US Education Tracker

As a historian, I can certify that we are in the bad times. But bad times eventually end.
In the meantime:
• Figure out a small way to help someone
• Figure out a small way to fight back
• Figure out a small place to find joy
• Figure out a small way to grow and thrive

And do it often.

CST: In financial maneuver, Mayor Brandon Johnson finds millions for Chicago Public Schools

Mayor Johnson’s 2026 budget proposal calls for an unprecedented withdrawal from the city’s TIFs, totaling a$1 B surplus.

The alderpersons who signed a letter encouraging CPS to pass a budget that depended on these funds must release their districts’ TIF surplus so that money can help our schools.

There are so many obvious constitutional violations in this story. It is enraging.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.

Finally, some common sense from Oklahoma education.

Ryan Walters turned classrooms into culture war battlegrounds. Reversing his Bible mandate isn’t “anti-religion,” it’s accepting the fact that the Bible is not a history book!

Schools should teach, not preach.

ABOLISH ICE and EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT should be mainstream Democratic promises and talking points.

But timidity and civility will rule the day and screw the rest of us and this country in the end.

I actually have quite a few extended family members of different generations who graduated from IU - all are planning to let university leadership know how they feel about this.

FYI my mom is just retired hence the use of past tense! She is still unprofessionally editing my text messages mercilessly.

IndyStar 2 . Follow 1h: "All Media School and IU students, faculty and staff should be scared by this blatant attack on someone standing up for what's right," student Editors-ln-Chief Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said in a statement. Read more: bit.ly/43ebKW1 IndyStar. IDS The original investigative student newsroom of Indiana University Barge suspends Bloomingtonr LITTLE 500 IDS IDS She should've knownbetter:' nt in N eoiencnalt. A INnpttM Indiana University fires IDS adviser amid push to control student newspaper's content

The director of student media at Indiana University was fired amidst a dispute between university leadership and editors at the Indiana Daily Student over what content gets printed in the student newspaper. As director of student media, Jim Rodenbush did not directly oversee or have any say over the content published in the IDS, per a charter between the IDS and the university. But he told IndyStar his firing follows a series of meetings with IU Media School leadership in which it grew increasingly apparent they were expecting him to officially prohibit students from publishing news.

Indiana University has fired the staff director of the student newspaper, after disputes in which university leadership tried to pressure him to prevent students from publishing news.

I did a summer journalism program at IU and it’s where my mom, who was a professional writer and editor, got her journalism degree. Indiana University should be ashamed of this action.

UPDATE: Following the firing of the director of the student newspaper, Indiana University has now cut the print edition of the newspaper entirely.

www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

Federal Judge Issues Immediate Halt of Trump Administration’s Illegal Firing of Federal Workers During Shutdown AFGE, AFSCME filed lawsuit challenging administration’s reduction-in-force plans.

Illegal shutdown RIFs temporarily blocked!

In short, Brown University argues that they already paid "The Don" protection money 2.5 months ago that was meant to cover them for a few years, at least, and that they were declining the "opportunity" to pay "The Don" more protection money today www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Brown University president declines invitation for Brown to join federal Compact In a letter to the White House, President Christina H. Paxson wrote that Compact provisions restricting academic freedom and undermining autonomy would impede the University’s ability to fulfill its m...

Brown is the second of the original nine to reject the Trump compact!

Proposal would require Florida public school teachers to take oath Florida teachers would have to take an oath to the nation and the state under a proposal filed Monday by Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes.

"...I will well and faithfully perform the duties of a classroom teacher in a professional, independent, objective, and nonpartisan manner..."

Definitely agree! And I see this as a collaborative project to document everything, so I appreciate feedback anytime!

Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby

Trump Opens Up Compact to All of Higher Ed. Now What? Facing the possibility that more colleges could reject its wide-ranging deal, the Trump administration opened up the offer to more institutions. Whether any will sign is unclear.

Nobody wants to sign this preferential funding deal - because it is a bad offer! Trump is attempting to save face by offering it to all higher ed institutions.

Republican lawmakers ask McMahon to restore funding for Hispanic-serving colleges Members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference pushed back on arguments that the programs discriminate by establishing racial quotas.

Members of the Republican Congressional Hispanic Conference argue the cuts, estimated to be a total loss of $459 million, will "undermine workforce development" and "research capacity".

IMO it's worth pointing out the hypocrisy for the people who are less online/politically active and buy this shit, but it's also important to note it's just a complete mockery.

It's deliberately insulting.

I hated the winter until I moved away to cities that rarely get below freezing. Now I genuinely miss being too cold at least some of the time!!

The authority we give people making videos is so interesting! My kid watches a lot of fire alarm/farming youtube. We turn off autoplay and vet all of it for misinfo. He's pretty good about identifying AI but avoiding right-wing bullshit during his wind turbine phase was challenging.

I miss Chicago! I deeply understand this feeling about the lake and other parts of the city that hold decades of memories for me. It's home.

Two in five charter school students in Ohio are chronically absent, nearly 15 percentage points more than the average rate in traditional public schools, new state data shows.
by Cole Behrens
www.dispatch.com/story/news/e...

Oh I'm not surprised at all. There is basically no anti-scientific belief the right could have that would surprise me!

My extremely right wing grandparents loved this guy when they lived in AZ in the 90s. I had to hear so much about his horrible chain-gangs and pink prison clothes. Garbage human.

When I yell about Doug Wilson, CCE, ACCS and Lindsey Burke this is what I'm talking about.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

Excellent overview of what's actually going on at ED and their goals: end public education and replace it with private Christian schools.

Excellent point re:changing the email signatures of ED employees to blame Democrats for the shutdown. This is unethical and illegal.

Court stops UT system from enforcing new campus free speech limits A district court granted an injunction against the UT System's enforcement of the Campus Protection Act, siding with students who say its limits are too broad.

Texas' SB 2972 is "likely" in violation of the First Amendment and is overly broad and restrictive. (Gift link!)

(Apologies for the Apple News links, Reuters is pay-walled and we have a family AN subscription so it's the only way I can see it when they are "exclusives".)