Free Republic

In a request for opinion filed to state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office on Dec. 12, Hancock asked whether schools could be excluded from the program if they were linked to a “foreign terrorist organization” or a “foreign adversary.” Hancock suggested schools that had hosted events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group which Gov. Greg Abbott recently designated as a terrorist organization, would be affected. Abbott’s designation of CAIR as a foreign terrorist organization is part of an uptick in Texas politicians’ criticisms of Islam and the presence of Muslim organizations in the state. The...

In California, US District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a summary judgment declaring a state law requiring public school teachers to conceal the transgender declarations of their students from their parents unconstitutional, saying "parents and guardians have a federal constitutional right to be informed if their public school student child expresses gender incongruence. Teachers and school staff have a federal constitutional right to accurately inform the parent or guardian when the student expresses gender incongruence. These federal constitutional rights are superior to any state or local laws, state or local regulations, or state or local policies to the contrary." Judge...

Parents have a constitutional right to be informed if their child starts to present as a different gender at school, and schools can’t hide that information from parents, a San Diego federal judge ruled in a class-action lawsuit. In a 52-page decision handed down Monday night, Dec. 22, Judge Roger Benitez ruled that parents have a constitutional right to know if their child may be transgender and that California public schools cannot prevent employees from notifying parents. In a separate order, he barred them from violating that right. The injunction bans public school employees from misleading parents about their child’s...

The education story of the year has been the “Southern Surge.” An intrepid group of southern states have led the nation in post-pandemic recovery. In a decade, Mississippi moved from 49th to seventh in the nation on fourth-grade reading scores, despite remaining the poorest state. According to Harvard’s 2024 Education Recovery Scorecard, Louisiana is the only state to recover to 2019 achievement levels in both reading and math, while Alabama matched pre-Covid scores in fourth-grade math alone. All other states continue to lag prior achievement levels. Much of this success has rightly been credited to a handful of commonsense reforms:...

The Trump administration’s focus on immigration enforcement across the country is alleviating the heavy burden of illegals diverting public services, as school systems are reporting significant drops in enrollment after having been overrun with countless migrants, many of whom do not speak English. “One of the victims of Biden’s open border polices was America’s students whose schools became overcrowded[;] teachers, aides and resources, including for disabled students, were diverted to the millions of illegal aliens the Biden Administration flooded into our country,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told The Federalist. “President Trump is...

WASHINGTON — Libby Hilsenrath’s eight-year odyssey to protect her son from what she considered unconstitutional religious indoctrination has reached the final chapter. Last week, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a Reply Brief on her behalf — the final written plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse lower court decisions which affirmed Chatham Middle School teaching seventh grade students: “May God help us all find the true faith, Islam.” Libby Hilsenrath, reflecting on the uncertainty of the High Court’s weighty decision, commented: “This is the path God...

For the record, I’m pro–Christian school…We don’t regret sending our kids to a Christian school, even though my wife has been a public school teacher for the last 28 years. We believe Christian schools can be a powerful force for spiritual transformation. Sadly, that’s often not the case. After speaking at many Christian schools over the last three decades, talking to countless Christian school students and graduates, and witnessing the struggles of our own kids as they went through Christian school, I’ve concluded that the model we use for Christian schools is largely failing to capture the hearts of our...

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (FOX26) — The principal of Paso Robles High School has been arrested for DUI. The Paso Robles Police Department says officers responded to the school campus on Monday after the Paso Robles Police Department's School Resource Officer received a report from Paso Robles Joint Unified School District staff about a possible staff member being under the influence of alcohol. The staff member was identified by the school as Megan Fletcher. Officers say she was found to have driven to the school while under the influence and was arrested for DUI. The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly slurred a federal judge by name, echoing President Trump's history of diatribes against judges even before the current Democrat started copying the former Democrat's social media style and insulting nicknames. The perceived contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination for president may cluck his tongue again when he sees the latest order from U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in a lawsuit against The Golden State's alleged mandate on school districts to hide from parents their children's asserted gender identity at odds with sex. The President George W. Bush nominee ordered state Attorney General Rob Bonta...

On Nov. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider taking up a landmark case that could redefine the meaning of parental rights in public education. The case, Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County, has the potential to impact every classroom in the United States..

