Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

Wisconsin’s Governor Is Teaching a Master Class on How to Outmaneuver the GOP

John Nichols, The Nation

Surrounded by applauding elementary school students, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a state budget plan on Wednesday that effectively guaranteed increased funding for the rest of every young Wisconsinite’s K-12 education. And for the children who will follow those children into the state’s public schools. And the grandchildren of those children. And the grandchildren of the grandchildren. And the grandchildren of the grandchildren of the grandchildren.

The Dystopian Future of U.S. Public Education Is On Display in Houston

Jackie Anderson, Ruth Kravetz, and Jay Malone, In These Times

On June 1, the state of Texas removed Elizabeth Santos, an elected school board trustee, from office and replaced her with Janette Garza Lindner, the candidate she defeated in December 2021. The ousting was part of a larger takeover of the Houston public school system by the Republican-led Texas state government — a process that began in late 2019 and became formalized June 1 when Mike Miles, a charter school owner whose school administrator license lapsed five years ago, was installed as the new superintendent of the district by Gov. Greg Abbott along with an appointed Board of Managers. As a result, decisions for the nearly 200,000 mostly Black and brown students in the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest, are now made entirely by Abbott’s administration, while Miles oversees day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, a team of New York-based ​“social impact” consultants are managing tens of thousands of professional educators, with nominal oversight by the unelected Board of Managers who can be vacated by the Abbott administration at any time. Welcome to life in the new Houston occupied school district.

‘Racist,’ ‘grooming’: Why parents are trying to ban so many picture books

Hannah Natanson, Washington Post

“Dangerous.” “Grooming.” “Reckless.” “Racist.” “Lying.” All are adjectives that adults applied to children’s picture books as they sought to ban the titles from schools last year. These illustrated texts, intended for the youngest readers, are a surprising focus of the historic spike in efforts to restrict literature in classrooms and K-12 libraries, according to a first-of-its-kind Washington Post analysis of schoolbook challenges.

Language, Culture, and Power

Chicago teachers help refugee youth navigate a new language, a new culture, and in the fall, new schools

Crystal Paul, Chalkbeat Chicago

Sitting on the floor of a South Side police station and reading “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Eric Carle to two young Venezuelan refugees, Chicago teacher Melissa Faccini Deming suddenly seized on an idea. She looked at the 5- and 7-year-old girls and launched into a Colombian folk song that asks the sun to “warm me up a little.” “Sol solecito, caliéntame un poquito,” sang Deming. The children immediately joined in, along with their mother Maria and a chorus of other newly arrived migrants crowded into the lobby of the 22nd precinct police station in the Morgan Park neighborhood. Chalkbeat is not using their real names to protect their privacy as they seek asylum. It was a brief moment of joy and familiarity for the mostly Venezuelan asylum seekers and refugees temporarily housed at police stations until the city finds more permanent housing.

The Ute Tribe’s kids have been failed by the public school system more than any other students in Utah.

Courtney Tanner, Salt Lake Tribune

His kindergarten teacher was the first to call Aibaaq Cornpeach “stupid.” “What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you talk?” she asked the boy, who was 5 years old and trying to read out loud for a test. “Are you stupid? You must be stupid.” Arriving to pick up Aibaaq early from school, his mom Kayleena Cornpeach walked in to overhear the insult. It’s the same word she says teachers called her in elementary school in the late 1980s. Now it was happening again, to her son. Today in the Uinta Basin, Cornpeach said, Ute students in the public education system face stereotyping and have long been left to fail. “That’s how they’ve always treated the Ute kids out here.” Her family has experienced it for generations from this tiny town that was once home to a federal Indian boarding school, where Ute children were coerced to attend, forced to provide free labor and punished for speaking their own language by officials who openly worked to break their bonds with their families and traditions.

California built a safety net for undocumented immigrants. Now deficits could leave some behind

Jeanne Kuang And Nicole Foy, Cal Matters

Driving a tractor for his job in the Oxnard lettuce fields doesn’t make Arturo Villanueva rich, but it’s usually been enough to make rent and support his family. Farm labor is the only thing the 37-year-old father of five says he knows how to do well. When months of rain flooded the fields and made most of his usual work in February and March impossible, he struggled to earn enough to cover rent and allow his family “to live well.” His family cut back on the amount and type of food they purchased. They rarely left the house, to save money on gas. They tried to buy only what they absolutely needed.

