On Friday, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Department of Education will begin collecting data this year to track religiously motivated discrimination or bullying allegations from students.
“Students of all religions should feel safe, welcome and valued in our nation’s schools,” Catherine E. Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in an announcement.
Yesterday, Donald Trump unveiled his education plan. It lacks any vision for strengthening our public schools. Instead, it would divert $20 billion in federal funding to “school choice,” including private school vouchers.
Last night around 9:40 I received an email with a curious subject line. “The Greatest American Woman, R.I.P.,” it read.
“Who could that be?” I wondered as I opened the message. Came the answer: Phyllis Schlafly.
“Today, Phyllis Schlafly died like she lived – with dignity and a smile,” wrote Ed Martin, president of the Eagle Forum, a group Schlafly founded. “Surrounded by her family, Phyllis passed away and entered her reward with the Lord. Her family, friends and staff will miss her. Her nation will be eternally grateful.”
Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a story about a trend among far-right conservatives in Kansas who call public schools “government schools.”
The idea is that a shift in terminology will change opinions. After all, to many people, “public” equals good, while “government” equals bad.
As Erica Massman, a moderate Republican, told The Times, “They are trying to rebrand public education.”
If you have children, there’s a good chance you’ve worked hard to instill in them the values you hold, whether those values are religious or secular.
If you’re a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Pagan, a humanist, etc. you probably raised your children in that faith or philosophy. If it was important to you, you likely wanted it to be important to them.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit raising a religious challenge to New York’s vaccination requirements for public school students.
State law requires parents to vaccinate children before they can enroll them in public school. Religious exemptions are permitted, but schools can send unvaccinated children home during outbreaks of infectious disease. A group of parents challenged the law, asserting that it violated their religious-freedom rights.
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.
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).
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.