New schools, accreditors, and tests—plus new rankings—mean much-needed competition.Admissions officers from two of the nation’s elite law schools joined the Advisory Opinions podcast in early August for a conversation about how students earn a coveted spot in their institutions. Surprisingly, both lamented the dearth of high objective standards at many of the prestigious colleges and universities from which their applicants came.“It’s actually absurd, the level of grade inflation,” said Kristi Jobson, dean of admissions at Harvard Law School. “When you have tons of people with high LSAT scores and everyone is coming with a 3.9 and up, how do you...

When a public high school in Orange County, Florida, aired a weekly “Witchy Wednesday” religious video series on the schoolwide TV system, led by students and featuring detailed instructions on casting spells and performing rituals, including soul cleansing and moon worship, many parents were stunned. The school canceled the series after public outcry and intervention from Liberty Counsel, in which the legal group asked for equal time for Christian instruction. But the larger question remains: Why would a public school introduce spiritual practices rooted in witchcraft to impressionable young students, and what does this reveal about the direction of public...

Zohran Mamdani made news a few weeks ago when he announced that he planned to do away with the city's gifted and talented program for kids, at least the part of it that started in kindergarten. Not surprisingly, Mamdani's positions on education seem to align with the rest of his far-left views, which means that he's generally against sorting students by ability and doesn't like standardized tests that are used for admissions in the city's top schools. This is true even though Mamdani himself attended one of these eight schools, the elite Bronx High School of Science. What I hadn't...

Jackie Norris, the chairwoman of the Des Moines Public School Board who once served as chief of staff to Michelle Obama, has pulled out of the race for Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat as recommended by her Republican opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinson. Hinson stressed earlier this month that Norris, a champion of DEI, had "lost all shreds of credibility" over the role she played in the hiring of the Des Moines district's former superintendent, a criminal illegal alien who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sept 26. Ian Andre Roberts, a native of Guyana, has a lengthy...

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — An Arizona teenager is being told he can’t play on his school’s boys basketball team because of a clerical error made 14 years ago. The family of 14-year-old Laker Jackson says the mistake was fixed months ago, but Queen Creek Unified School District won’t accept the correction."He's a great kid, super personality, he's really smart and funny, a ton of friends," said Laker’s mother, Becky Jackson."He has kids over in the house all day long," added his father, Joseph Jackson. "Anytime there's a free day he'll have a group of kids over here."Laker Jackson is an...

Conservative activist Cam Higby was attacked outside Washington’s Union Station this week while attempting to engage in peaceful political discussions. The incident comes as Higby launches his “Fearless Tour,” an effort he says that is inspired by the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while engaging in similar dialogue. In the viral clip, a woman is first seen kneeling beside Higby, reaching for his MAGA hat. As Higby repeats, “Stop, stop, stop,” the woman, identified as Taylor Forte, grew more aggressive, standing up and trying to rip the hat from his head before knocking him over in his chair. Higby...

🚨 52% of American Schools and Districts have begun rolling out a new program called Equitable Grading Equitable Grading means American students will have - Unlimited test retakes - No zeros for missing work - No homework, homework’s is excluded from final grades - No late penalties - No required participation “In short, everyone passes and more than half of US public schools have already adopted at least one of these policies and some districts have adopted all of them. Teachers themselves are calling it academic fraud. Meanwhile, the US already spends more per student than almost any other developed...

New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has a bold plan for the city’s schools: phase out the Gifted and Talented program in elementary education. His rationale is that these programs create disparities and feed inequality. It’s a familiar progressive argument. If some students are excelling, others must be suffering. If a child is recognized as gifted, it’s unfair to those who aren’t. The logic is as simple as it is destructive: equality means sameness, even if sameness means mediocrity. There is nothing wrong with recognizing giftedness. In fact, it’s common sense. If a child demonstrates unusual ability in math, science, writing,...

A North Carolina school bus driver who calls himself “Ms. Sharon” has been charged with sexually assaulting several boys whom he lured to his house, cops say. Leetwain Darrell Tate — a 48-year-old a male also known as just “Sharon” — was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of statutory rape and six counts of indecent liberties with a minor, according to Charlotte-Mecklenberg police. He is accused of assaulting at least four boys age 14 and 15 years old, but officials said there could be more victims. The children were found to be staying at his house, and one...

A 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela who posed as a teenager in Toledo, Ohio, now faces decades in prison after admitting to a scheme that lasted more than a year. Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra pleaded guilty this past week to multiple charges after forging immigration documents and claiming to be a 16-year-old student at Perrysburg High School in January 2024, the New York Post reported. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Sierra, who crossed the border in 2019 and was only permitted to stay until March 2020 by the Biden administration, also illegally purchased...