Education in Focus America's Talking Network

As school board candidates run and win on more conservative-leaning platforms promising public school reforms, alternatives to traditional school board member associations have launched in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania in an attempt to redefine the role. Alternatives for conservative-leaning school board members have proven to be contentious, but proponents say they are following the law and holding school systems more accountable to promote student success. The York County School Board in Yorktown, Virginia, recently debated whether to use an alternative to the Virginia School Board Association.

A federal judge ruled earlier this week that New Hampshire laws limiting classroom discussions around critical race theory and divisive topics are unconstitutionally vague and violate the Fourteenth Amendment. New Hampshire was one of the dozens of states to pass laws limiting classroom instruction related to the legal framework that seeks to explain how racism permeates societal institutions, which critics of critical race theory call “divisive.” The law was challenged by the New Hampshire chapter of the ACLU as well as teachers unions in the state, who were concerned with what they could teach students given the scope of the law. The judge agreed that the laws were too vague.

Notable author and outspoken scholar Ibram X. Kendi told educators and others in a taxpayer funded equity webinar Thursday that influencing school systems offers a “bigger bang for your activism” and said "antiracist" education should start before age 3.

While the Montana Legislature passed measures that would enable the state to begin approving charter schools last year, a lawsuit could dramatically delay when the publicly-funded alternatives to traditional public schools would be able to open.

Administrators used virtual credit recovery courses to help students deemed problematic graduate without doing the work

Chicago Public Schools has spent an increasing amount of taxpayer funds on balloon displays in the last five years. The school district has put more than half a million dollars toward elaborate displays for events and celebrations in that time.