AP News

Why parents should stop texting their kids at school

Parents are distressingly aware of the distractions and the mental health issues associated with smartphones and social media. But teachers say parents might not realize how much those struggles play out at school.

Head Start preschools aim to fight poverty, but their teachers struggle to make ends meet

Head Start teachers—70% of whom have bachelor’s degrees—earn $39,000 a year on average, far less than public school teachers with similar credentials. President Joe Biden wants to raise their pay, but Congress has no plans to expand the Head Start budget.

Phones are distracting students in class. More states are pressing schools to ban them

In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day.

Concerned parents are beginning to see progress on their push for healthier electric school buses

One of the biggest challenges is still the cost, parents, advocates, and districts say. Even with the fuel and maintenance savings of an electric bus, they cost two to three times more than diesel.

Teaching of gender in Georgia private schools would be regulated under revived Senate bill

Senate Bill 88, which majority Republicans on Tuesday passed out of the Senate Education and Youth Committee on a party-line vote, now says private schools would have to obtain written permission from all parents before instruction “addressing issues of gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology, or gender transition.”

Alaska governor pitches teacher bonuses as debate over education funding dominates session

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy urged lawmakers late Tuesday to pass his pilot program that would pay teachers bonuses of up to $15,000 a year, pitching it as an investment in the classroom, even as education leaders say a more significant investment in the state’s K12 public school system is needed.

White House launches gun safety initiative with first lady Jill Biden

The new initiative will be unveiled Thursday in an event for school principals with first lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Also participating will be Stefanie Feldman, who runs the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

A Texas school’s punishment of a Black student who wears his hair in locs is going to trial

Darryl George, 18, has not been in his regular classroom in Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu since Aug. 31. Instead, he has either been serving in-school suspension or spending time in an off-site disciplinary program.

Ann Arbor Public Schools approves Mideast cease-fire resolution that had stoked controversy

The district is also encouraging its teachers to discuss the Israel-Hamas war in their classrooms following an emotionally charged meeting Wednesday.

Georgia House Republicans seek to boost spending on preschool by more than $100 million

“We’ve got to continue to up our game,” House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, a Milton Republican who led a study of Georgia’s prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds.

Parents want district to improve security more after deadly Iowa school shooting

Several parents in an Iowa town where a deadly school shooting took place earlier this month told school officials on Monday they want more preventative measures and transparency as the school board plans for students’ return.

USDA estimates 21 million kids will get summer food benefits through new program in 2024

“No child in this country should go hungry,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They certainly shouldn’t go hungry because they lose access to nutritious school meals during the summer months.”

Investigation into police failures during the Uvalde school shooting will continue into 2024

The possibility of criminal charges against some of the nearly 400 officers who rushed to Robb Elementary School but waited more than an hour to confront and kill the shooter has hung over Uvalde since state lawmakers faulted law enforcement at every level.

These kids want to go to school. The main obstacle? Paperwork

A serious problem has presented itself. A corrosive combination of onerous re-enrollment requirements, arcane paperwork and the everyday obstacles of poverty—a nonworking phone, a missing backpack, the loss of a car—is in many cases preventing children from going back to school.

Federal judge rules school board districts illegal in Georgia school system, calls for new map

School board districts in the Cobb County school system appear to be unconstitutionally discriminatory and must be quickly redrawn ahead of 2024’s elections, judge says.