Read from the original source Recently, the Tennessean published an op-ed by Daniel Smith and Adam Kissel entitled: “When should government infringe on academic freedom in a democracy?” The piece argues that when a public university is unaligned with the majority of the citizens who help fund it, the state is justified in intervening to fund neutral centers that encourage students to be open to diverse perspectives. I grant Smith and Kissel’s argument that it is important for college students to engage with diverse perspectives— something already happening at public in ..read more

Read from the original source The panel:  Lisa Morgan — President, Georgia Association of Educators  Brian Robinson — Republican strategist   Ty Tagami — State education reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution    The breakdown:  1. Pandemic restrictions and inflamed rhetoric in the lead-up to 2022 elections are spurring division on education. Several bills related to masking and parents’ rights are on the floor.  House Bill 1178 and Senate Bill 449, both known as a  “parental bill of rights,” are backed by Gov. Brian Ke ..read more

Read from the original source This commentary is by Carol Frenier, a small business owner in Chelsea. She taught American history for a decade in Massachusetts high schools before moving to Vermont in 1992. Both federal and state courts have ruled recently that religious schools must be included in voucher programs that are made available to other nonpublic schools.  This has raised concern among many educators and politicians that using taxpayer dollars may involve religious indoctrination.   These officials might be surprised to learn that many Vermont taxpayers, myself includ ..read more

Recently, the Tennessean published an op-ed by Daniel Smith and Adam Kissel entitled: “When should government infringe on academic freedom in a democracy?” The piece argues that when a public university is unaligned with the majority of the citizens who help fund it, the state is justified in intervening to fund neutral centers that encourage students to be open to diverse perspectives. I grant Smith and Kissel’s argument that it is important for college students to engage with diverse perspectives— something already happening at public institutions across the state. T ..read more

The panel:  Lisa Morgan — President, Georgia Association of Educators  Brian Robinson — Republican strategist   Ty Tagami — State education reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution    The breakdown:  1. Pandemic restrictions and inflamed rhetoric in the lead-up to 2022 elections are spurring division on education. Several bills related to masking and parents’ rights are on the floor.  House Bill 1178 and Senate Bill 449, both known as a  “parental bill of rights,” are backed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Kemp is scheduled to sign ..read more

This commentary is by Carol Frenier, a small business owner in Chelsea. She taught American history for a decade in Massachusetts high schools before moving to Vermont in 1992. Both federal and state courts have ruled recently that religious schools must be included in voucher programs that are made available to other nonpublic schools.  This has raised concern among many educators and politicians that using taxpayer dollars may involve religious indoctrination.   These officials might be surprised to learn that many Vermont taxpayers, myself included, do not want their tax doll ..read more

While Superintendent of Public Instruction, Gov. Tony Evers wrote to legislators a decade ago that expanding the Wisconsin Parental Choice program was “morally wrong.” Evers said he reached that conclusion because the program “has not improved overall student achievement.” Fast forward to the present. Under criteria applied by none other than Evers’ education agency, private choice schools in the state’s largest choice program — Milwaukee — score higher on the DPI Report Card than do public schools. DPI data show that by other measures — such as the college-readiness ACT test — stude ..read more

Gov. Kevin Stitt wants Oklahoma’s laws to be free of outside influence when it suits his agenda, but when Oklahoma’s conservative-dominated legislature advances ready-made, cut-and-paste social legislation from other states or lobbying groups, Stitt practically greets these grifters at the border.  In his Feb. 7 State of the State address, Stitt bemoaned the passage of State Question 788, which brought medical marijuana to the state through a 2018 ballot initiative. Oklahomans overwhelmingly voted for medical marijuana by a margin of 57-43, but Stitt thinks they were deceived, too unsophi ..read more

Public schools in America serve a diverse population of students who come from various backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and customs. Some of the students belong to families with strict religious beliefs that involve dietary restrictions. Whether it is avoiding meat, dairy, beef, or pork, a school would never intentionally usurp the desires and beliefs of the family and force students to eat or drink any of the prohibited items. A teacher would never introduce a restricted food simply because she thought it was a better way to live. This seems reasonable and respectful. If this is true, and ..read more

It’s high time that we started tackling some of the more serious and difficult issues in education. Not just school choice or social issues like critical race and gender theories, which are of course exceptionally important, but we must wade into the mire of bureaucracy, regulation and the other facts of our spaghetti bowl of an education system. State departments of education constrict teachers, schools and therefore parents with thick cords of regulation. Their unfettered, unelected and unchecked offices allow intersectionality and racism, sexism and discrimination to fester.  If we are ..read more