Free Republic

School systems complain about the rising costs of handling illegal immigrants. Here’s a spotlight on two cities, one in Massachusetts, the other Colorado.In Stoughton, Mass., students arrive with traumatic pasts and little English. The same is happening in Denver.The Wall Street Journal comments on The Massive Immigration Wave Hitting America’s ClassroomsMillions of migrants, most seeking asylum, have crossed the border in recent years and have been allowed to settle in the U.S. until a federal immigration judge decides their fate, a process that can take years. Among the record numbers, federal data suggest, are as many as one million children...

There is undoubtedly a backlash against LGBT ideology unfolding in many Western countries, the source of which includes many ambivalent towards LGBT lifestyles but who are still uncomfortable teaching the ideology to children. (LifeSiteNews) — In March, podcaster Joe Rogan paid tribute to his favourite teacher. His seventh-grade science teacher, he noted, “was a brilliant man and he taught me about wonder. I think about that guy all the time.” But now, Rogan said, teachers are frequently fixating on issues of sex and gender. “I don’t want that gang of morons teaching my children about biological sex or gender,” Rogan...

District actively promoted non-religious groups, including a Pride Club and Green Team... A school district that just weeks ago had refused students permission to begin an interfaith prayer club – even though a wide range of other special interest organizations like a Pride club and a Green club were approved – abruptly has reversed itself. "We are very pleased that the Issaquah School District is allowing our clients to start a prayer club at their school this spring," explained Kayla Toney, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute,.. "Schools should always respect the religious beliefs of their students. This is a...

Some Los Angeles parents are putting up a fight against the city's most progressive activist groups, with violence in the school district nearly doubling since police were removed from school campuses following the riots over George Floyd's murder in 2020. Maria Luisa Palma, a member of the Parents Advisory Committee in Los Angeles, organized an independent petition in February calling for the return of police on school campuses as district data revealed that violent incidents rose from 2,315 in the 2018-2019 school year to 4,569 in 2022-2023. "We've seen a huge increase from our kids," Palma told Fox News Digital...

The education board for a rural Virginia county voted early on Friday to restore the names of Confederate generals stripped from two schools in 2020, making the mostly white, Republican district the first in the U.S. to take such an action. By a 5-1 vote, the Shenandoah County board overturned its 2020 decision that stripped a public high school and elementary school of their original names honoring three military leaders of the pro-slavery South in the Civil War. Under the board's action, Mountain View High School will again become known as Stonewall Jackson High, while Honey Run Elementary School will...

The Chicago Teachers Union's contract is set to expire in June which will soon prompt negotiations between educators and the school board. Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in early March that her proposed contract for 2024 to 2028 'will cost $50 billion and 3 cents.' 'And so what?' Davis Gates added. 'That’s audacity. That’s Chicago.' The teachers union is demanding nine percent cost of living adjustments every year. According to Indeed, the average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $67,718. With raises every year for four years, teachers would be getting paid about $95,000 a year...

A new study has found that Black girls in Florida often feel unsafe in their schools due to policing policies and cultures of criminalization in the Sunshine State. The report, published by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), includes a group of Black girls and young women, ages 14 to 24, who shared their experiences within Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) through surveys and focus groups. In general, Black girls faced harsher treatment from school police and security including sexual harassment from security guards; humiliation and shame during in-class police and K-9 searches; and...

Catholic teenager Malachy O’Kane was suspended from his Ontario public high school for 6 days because he wore a sweatshirt reading, “There are only two genders.” O’Kane, 16, was suspended earlier this month, the second day he wore the shirt to the Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake, a small Ontario municipality in between Toronto and Ottawa. One of the school’s counselors told Malachy that he was not allowed to wear the shirt because the school considers it “hate speech.” Ironically and hypocritically, the school itself, which serves children from kindergarten to Grade 12, prominently displays controversial ideological-political messaging—including...

Texas school superintendent salaries continue to rise, despite falling enrollments and flagging student performance, leaving taxpayers wondering what they are getting for their money. Newly released Texas Education Agency data for the 2023-24 school year shows eight superintendents with salaries above $400,000 and another 81 receiving $300,000 or more. Texas’ highest-paid school superintendent was again Cypress-Fairbanks ISD’s Mark Henry, who pulled down a base salary of $536,775 before retiring in December 2023. Last school year, 77 superintendents received taxpayer-funded salaries above $300,000, with five making $400,000 or more. During the 2021-22 school year, 60 superintendents scored salaries at or above...

Weird how we never hear about men's toilets or locker rooms becoming gender-neutral or 'unisex', isn't it? Only women's locker rooms and bathrooms must be converted to accommodate men who think they're women. In Brisbane, girls are afraid to use the bathroom -- a basic and necessary biological function -- because the now unisex spaces are populated with boys loitering outside and urinating in waste bins. But suck it up, young ladies. Can't make a man feel unsafe or unwelcome. Why were the girls facilities converted to “gender neutral”? Why is it the girls who lose out? Who thought it...

