The Bottom Line | Page 4

In a state initiative with potential national implications, school districts across California are navigating the complexities of meeting the state’s looming Ethnic Studies requirement. This mandate, based on Assembly Bill 101 (AB 101) signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2021, stipulates that students graduating during the 2029–2030 school year must complete at least one semester of Ethnic Studies. California stands as the first state to enact such a requirement, aiming to ostensibly foster cultural understanding through core concepts of equality, equity, justice, and the study of race and ethnicity, as outlined in the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. As I reported previously here and here, the Northern California Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) took an ambitious approach to implementing this requirement, going Read More ›

There was a mass exodus from district public schools during the prolonged school closures when parents had a front-row seat in their child’s classroom through the remote Zoom sessions. They witnessed the infiltration of radical political agendas and the lack of quality academic instruction. When schools were unresponsive to their concerns, parents who could exit the system for alternative education avenues for their children did so. But it wasn’t just families who left district public schools. Teachers have also found the door. According to a new report from Independent Women, titled “Give Teachers a Break: Cutting Red Tape to Unleash the Potential of America’s Great Teachers,” an astonishing 16% of teachers “left their schools between 2020 and 2022.” Additionally, the Read More ›

The Texas legislature has passed a bill giving the governing boards of Texas public universities more oversight responsibilities. Keri D. Ingraham defends this move on NTD Newsroom as a good step toward ensuring that higher education, funded with taxpayer money, is preparing students for the future.