Whole Children and Strong Communities

Teachers’ Unions Want Every School to Be a Community School. Here’s Why

Madeline Will, Education Week

Could community schools be the answer to many of the challenges plaguing schools today, from teacher attrition to student disengagement to opportunity gaps in academic achievement? Teachers’ unions are betting on it. Community schools are public schools that provide a wide range of services and supports for students and their families. Educators, students, families, and community members all work together to tailor school policies and programs to the neighborhood’s needs. One estimate suggests that there are between 8,000 and 10,000 community schools in the nation. Advocates hope that number will grow, buoyed by the support of the Biden administration and philanthropic groups that have committed millions of dollars in funding.

Tracking CalFresh Participation among Young Children

Tess Thorman, PPIC

In addition to helping prevent hunger, CalFresh participation among young children is a highly effective public investment, associated with better health, education, and economic outcomes in the longer run. In 2020, PPIC research found that roughly half of all children born in 2012 received food assistance from CalFresh by the time they turned 6, typically for about 12 months. In the past decade, California has seen several years of strong economic growth as well as pandemic-induced shutdowns and expansions of the safety net. Given the major economic changes the state has experienced since the early 2010s, we wanted to see whether and how CalFresh participation has changed among young children. About one in three infants were enrolled in CalFresh each year between 2010 and 2021. Enrollment continues to vary across the state, largely reflecting statewide variation in incomes and costs of living. Geographic differences in early enrollment rates, however, suggest that decisionmakers could do more to help eligible families get timely support when they have a newborn.

As gender protests move closer to students, is it time for ‘bubble zones’ outside of schools?

Shlok Talati, CBC News

As gender-related policies in schools draw debate, some are calling for “safe zones” to be established around schools to allow students to remain focused on education. Safe zones — also known as bubble zones — effectively create a perimeter around institutions by either limiting or prohibiting certain activities, like protests, in a defined area. It comes after hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters swarmed the streets outside of three schools in Ottawa last month, rallying on opposite sides over how gender identity is taught. At least one school went under a lockdown for the day. In response, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth has suggested that one way to combat such disruptions could be to criminalize protests that violate Ontario’s human rights code near schools. “There should be a law against [protesting outside schools] because we protect students, staff and all members of the community from any form of hatred,” she said.

Access, Assessment, Advancement

Housing Is a Nightmare for Home-Based Child Care Providers

Emily Tate Sullivan, EdSurge

Last fall, Gisela Sance’s landlord approached her family about raising the rent. He wanted $2,000 a month, an astonishing hike over the $1,300 she and her husband were paying for the house they lived in with their young son. The decision to leave was painful but not hard: There was no way they could afford a 50 percent increase in their rent. It was happening all around her — in Austin, Texas, where she lives, and elsewhere. But that knowledge provided little comfort when, in November, Sance found herself boxing up her family’s belongings.

Mildred García selected as new California State University chancellor

Ashley A. Smith, EdSource

The California State University announced Wednesday that Mildred García, the current president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities will lead the 23 campus system as the new chancellor. García will be the 11th chancellor to lead the Cal State system and the first Latina. She has formerly served as president of Cal State Fullerton, from 2012 to 2018, and CSU Dominguez Hills, from 2007 to 2012.

Education as Privilege Laundering

Musa al-Gharbi, Inside Higher Education

We’ve recently concluded another graduation season. The annual ritual wherein professors and deans, decked out in their wizard regalia, engage in a collective mystification of contemporary inequalities. By the end of the ceremony, diplomas in hand after four years of striving, graduates will come to believe they “deserve” the relatively comfortable jobs, above-average (dual) incomes, and relatively stable homelives that likely await them. Over time, an implicit (and often explicit) conviction will grow that nongraduates are reciprocally unworthy of working the same jobs, enjoying the same lifestyles, and being afforded the same respect or deference as people like themselves.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

Social science explains why K-12 integration efforts should continue

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley and Erica Frankenberg, The Hill

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling to overturn affirmative action in higher education comes at a time when racial inequality in K-12 schools is deep and growing. The court’s decision immediately curtails what was an already limited but still essential race-conscious policy, one that a clear majority of respondents supported in a recent public opinion poll. Not only does this decision go against decades of social science evidence, but it also means that addressing segregation and inequality in K-12 schools is even more pivotal to mitigate the harm of the ruling.