The Biden administration’s new Title IX regulations issued last week avoided using the word “transgender,” but the rules, which go into effect on August 1, are already being interpreted as protecting transgenderism, especially in the use of specialized pronouns when transgender and LGBTQ students demand their use. Throughout the document, the term “gender identity” is used to describe certain actions that the new rules will force all public schools — not just colleges, but all publicly funded schools — to obey or risk being sued and/or losing federal funding. The new rules announced last week define sex discrimination as discrimination...

Parents opted out of vaccines for Louisiana’s kindergartners at the highest rate in at least a decade as several new bills to weaken vaccine requirements continue to advance in the Louisiana Legislature. During the 2022-23 school year, about 2.3% of children entering school requested exemptions, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 0.1% of those were due to medical reasons. That’s around double the year before, when 1.1% of kindergarten students requested nonmedical exemptions. From 2011 to 2017, the average exemption rate was around 0.75%. … “It’s a slippery slope,” said Dr. Mark Kline, physician...

A recent survey by Intuit found that U.S. high school students want to learn about personal finance in schools but that many lack access to such courses at school, while parents may be reluctant to teach their children about financial literacy. Intuit's Financial Education survey found that 85% of U.S. high school students said they're interested in learning about financial topics at school and that 95% of those who currently receive a financial curriculum find it helpful. "Ultimately, what we learned is that 81% of students said they really try to discuss financial topics with their parents, but parents typically...

Time to Change Our Language.. It is time to stop blaming “Covid” for breaking the economy, destroying businesses and livelihoods, and wreaking untold havoc upon families. It was not “Covid” that did this. It was not even the Chinese. It was our government. The government has conditioned us to blame the impersonal “Covid” for the destruction it wrought upon our businesses and families. We need to change the discussion by using the proper language to fix the blame where it belongs. Good generals can win a battle by picking the terrain upon which they fight. At Waterloo, Wellington forced Napoleon...

Scholastic is both a publisher and a distributor of books. It’s well-known for publishing educational material for schools, teachers, and parents, as well as books and resources for children. Scholastic’s publishing arm is responsible for producing a wide range of content, including books, magazines, and digital products and includes popular series and titles that cater to children and young adults. Scholastic is also well-known for its book fairs in schools where it children can attend and purchase books without direct parental supervision—and some of the stuff you might find at these book fairs is rather disturbing. So parents, beware. First...

Seattle Public Schools is dismantling its gifted and talented program, which administrators argued was oversaturated with white and Asian students, in favor of a more “inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive” program. The district began phasing out its Highly Capable Cohort schools and classrooms for advanced students in the 2021-22 school year due to racial inequities, the school district notes. The program will completely cease to exist by the 2027-28 school year, with a new enrichment-for-all model available in every school by the 2024-25 school year. “The program is not going away, it’s getting better,” school officials said on the district...

Author’s Note: Today’s article is not to state what you should do when it comes to the choices you make for your family. I am passing on vital information about schools being used, one more time, to overreach into those decisions, especially when it comes to vaccination. Regardless where you live, your family’s freedom to decide should be yours, and yours alone. Not coerced by a system which cares little to nothing about your family. LMT March 2024 is upon us. Have you heard or seen the February 2024 announcements from the Centers for Medicaid/Medicare Services? While this may seem...

Remember when Democrats made a big deal about how Joe and Jill Biden were putting 'decency' back on the ballot? Like Trump had been this villainous, grotesque monster stomping out decency during his presidency because he sent mean tweets. Or said mean things. We'd imagine if Trump had compared Democrats to Nazy Germany because they want abortion up to and including birth they would have said that wasn't DECENT. But it's ok for DOCTOR Jill Biden to compare parents who don't want their kids reading sexually explicit content in elementary schools to Nazy Germany. Watch this: Jill Biden, Ed.D., compares...

ATLANTA, Ga. - Your tax dollars could be used to put some Georgia students through private school. The House Education Committee passed Senate Bill 233, also known as the “school choice bill,” on Wednesday. Now it heads to the floor of the Georgia House for a final vote. If the proposal becomes law, students in Georgia’s lowest-performing schools could be eligible for a $6,500 voucher. Families could take that money and put it toward private school tuition. Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns is leaning into the push to pass the voucher plan. Burns, a Screven County Republican, made what he...

A bill that would allow concealed carry of firearms in schools and government meetings is headed to Wyoming's governor after clearing the state Legislature by a wide margin Thursday. What happens next is somewhat uncertain because Wyoming governors traditionally don’t say if they plan to sign or veto bills. Gov. Mark Gordon has not spoken publicly about the bill, but he is a Republican gun rights supporter. Wyoming is among the gun-friendliest states and the bill passed the state Senate 22-8 after supporters dismissed fears about allowing guns where they're currently banned. People carry concealed guns in Wyoming all the...