Public officials, including members of AASA, The School Superintendents Association, worry that flagship programs like Title I and IDEA will face "disproportionate cuts."
"I dropped out of school—actually, they kicked me out—because I didn't want to give them my hat," said one student featured in a new report. "And I had bad experiences since preschool, so it was easy for me to be like [forget] this."
Two former employees at the State Department of Education filed separate federal lawsuits Tuesday against Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his top aide, alleging they were wrongfully fired last week.
The heart of much of the fighting lay in culture war issues led by Republicans, from how lessons about race and gender should be taught to what type of books students should be allowed to read.
Education issues will be at the forefront of the hotly contested governor's race, hinging in part on statewide test scores that showed setbacks among many students caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida Department of Education officials in a Jan. 12 letter rejected aspects of the AP African American Studies curriculum, saying it violated state law and was "significantly" lacking in educational value.
Ron DeSantis’s war on “wokeness” has thrust educators into a legal minefield, pushing many to leave the profession entirely. One union leader says it’s all part of a GOP agenda to eradicate public schools: “This is just a part of their playbook.”
"Less is more with the repeal of the A-F system, which always tried to create the false impression that rating schools was easy. It isn't," State Superintendent Michael Rice said in the statement from Whitmer's office. "Schools are complex, and what educators do daily for children is as well. It distills poorly into a letter grade system."
"Putting politicians in charge of the classroom is dangerous," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said during a special address on Monday declaring a state of emergency for public education.
At least eight states have put new school choice policies on the books in the first five months of 2023, with some of them expanding to all K-12 students. Other measures are still up in the air.
