For years, a New York community’s public school system has been drained of resources by school board members who are more interested in assisting sectarian institutions than in improving public education. But thanks to complaints from angry residents, the state has finally assigned a financial monitor to oversee the board’s activities. Read more
A spat over a high school student’s decision to opt out of the Pledge of Allegiance has been favorably resolved. The administrators of Southside High School in Elmira, N.Y., have agreed to allow a student to sit during the Pledge in response to a letter from the American Humanist Association (AHA).
Read more
When it comes to school vouchers, Indiana State Sen. Brent Steele (R-Bedford) seems to get it.
The Republican lawmaker doesn’t want to support an Indiana bill that would use public funds to send students to religious and other private schools. Steele is the first Republican legislator in the state to voice opposition to the proposal. Read more
As if there aren’t already enough reasons why public funds should never support religious education – here are just a few more.
Reason No. 793: NBC’s Today Show recently interviewed a Florida teacher who said she was fired by a Christian school after school officials learned she became pregnant before her marriage. Read more
What should public schools do about Halloween?
Americans United has never taken a formal position on this question, but since I have two children attending public schools, I've given it some thought. It has been on my mind even more so lately since I've been working on a costume for my 11-year-old son that involves a lot of duct tape. He'll be wearing it in a school parade today and for trick-or-treating on Saturday. Read more
Washington, D.C., is a great city. In addition to all of the wonderful historical and political landmarks, there are a ton of tourist attractions: we have the Spy Museum, the Museum of Crime and Punishment and our very own Madame Tussaud's wax museum.
Northern Kentucky, however, may have us beat. Petersburg is the home of the nation's largest Creation Museum. Read more
With public schools facing budget cuts, most school officials are looking for ways to spread each dollar as far as it can go.
One would think that means the school would us that money to pay teachers, improve the curriculum, maintain the building and buy school supplies. That's probably what Santa Rosa County School District would prefer to do as well, except, they failed to follow sound constitutional advice and now must use precious public funds on attorneys' fees. Read more
Yesterday, I took the day off to attend a special end-of-the-year event at my son's school: He and other members of his fifth-grade class wrote and illustrated stories, which they bound in books and read aloud to visiting parents.
As I surveyed the classroom full of eager students and proud parents, I couldn't help but be struck by the diversity. All races were represented, and several kids mentioned being born in other countries. Read more
Forget about what the law says, some Texas school board members think they know better. Read more
Today, more than three million kids from across the country and world were expected to gather around their public schools' flagpoles to pray as part of the annual "See You at the Pole" (SYATP) event.
This Christian prayer meeting began in 1990 when teenagers got together to pray at their school's flagpole in Burleson, Texas. By 1991, the event went nationwide. Read more
