Oklahoma is now requiring that all schools include teachings centered around the Bible in curriculums for grades five through 12.
Read the full storyOklahoma to Require Bible, Ten Commandments Be Taught in Public Schools
Category: Education
Obama-Appointed Judges Strike Down Parts of Biden’s Student Loan Repayment Plan
Obama-appointed federal judges blocked parts of the Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan on Monday in response to Republican states’ lawsuits.
Judge John A. Ross of Missouri and Judge Daniel Crabtree of Kansas blocked parts of the administration’s SAVE plan, which was an income-driven repayment program intended to lower monthly costs for borrowers. The court rulings prohibit the Department of Education from further lowering payments or eliminating more debt through the program, Politico reported.
Read the full storyAttorney General: Student Loan Ruling ‘a Huge Win for South Carolina’
South Carolina’s attorney general called a federal judge’s decision to block part of President Joe Biden’s latest push to delay or cancel roughly half a trillion dollars in student debt “a huge win for South Carolina.”
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in Kansas and U.S. District Judge John Ross in Missouri issued separate rulings halting Biden’s plan, dubbed the Saving on a Valuable Education — or SAVE — Plan. Republican attorneys general, including South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, filed a lawsuit challenging the plan.
Read the full storyOklahoma Supreme Court Rules Against First Publicly-Funded Religious Charter School
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the approval of what would have been the nation’s first publicly-funded religious school was unconstitutional, according to court records.
Oklahoma’s Virtual Charter School Board voted to approve an application for a virtual religious charter school in June 2023, prompting state Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond to file a lawsuit in October to block the funding, calling it “an irreparable violation of our individual religious liberty” and “an unthinkable waste of our tax dollars.” The Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately sided with Drummond on Tuesday, finding that “under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school” and that “as such, a charter school must be nonsectarian,” per court filings.
Read the full storyCovenant Killer Audrey Hale Wrote in Journal About Training with Firearm She Purchased with Pell Grant, Concealed in Family Home
Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in the journal police recovered from her vehicle about training at a Nashville gun range with one of the weapons she purchased using federal Pell Grant funds and concealed in her family home.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained Hale’s journal and a tranche of police documents from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, and on June 6, including a journal entry in which Hale claimed to witness an accidental firearm injury while training at a Nashville gun range just two days prior to her devastating March 27, 2023 attack.
Read the full storyState Representative Scott Cepicky: Tennessee’s Public Education Has Opportunity to Be Improved Through Both Universal School Choice Program and Reform Measures
Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) said the Tennessee House version of the universal school choice bill that failed to pass the General Assembly earlier this year is “eerily similar” to the Wisconsin school choice bill that passed the state’s legislature nearly 14 years ago.
Read the full storyNearly a Third of ‘Pro-Palestine’ Campus Protesters Had a Job Offer Rescinded, Survey Finds
A recent survey found that 3 in 10 college students or recent graduates had job offers rescinded as a result of their “pro-Palestine” activism.
Intelligent surveyed 672 students or recent college graduates who have engaged in anti-Israel activism and found that 29% of them had a job offer rescinded in the past six months and 55% believe there was bias against them in the hiring process because of their activism.
Read the full storyAnti-Israel Public School Educators in Philadelphia Affirms Desire for School Choice in Pennsylvania
The Canary Mission’s deep dive into the hateful messaging being pushed by educators across the nation and in Pennsylvania comes at a time when lawmakers of the Keystone State are attempting to revive a school voucher program which would award scholarships to low-income students attending underperforming public schools.
Read the full storyCommentary: America Doesn’t Need Federal Homeschooling Standards
Some of you may remember that four years ago this week I debated Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Bartholet who called for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling. The online event was hosted by the Cato Institute and drew thousands of participants, including many homeschooling families who were incensed by Bartholet’s proposal.
Now, Scientific American is joining the crowd of busybodies eager to constrain a family’s right to raise and educate their children how they choose. “The federal government must develop basic standards for safety and quality of education in homeschooling across the country,” read a recent editorial in the magazine.
Read the full storyBecket Fund Lawyer Argues for Religious Liberty of Catholic School
A Catholic school’s ability to operate in accord with its faith is in jeopardy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit heard oral arguments June 11 in St. Joseph Parish v. Nessel. The case involves St. Joseph Catholic School in Saint Johns, Michigan, which is asking the court to protect its ability to hire staff who share the same faith.
Read the full storyLouisiana Becomes First State to Require Public Schools Display Ten Commandments
Louisiana is set to become the first state to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms under a bill signed into law by Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Read the full storyForeign Aid and Student Loan Forgiveness Behind Massive Increase in Deficit Estimate, Congressional Budget Office Says
America’s debt is growing faster than previously expected, largely due to actions taken by the Biden administration and recent legislation, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The United States’ projected deficit is $1.9 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year, $400 billion higher than it was projected to be in February, the CBO announced Tuesday. CBO analysts increased their estimate due in large part to the foreign aid package signed by President Joe Biden in April and his administration’s efforts to reduce student loan balances.
Read the full storyNew Tennessee College of Applied Technology Campus Opens at BlueOval City
The new Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) at Stanton campus is officially open and will welcome its first class of students later this summer.
Read the full storyWisconsin Lawmakers Say MPS Troubles Costing Their Schools
Lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol say Milwaukee Public School’s financial crisis will cost their schools as well.
Republican Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, said MPS’ recently approved property tax increase will shift the way that state school aid dollars are spent.
