Tag Archives: education

The Texas Tribune reports: After 13-plus hours of emotional testimony, largely in opposition, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance the so-called Texas “bathroom bill” to the full chamber. The vote was 7-1; Sen. Judith Zaffirini voted against, and Sen. Charles Schwertner was not present at the meeting but asked to be shown as voting yes. The vote …

Ben Winslow reports at Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: Utah lawmakers have passed a bill repealing a controversial law forbidding discussion in classrooms of anything that could be construed as “promotion” of homosexuality. Senate Bill 196’s passage might also get the state out of a lawsuit filed by three students and a pair of gay rights groups. The bill, sponsored …

From a report issued Monday by the Anti-Defamation League: White supremacists, emboldened by the 2016 elections and the current political climate, are currently engaged in an unprecedented outreach effort to attract and recruit students on American college campuses. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has cataloged 104 incidents of white supremacist fliering on college campuses since the school year began in September …

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would not hear a major case on transgender rights after all, acting after the Trump administration changed the federal government’s position on whether public schools had to allow transgender youths to use bathrooms that matched their gender identities. In a one-sentence order, the Supreme Court vacated an …

ABC News reports: Angry social media users flew into an uproar Monday evening after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a statement that some said ignored the context under which historically black universities were created. The statement called historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) “real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” and came shortly after President Donald Trump held a …

CNN reports: Lawyers for Gavin Grimm, a transgender teen who is barred from using the boys’ bathroom at his Virginia high school, told the Supreme Court Thursday that his challenge to the school board policy should go forward, arguing that the restrooms “must be equally available to all boys and all girls, including boys and girls who are transgender.” The …

The Washington Post reports: As both a transgender person and a longtime Republican, Caitlyn Jenner felt compelled to speak out on the Trump administration’s decision Wednesday to revoke federal guidelines specifying that transgender students had the right to use public school restrooms that matched their gender identity. In a video posted to social media Thursday, the former Olympic decathlon champion …

The Hill reports: New Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defended the Trump administration’s decision to rescind protections for transgender students, arguing that the protections were an “overreach” of the Obama administration. “This issue was a very huge example of the Obama administration’s overreach, to suggest one-size-fits-all, federal government approach,” DeVos said on Thursday at the conservative conference CPAC. DeVos was initially …

The Associated Press reports: A Pennsylvania school district has agreed to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from outside a high school and pay $164,000 in legal fees to settle a federal lawsuit. The Freedom From Religion Foundation said it received a signed settlement Tuesday from the New Kensington-Arnold School District saying it will relocate the 6-foot-high monolith from near …

From the Family Research Council: The Trump administration’s reversal of this mandate on schools is a victory for parents, children, and privacy. The Obama administration resorted to this coercive policy because they knew parents and schools could never be persuaded to force boys and girls to shower together, stay together on school trips, and use the same locker rooms and …

The New York Times reports: President Trump rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms of their gender identity, overruling his own education secretary and placing his administration firmly in the middle of the culture wars that many Republicans have tried to leave behind. In a joint letter, the top civil rights officials from the Justice …

Law Newz reports: There is now a draft copy of a document circulating that shows the potential Trump administration reasoning for backing off the Obama policy regarding transgender bathroom use. The Obama administration’s contends that Title IX prohibits the discrimination on the “basis of sex” to include a requirement that facilities provide people access to bathrooms based on the sex …

The New York Times reports: A fight over a draft order that would rescind protections for transgender students in public schools has erupted inside the Trump administration, pitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions against the secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. Ms. DeVos initially resisted signing off on the order and told President Trump that she was uncomfortable with it, according to …

Politico reports: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the Trump administration will be issuing “further guidance” on a former Obama directive aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students. “The president has maintained for a long time that this is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government,” Spicer said. “So while we have …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Despite pleas from parents of transgender children and LGBT employees, the Trump administration is set Tuesday to rescind Obama-era guidance to schools barring discrimination against transgender students and ensuring they have access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told the …

Ben Winslow reports at the Salt Lake Tribune: A bill introduced in the Utah State Legislature may help get the state out of a lawsuit over a law that forbids discussion of anything construed as “promotion” of homosexuality. Senate Bill 196, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton, “repeals language prohibiting the advocacy of homosexuality in health instruction.” “It …

Has she ever been to a public school before? The Hill reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was greeted with protesters when she tried to enter a Washington middle school on Friday morning. A video from the scene shows DeVos walking away from one entrance of Jefferson Middle School after being physically blocked from the entrance. One protester stood in front …

The New York Times reports: The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary, approving the embattled nominee only with the help of a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. The 51-to-50 vote elevates Ms. DeVos — a wealthy philanthropist from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate is moving toward a noon vote Tuesday on confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, with the outcome expected to be the narrowest approval of a Cabinet nominee in the nation’s history. The entire Democratic caucus of 48 senators is expected to vote against DeVos, as are two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and …

Mic.com reports: Democrats pulled an all-nighter on the Senate floor Monday to try and block Betsy DeVos from becoming secretary of the Department of Education, assailing her credentials — or lack thereof — in an effort to convince their GOP colleagues to vote against her nomination. One by one, Senate Democrats took to the floor throughout the night to make …