The Washington Post

With voting under attack, Arizona schools don’t want to be polling locations

The reasons have been building for years, but the final straw for Mesa Public Schools officials came last November with a small, low-turnout election that became mired in misinformation and menace.

Tenn. school district where students held ‘slave auction’ settles with DOJ

The Hawkins County School District—where federal investigators said students subjected a Black classmate to repeated harassment, including calling him racist slurs, hitting him and holding a mock “slave auction” to sell him to White peers—will implement several changes under a settlement.

Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers

The rapid expansion of state voucher programs follows court decisions that have eroded the separation between church and state.

Where classrooms are becoming too hot for learning

As heat waves creep north, they are baking schools that previously did not need air conditioning. Fixing the problem will be neither cheap, nor easy.

How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones

When Raymond Dolphin became assistant principal of a middle school in Connecticut two years ago, it was clear to him that the kids were not all right. The problem was cellphones.

Ex-Montgomery superintendent McKnight to get $1.3M in separation deal

Most of the payout covers “agreed upon wages,” though it also includes $30,000 to cover her attorney fees, according to the agreement, which was obtained by The Washington Post through a public records request.

In states with laws targeting LGBTQ issues, school hate crimes quadrupled

At the same time, calls to LGBTQ+ youth crisis hotlines have exploded, with some advocates drawing a connection between the spike in bullying and hate crimes, and the political climate.

States bet big on career education, but struggle to show it works

When Kim Rider and her team contact a former student, they aren’t just checking in—they’re also gathering data. Rider oversees career and technical education in Allen Parish, a region of rural Louisiana known for pine forests and the state’s largest casino.

Loudoun County Public Schools has a reputation problem. Can Aaron Spence fix it?

The wealthy Northern Virginia school system just outside Washington—the third largest in the state—has been thrust into multiple controversies in recent years over its handling of sexual assaults at two high schools and fiery fights over school masking, equity plans and pronouns.

How Florida’s book wars tore Escambia County’s school district apart

A teacher unable to read books to her fourth-grade students without seeking permission. A pastor worried children will encounter graphic sexual material in the titles waiting on classroom shelves. A superintendent fired in part, he said, for refusing to yank books out of the schools.