Education

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Manatee County officials have removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into New College of Florida’s trustees and administration following a civil rights complaint filed on Aug. 22, according to a letter sent Friday from the agency to college Interim President Richard Corcoran. The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights said it plans to investigate the college on the …

Axios reports: Florida’s public universities will now permit the Classic Learning Test in admissions, offering a conservative-backed alternative to the SAT and ACT. Florida is now the first state university system in the country to allow for the Classic Learning Test (CLT), which has gained recent popularity among the state’s Christian and charter schools. The classical education model — not …

Jacksonville’s NBC affiliate reports: Donelle Evensen, principal at Bunnell Elementary School, informed Superintendent LaShakia Moore that she is resigning from her post, the Flagler County School District said in a news release Thursday morning. Evensen and a teacher were placed on leave following the assembly that was held for “African American students that scored below a three on testing.” Furious …

Popular Information reports: Last Monday, the Pennridge School Board, located outside of Philadelphia, imposed a new social studies curriculum that will require teachers to incorporate lessons from the 1776 Curriculum, a controversial K-12 course of study developed by Hillsdale College, a private Christian institution that promotes right-wing ideologies. The curriculum was developed in part by Jordan Adams, an educational consultant …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: As Florida lawmakers expanded eligibility for school vouchers this year, they also gave parents more ways to spend the money. Theme park passes, 55-inch TVs, and stand-up paddleboards are among the approved items that recipients can buy to use at home. The purchases can be made by parents who home-school their children or send them …

The Associated Press reports: California’s attorney general sued a Southern California school district Monday over its new policy requiring schools to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns, the latest blow in an intensifying battle between a handful of school districts and the state about the rights of trans kids and their parents. Attorney General Rob …

Fort Worth’s ABC affiliate reports: A Fort Worth school district board meeting turned tense Tuesday night as parents and community members sounded off on books in school and the district’s decision to close libraries while they catalog books ahead of a new state law in September. The Fort Worth Independent School District last week confirmed they were closing their libraries …

Florida Politics reports: A group spotlighting positive college environments for LGBTQ students just dropped two Florida universities from its rankings. Campus Pride excluded the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the University of North Florida (UNF) from its Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities list. That’s despite both colleges earning high marks in prior years. Instead, the college …

The Guardian reports: For the past two years, book banning has been on the rise in schools and libraries across the US, mainly due to far-right pressure. Now the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is trying to fight back. It recently launched the Banned Book Program, granting free nationwide access to books restricted in schools or libraries. It functions …

Tampa’s NPR affiliate reports: A student organization that serves African-American men who attend Tallahassee Community College might have to change its name or risk losing funding under a new Florida law. Tyler Soto, a student at TCC, is a member of Black Male Achievers. He says they’re working out possible new names, such as “Male Achievers” or “Scholar Male Achievers.” …

The Associated Press reports: College students and professors in Florida are suing education officials over a new law spurred by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war on “woke,” saying it violates their constitutional rights by censoring academic freedom. The lawsuit was filed in federal court Monday by students and professors at New College, a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration on Monday issued new guidance to colleges and universities on how they could still legally encourage racial diversity on their campuses even after the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions. The guidance, from the Education and Justice departments, came after the conservative-majority Supreme Court in June ruled that colleges cannot legally consider …

Popular Science reports: Iowa educators are turning to ChatGPT to help decide which titles should be removed from their school library shelves in order to legally comply with recent Republican-backed state legislation, PopSci has learned. The Mason City Community School District recently removed 19 books from its collection. The ban attempts to comply with a new law requiring Iowa school …

The Insider reports: Students in Massachusetts will get free lunch and breakfast at school thanks to a new 4% tax put on people who earn more than $1 million. Massachusetts voters passed a constitutional amendment that went into effect at the beginning of 2023 to put an additional 4% state income tax on people who make more than $1 million …

The Arkansas Times reports: Word came Friday from distraught educators that a new Advanced Placement course on African American history was suddenly on the chopping block, just two days before the first bell of the school year was set to ring in Arkansas high schools planning to offer the class. An official from the Arkansas Department of Education reportedly alerted …

The Insider reports: Students who attend school in Florida will now need parental permission to use a nickname or preferred name in school, thanks to a law put in place by the state’s governor, Ronald Dion DeSantis, who famously goes by a nickname — Ron. The rule will soon hit all Florida districts and follows new legislation that was adopted …

Salon reports: School district officials in Hillsborough County, Fla., have implemented a newly designed curriculum guide for English teachers that will see students reading only selections from William Shakespeare plays. “There’s some raunchiness in Shakespeare. Because that’s what sold tickets during his time,” said Joseph Cool, a reading teacher at Gaither High School. “I think the rest of the nation …

ABC News reports: Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. has instructed Florida school officials to teach College Board’s AP Psychology course “in its entirety,” according to a letter obtained by ABC News from the state Department of Education. The letter follows the College Board’s announcement that Florida officials had effectively banned the course by instructing state superintendents “that teaching foundational …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Florida will not allow public school students to take Advanced Placement psychology because the course includes lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity, topics forbidden by the state, the College Board said Thursday. If so, that would mean that a week before school starts in many districts, about 5,000 Central Florida students and about 27,000 statewide …