Education in Focus

Michigan lawmakers are working to become the 38th state to host a Purple Star program in schools, which would help accommodate students who often change schools due to parental military service. Last week, the Michigan House of Representatives passed House Bill 4027, which would create the framework for Michigan to certify schools to ensure resources and information exist to help military children who relocate often. Rep. Dale Zorn, R-Onstead, introduced the legislation, which now moves to the Senate. It codifies requirements for the Department of Education, despite the program already existing based on a prior state budget that allocated over $1 million, according to the Department of Defense. 

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An organization focused on creating pipelines for students of color to become teachers says it receives payment from public schools, while other reporting indicates it receives funds from private sources. The Center for Black Educator Development has recently been criticized and praised for its work, which, according to its website, is geared toward “current and future Black educator-activists.” The Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) says on its website that taxpayer dollars fund several of its programs: “100% of direct and indirect costs for Teaching Pathways programs and Professional Learning services are covered through partnerships with public-school districts and charter networks.”

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According to international test results, student academic performance in the United States has dropped dramatically since 2019, the last assessment and the year before government and school leaders sent children to learn at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.  According to the results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study assessment released this week, U.S. students scored lower than ever on math and science assessments in every subject except for eighth-grade science, which was the same as that initial assessment nearly 30 years ago. The international test, called TIMSS, is administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and given to students in 44 countries every four years. The assessment showed academic declines in science and math for students in the United States, which some countries did not experience. 

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The Supreme Court said it would not hear a case brought by parents in Wisconsin against their school district over its lack of a parental notification policy for students who change their gender. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he would have heard the case brought against an association of parents against the Eau Claire Area School District. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the court's denial. Parental notification policies have sparked heated debates in hundreds of school board meetings and litigation in courts nationwide. 

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During a congressional hearing on civics education Wednesday morning, Democrats stated that K-12 students do not receive instruction on critical race theory. Republicans disagreed and asked witnesses pointed questions to show the framework is in schools. The hearing highlighted the partisan divide on the kinds of instruction students should receive regarding the nation's founding and whether schools should approach teaching with equity or equality. The tension between the parties was evident from the very beginning of the hearing, titled "Back to Basics: America's Founding, Civics, and Self-Government in K-12 Curricula," when committee chair Rep. Aaron Bean, a Republican from Florida, lambasted critical race theory and said American students are behind other countries. 

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A spate of New York School districts have become the latest to join more than 500 school districts across the United States suing the biggest social media companies for what they allege are adverse effects on students’ mental health. According to court filings, the Potsdam School District in New York joined the series of suits last week. More than 30 states are also suing the social media company. “American children are suffering an unprecedented mental health crisis, fueled by Defendants’ addictive and dangerous social media products,” the master complaint for school districts reads. “In the past decade, Americans’ engagement with social media grew exponentially, nowhere more drastically than among our country’s youth.” 

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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Jewish parents and teachers claiming that an ethnic studies course taught in Los Angeles Unified School District classrooms was antisemitic because of its position on the state of Israel. Judge Fernando M. Olguin dismissed the case Saturday. He said the organization Concerned Jewish Parents and Teachers of Los Angeles did not have sufficient standing against the Unified Teachers of Los Angeles, the school district, a teacher who was sued and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which created the curriculum.

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A lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lawsuit against the Austin-based Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center may spell trouble for its regulars and relief for those living and going to school nearby this holiday season. Paxton asked the court Tuesday to prevent Sunrise, the self-proclaimed “highest-volume provider of homeless services in Travis County,” from operating within 1,000 feet of a school or playground. The homeless assistance outreach, which is a ministry out of a church, is currently within 200 feet of Joslin Elementary School, according to the court document. Paxton alleges that its operation has created a public nuisance for students and surrounding residents and violates Texas law.

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President-elect Donald Trump announced that former wrestling CEO and administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon will be his secretary of Education. On Truth Social Tuesday evening, Trump posted a statement announcing McMahon would lead the agency and alluded to his campaign promise to dissolve the Department of Education. "We will send education back to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort," Trump said in the statement. Trump has used the phrase to describe the effects of eliminating the Department of Education in the nation's capital and putting states back in charge of education systems.

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States and private organizations argued this month that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals should overturn a district court decision allowing the Biden administration to implement its expanded Title IX rules ahead of oral arguments next month. The Department of Education previously argued that the appellate court should side with a district court’s ruling to allow the rule to go into effect while litigation continues. The argument is the latest legal salvo by states against the federal government over the changes to include gender identity under the law prohibiting sex discrimination at the nation’s educational institutions. 

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