great and good – UVA’s motto – depended on the presence of high-functioning universities. America’s first polymath, Ben Franklin, famously said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Framers like Franklin and Jefferson understood the value of academic pursuits, and their example lit a spark that motivated generations of Americans to pursue higher education.

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Illinois Recommends Bonuses to Colleges for Black, Hispanic Students

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Black college students

Illinois soon could give bonuses to universities for enrolling African American and Hispanic students under a proposal by a state government commission.

The recommendation by the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding aims to address “the historic inequities” in education “especially among students from low-income households, students of color, students from rural communities, and working adults,” according to a news release.

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University of Tennessee Launches Investigation After Complaint Filed by Man Arrested During Anti-Israel Protest

Tom Pappert
Yassin Terou

The University of Tennessee Police Department (UTPD) confirmed on Tuesday that it is investigating a complaint filed by one of the 11 pro-Palestine protestors arrested on the university’s campus on May 15 during an anti-Israel demonstration.

Yassin Terou confirmed he filed the complaint in a post to the social media platform X, where he appeared to claim his efforts are aimed at changing how UTPD treat protestors.

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Federal Scholarship Program Under Fire for Alleged Bias Against Conservatives

The Center Square
College Students

Lawmakers have threatened to revoke the appropriations for a federally-funded scholarship program that an audit found favors liberally leaning students over conservatives by a ratio of 10 to 1.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was established in the 1970s to award scholarships to students who “demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service.”

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Northwestern University May Have Broken Federal Law by Failing to Report Crimes During Anti-Israel Protests

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Northwestern University student protesters

Northwestern University may have violated a federal law by failing to report crimes on campus at least five times during recent anti-Israel protests.

Northwestern appears to have violated a U.S. law called the Clery Act by not taking and publishing police reports from students who say they were assaulted, battered, stolen from, or witnessed crimes committed by anti-Israel protesters on campus. Failure to do so would allow the university to report lower crime numbers and portray a false picture of campus safety.

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Ohio School System Faces $90M Deficit From COVID-19 Spending

The Center Square

Continued hiring and millions in building projects pushed an Ohio public school system to a financial cliff, including a projected $90 million deficit by 2028, state Auditor Keith Faber said.

A new state performance audit says the Mt. Healthy City School District in suburban Cincinnati hired dozens of new teachers and staff and advanced $18 million in building projects without formal plans or funding to sustain operations.

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