There is little evidence of a public schooling infrastructure crisis, and massive new federal spending would likely send much money from taxpayers outside of districts to taxpayers in districts who refuse to use their own money for new construction. Maybe that reluctance is because many taxpayers sense that there hasn't been broad “underfunding” of public schooling or a building crisis.

District Attorney Larry Krasner has announced new policies that will modify some disturbing practices in the treatment of juvenile offenders: locking them up for status offenses such as breaking curfew or skipping school; subjecting them to long bouts of solitary confinement; and sentencing them to subpar facilities, many of which do nothing to provide education or remediation.

Teachers are proving vulnerable to disconnects between state and federal law that send conflicting messages about the use of medical marijuana. And district officials are in between a rock and a hard place: Under the Drug-Free Workplace Act, any employer that receives federal funding must operate a drug-free workplace, or risk losing that funding.

For more than two years, a group of parents has fought with the California district over its sexual health curriculum and appropriate ages. An online petition opposing the curriculum has over 6,000 signatures and an in-person petition has collected 4,000 signatures.