Education

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 …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is sounding off about sociology yet again. And this time the architects of the American experience have his back. The Governor went back for a second slam of the academic discipline in as many months on Thursday, in remarks to the Florida Homeschool Convention in Orlando. “Florida used to require all students to take …

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina’s public university system board voted Thursday to repeal a nearly five-year-old diversity, equity and inclusion policy, meaning its 17 schools will likely join other major universities in cutting diversity programs and jobs. The 24-member University of North Carolina Board of Governors approved its agenda, which included the diversity policy repeal, with two members voting …

Bloomberg Law reports: Maryland’s largest public school system doesn’t have to allow parents to excuse their kids from classroom lessons involving LGBTQ-themed books while the families’ constitutional challenge proceeds, a divided federal appeals court said Wednesday. The parents haven’t shown they’re likely to succeed on their arguments that the Montgomery County school system’s attendance requirements violates their religious freedom, free …

CNN reports: Florida A&M University is putting a purported $237.75 million donation “on pause,” after media reports and college board leaders raised concerns about the actual value of the stock gift—and the details surrounding the donor’s previous donations. It’s a stunning reversal from the fanfare last Saturday at FAMU’s commencement ceremony, when the announcement of the gift made headlines as …

Harrisonburg’s ABC affiliate reports: For the first time in United States history, a school district that changed the name of schools that honored Confederate generals, voted to restore the Confederate names years later. The Shenandoah County School Board held a public hearing on May 9 at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School to discuss restoring the names of Mountain View High School …

Bloomberg Law reports: A gay teacher saw his sex bias win against a Catholic high school overturned Wednesday by the Fourth Circuit, which said because he played a “vital role as a messenger” of the faith, he was a “minister” excepted from the protections of federal sex discrimination law. Charlotte Catholic High School teacher Lonnie Billard’s appeal is the latest …