Read the full storyMinnesota Parents Petition School Board for Improved Safety in Schools
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.”
Read the full storyPennsylvania’s Education Reform Recap
Both legislative chambers left town this week after advancing sweeping educational reforms likely to wind up – in some form – woven into the state budget due June 30.
While the plans don’t necessarily clash, Senate and House leaders do. The ideological strife will boil down to the estimated return on investment.
Read the full storyReview: New Book Confronts Anti-White Racism
A new book confronts the longstanding problem of “anti-white racism.”
Claremont Institute Senior Fellow Jeremy Carl discussed his new book, “The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism is Tearing America Apart,” during a virtual event hosted by the think tank.
Read the full storyBiden Rule Extending Title IX to Trans Students Blocked in More GOP States
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.
Read the full storyCommentary: The Parallel Education System Can Fix America’s Education Problem
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.
Read the full story16-Year-Old Minnesota Girl Speaks Out About Having to Share School Restrooms and Locker Rooms With Males
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.
Read the full storyNew Challenge to Wisconsin’s School District Grow Your Own Teacher Program
There’s a challenge to the Grow Your Own Multicultural Teacher Scholarship in Beloit Schools.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sent a letter to Beloit Schools, asking it to end the scholarship because it discriminates.
Read the full storyTeachers Union Issues List of Climate Demands as Students Struggle to Read at Grade Level
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.
Read the full storyUnorthodox Pennsylvania Program Challenges Traditional School Curriculum
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.”
Read the full storyPennsylvania Charter Schools Hit Hard in Proposed Funding Formula
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.
Read the full storyUniversity of Wisconsin President Promises New Focus on Free Speech, Civil Dialogue
The new free speech lessons for the University of Wisconsin’s next freshman class will not just be about speaking your mind.
UW President Jay Rothman told regents during meeting in Milwaukee he is planning a new curriculum for new students about both sides of the right to freedom of speech.
Read the full storyFlorida’s DeSantis Announces $1.25 Billion Teacher Pay Hike
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference in Hialeah on Monday to announce $1.25 billion for teacher salary increases.
DeSantis said the funds for teacher salary hikes are earmarked in the budget over the next five years and pointed out that Florida has ranked tops overall in education by U.S. News and World Report for the past two years.
Read the full storyFlorida University Civic Center Aims to Become ‘Premier Think Tank’ on Economic Freedom
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.
Read the full storyShatter-Resistant Glass Films to Be Installed on Every Wilson County School Campus This Summer
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.
Read the full storyOhio Bill Would Stop Schools Tracking Students’ Web Activity
Public school districts in Ohio could soon have access limited to school-issued computers used by students and monitoring students’ web-browsing activity during non-school hours.
A bill that recently unanimously passed the Senate and began hearings in the House would also prohibit technology providers from using educational data to market or advertise to students.
Read the full storyColorado Discriminated Against Catholic Preschools by Starving Them of Funding, Court Rules
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.
Read the full storyAnalysis: Ibram Kendi’s ‘Antiracist’ Center Is Racist by His Own Standards
Ibram Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research is racist – according to the founder’s own definition.
The College Fix analyzed the remaining team at his Boston University center, which has shrunk since last year due to budgetary problems.
Read the full storyOhio Attorney General Sues to Stop Potential Sale of Rare Jewish Books and Manuscripts
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.
Read the full storyUT Knoxville Advisory Board Votes to Increase Tuition, Asks for Public Guidance
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.”
Read the full storyCommentary: Parental Freedom is Flourishing
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.
Read the full storyMichigan State Has over 140 Employees Working on 222 DEI Action Items
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.
Read the full storyMilwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Resigns amid Budget Pushback, Missing Fiscal Reports
Milwaukee’s school superintendent is out of a job, but the city’s school board did not fire him.
Superintendent Keith Posley reigned early Tuesday morning after a marathon school board meeting.
Read the full storyMath Professor Fired After Criticizing Slavery Reparations Continues Legal Battle Pennsylvania College
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.
Read the full storyOne Pro-Palestine Protester Arrested at New Anti-Israel Encampment at University of Pittsburgh
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.
Read the full story‘Deeply Regressive’: Riley Gaines Slams Biden’s Title IX Rules at Pro-Women Sports Rally
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.
Read the full storyFree Speech Group Files Lawsuit Against Indiana University over ‘Bias Response Team’
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.
Read the full storyDespite Board Directive Prohibiting It, Arizona State University Asks for DEI Commitments in Hiring
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.
Read the full storyCommentary: Teachers Also Think American Public Schools Are in Decline
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.
Read the full storyPublic Schools Push ‘Climate Crisis’ Narrative, as Skeptics Try to Offer Other Perspectives
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.”
Read the full storyUCLA Med School DEI Leader Accused of Major Plagiarism Refuses to Address Allegations
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.
Read the full storyCommentary: Abiding Child Abuse in Schools
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.
Read the full storyAmerican Tax Dollars Fund Laundry List of Left-Wing Books
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.
Read the full storyState of Oregon Attempts to Force Christian Ministry to Remove Christian Beliefs in Order to Receive Funding
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.
Read the full storyGov. Bill Lee Confirms He’s ‘Engaged’ with Republican Candidates to Determine School Choice Stance Ahead of Primary Elections
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.”
Read the full storyPennsylvania Bill Would Name Group Opposed to School Choice Vouchers as Sole Agency Capable of Training Directors
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.
Read the full storyFlorida’s Public Schools Close as School Choice Takes Off
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.
Read the full story