UN warns its development goals for 2030 are in trouble and 575 million people will remain very poor

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

In a grim report, the U.N. warned Monday that at the current rate of global progress 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty and 84 million children won’t be going to school in 2030 – and it will take 286 years to reach equality between men and women. The report on progress in achieving 17 wide-ranging U.N. goals adopted by world leaders in 2015 to improve life for the world’s more than 7 billion people said that only 15% of some 140 specific targets that experts evaluated are on track to be reached by the end of the decade. Close to half the targets are moderately or severely off track, it said, and of those 30% have either seen no movement at all or regressed including key targets on poverty, hunger and climate.

Ed Dept doubles down on Title IX LGBTQ+ protections in pronoun case

Naaz Modan, K-12 Dive

Wisconsin’s Rhinelander School District violated a nonbinary student’s Title IX rights when it didn’t properly address sex and gender-based harassment from other students and when multiple teachers used incorrect pronouns for the student, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found in a case resolved Thursday. Instead of addressing the harassment from peers, the district changed the student’s schedule to attend school in-person for three classes and take additional classes through self-directed virtual study, OCR said.

Democracy and the Public Interest

Politics Is the Top Reason Superintendents Are Stressed

Heather L. Schwartz, Melissa Kay Diliberti, RAND

How stressed are school superintendents? What are the reasons for their stress? To find out, authors surveyed 150 superintendents in American School District Panel member districts.In spring 2023, 79 percent of superintendents reported that their jobs were “often” or “always” stressful. Superintendents most commonly cited the intrusion of political issues or opinions into schooling as a source of that stress. However, most superintendents said their jobs are worth the stress and disappointments, and one-half said they are coping “well” with stress.These results provide valuable insights that may be useful to school boards, school board and superintendent associations, and other education organizations to inform professional development opportunities and leadership preparation programs to better focus on well-being.

Religious right gets blindsided by angry parents in a Southern California school district

Blake Jones, Politico

Three Southern California school board members backed by a far-right pastor narrowly won election last fall in campaigns fueled by pandemic rage. Then they banned critical race theory and rejected social studies materials that included LGBTQ rights hero Harvey Milk. Now, they’re fighting for their political lives. After just six months in office, those officials face a recall effort on top of a civil rights investigation launched by the state’s Democratic-led education department. Students have held protests, and irate parents and teachers are swarming the board’s meetings, feeling that their town — the fast-growing, politically diverse suburb of Temecula in Riverside County — has become consumed by partisan warfare.

Liberal LA Has Become an Epicenter of Violent Culture Wars. Here’s How.

Tess Owen, Vice News

On an overcast Friday morning in North Hollywood, scores of protesters gathered outside Saticoy Elementary School to protest a Pride Assembly, which would include a reading of The Great Big Book of Families, a kids book that celebrates different types of families—including ones with gay parents. This was grooming, said the protesters, many of whom were parents wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Leave Our Kids Alone.” The June 2 protest quickly turned violent. Videos show parents and their right-wing supporters brawling with pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters, beating them, and kicking them. It was hardly an isolated incident in the LA-area.

Other News of Note

What Is Disability Pride Month? Plus, Ways To Celebrate With Students

Nicole Homerin, We Are Teachers

The summer months are filled with many holidays and celebrations. In June, we celebrate Pride Month and observe Juneteenth. In July, we celebrate America’s Independence Day. And by August, we’re celebrating the beginning of a new school year. But did you know July is also Disability Pride Month? Disability Pride Month is a worldwide celebration that takes place every July. It allows the disability community to come together to celebrate an important part of their identity and continue to combat stereotypes and ableism still rampant in society today.

Suggestions for Progressives to Become Stronger

Ralph Nader, CounterPunch

Though reluctant to admit it publicly, for the sake of morale and status, progressive citizen group leaders taking on the corporate supremacists and their political lackeys are in hard times. With few exceptions, they are neither adjusting with bolder strategies and tactics nor growing fast enough to spin off new divisions and groups. On the other hand, corporatists, driven by profits, have constant motivation and measurable yardsticks for defining their success. Corporatists, with their monetized minds, are not seized by internal worries and debates about how to address climate catastrophes, addicted customers (tobacco) and patients (Opioids). They are corrupting governments or becoming tax dodgers, all while demanding government handouts. Against that background, I offer some suggestions.