Education

The Florida Alligator reports: In his 17-month stint as UF president, Ben Sasse more than tripled his office’s spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies. Sasse ballooned spending under the president’s office to $17.3 million in his first year in office — up from $5.6 million in former UF President …

Florida Politics reports: Three Florida professors are suing Florida over a new law abolishing tenure. A suit filed in Leon County circuit court is backed by NCF Freedom, a group formed after Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced the majority of the New College of Florida (NCF) Board of Trustees with conservative appointees. The lawsuit, from tenured professors Sarah Hernandez, Adriana Novoa …

The Texas Tribune reports: Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Texas on Thursday to address the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention in Houston, an AFT source told The Texas Tribune. The White House also confirmed that Harris is scheduled to give the keynote speech at the conference, which started Sunday and will conclude Thursday at the George R. Brown …

Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse posts to his X account: Dear Gator Nation and cherished friends, This isn’t an easy note to write but wanted to give you an update on our family. As many of you know, my wife Melissa suffered an aneurysm and series of strokes in 2007. Back then, the docs prepared us for the worst, but …

Via press release: Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced a new $1 billion gift to make medical school free at Johns Hopkins University for a majority of students, while also increasing financial aid for students at its schools of nursing, public health, and other graduate schools. The high cost of medical and nursing school has kept many talented lower-income students from enrolling, …

Law & Crime reports: The families of Louisiana schoolchildren who sued to challenge a new law requiring that the Ten Commandments are displayed in every classroom are now asking a federal court to block the law before children return to school in August. When Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed the law, he said it was a way of respecting …

Changing America reports: A Midwestern city, affectionately known as “the land of splendor,” has been named the most educated in America, according to a recent WalletHub study. The financial services company compared the 150 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., grading them based on a formula that included the share of adults with high school diplomas and college degrees …

CNN HOST PAMELA BROWN: “You’re saying that the teaching of the Bible in the classroom is a must, that every teacher must accept that. The bible includes beheading, rape, and incest. Do you support teaching children about those topics?” RYAN WALTERS: “I support teaching children our history accurately and what we’ve seen is the radical left and the teachers’ union …

NBC News reports: Oklahoma educators who refuse to teach students about the Bible could lose their teaching license, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said in an interview with NBC News on Friday. Walters issued a memo Thursday instructing all Oklahoma schools to teach students in grades five through 12 about the Bible’s influence on the nation’s founding and historical …

The Meidas Touch reports: After getting smacked down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court yesterday after his attempt to fund a Catholic school using tax dollars, Schools Superintendent Ryan Walter announced today that from this day forward every public school in the state will be required to have a Bible in the classroom and teach from it. The white Christian nationalist …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: The Los Angeles Unified School District is moving forward with a plan to ban cellphone use during the school day, a move that has teachers and parents at odds. The district school board on Tuesday voted in favor of banning phones and social media throughout the day on school campuses, including break periods. The policy …

Politico reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday vowed to severely restrict the use of smartphones during the school day, a dramatic move by the nation’s largest state amid dire warnings from the Biden administration that social media harms children. Newsom’s decision, reported first by POLITICO, comes a day after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned the threat social media …

The Washington Post reports: Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades. School vouchers can be used at almost any private school, but the vast majority of the money is being directed to religious schools, according to …

The Vermont news site Seven Days reports: While teaching a class to high school students on Wednesday, Burlington police officers staged a surprise demonstration in which a masked gunman burst into the room and pretended to open fire. The simulation, which occurred at the Burlington police station, was meant to show the unreliability of witness statements. But the lack of …

Madison’s CBS affiliate reports: The father of a Baraboo High School graduate forcibly pulled the district superintendent away from his daughter as she crossed the stage to receive a congratulatory handshake during the school’s graduation ceremony Friday. The man, who is not being named to protect his daughter’s identity, ran onto the stage just after the girl had been handed …

Salon reports: “Pregnancy is not a disease, and elective abortions are not ‘health care,'” University of Texas at Austin professor Daniel Bonevac sneers in a federal court filing with professor John Hatfield. Instead, Bonevac writes, because pregnancy is the result of “voluntary and consensual sexual intercourse,” students should not be allowed time off to get abortions. If the students disobey …

USA Today reports: Bruhat Soma entered the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee with three smaller spelling bee victories already under his belt in 2024, and the 12-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, won the big prize Thursday by defeating fellow 12-year-old Faizan Zaki in a spell-off. “My heart was pumping so fast when I realized I won,” Soma said. “I had …

Politico reports: The Florida Board of Education approved several tweaks Wednesday to the state’s standards for teaching social studies, but left intact controversial pieces on Black history that sparked widespread backlash last year. Opponents slammed the state for sticking by its “warped” telling of Black history. :Florida’s new teaching standards include the same language that scored national blowback last year …

Politico reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans have spent years aggressively turning the state into a haven for school choice. They have been wildly successful, with tens of thousands more children enrolling in private or charter schools or homeschooling. Now as those programs balloon, some of Florida’s largest school districts are facing staggering enrollment declines — and grappling with …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: San Diego state Assemblymember Chris Ward introduced legislation Wednesday, May 22, that would require school districts and charter schools to keep students’ gender identity and sexual orientation private, amid legal battles — including in San Diego County — over what schools should and should not tell parents of LGBTQ+ students. Assembly Bill 1955 would prohibit …