Bob Frenier: The benefit of school choice in the COVID era
The forced remote learning fiasco imposed on Vermont public school students this past year highlighted the lack of common benefits available from the state’s education system.
Champlain Valley School District has first director of diversity, equity and inclusion
Chris Smith is a social studies teacher at CVU and the advisor for CVU’s Social Justice Alliance. “We’re excited to have another advocate for social justice and my hope is that this forces the community to take this stuff seriously,” said Smith.
States, political parties draw battle lines over taxpayer funding of critical race theory
A group of conservatives and Republican state leaders is pushing back after the Biden administration tied federal education funding to adopting critical race theory teachings in schools’ curriculum. “Critical race theory is basically teaching people to hate our country, hate each other. It’s divisive and it’s basically an identity politics version of Marxism.”
Stan Greer: Why is Randi Weingarten lashing out at parents?
Government union bosses like Randi Weingarten claim it remains too dangerous to reopen fully thousands and thousands of K-12 schools across the country that closed their doors in early 2020. But a recent poll shows that parents lopsidedly disagree.
Survey: ‘Troubling’ freedom of association, speech concerns on U.S. college campuses
A newly released survey of students at over 500 colleges and universities who belong to Greek-letter fraternities and sororities found that the majority of students don’t feel comfortable publicly disagreeing with their professors on a controversial topic.
Agency of Education releases updated Annual Snapshot
The Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) has released an updated version of the Annual Snapshot. We are unable to report many indicators of academic achievement, as the assessments on which they are based were not conducted during the 2019-20 academic year.
Bernie Sanders, Democrats pressure Biden on ‘free’ college tuition
According to Sanders’ office, the plan would be funded by taxes on Wall Street, including “a tax of 0.5% on stock trades, a 0.1% fee on bonds, and a 0.005% fee on derivatives.” The plan says that states will be asked to pay for a quarter of the bill while the federal government will fund the rest.
Flemming: Fed crackdown on failing Vermont special ed
The U.S. Department of Education recently found that Vermont is one of only two states which “needs intervention in implementing the requirements of Part B Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).” This shatters the myth that Vermont offers disabled students a superior education.
Bernie Sanders introduces legislation to make college tuition-free, debt-free
The legislation would make the most substantial federal investment in higher education in the modern history of the United States and its transformative potential is on par with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Higher Education Act of 1965.
Stockbridge will re-vote on school district decoupling
Fewer than three weeks after voters approved the measure, the Stockbridge selectboard received a petition that triggers another vote on decoupling from the Rochester Stockbridge Unified District (RSUD).
Poll: Support for school choice increases after COVID shutdowns
After states shut down schools and forced families into virtual learning, parents and families found new ways to provide K-12 education to their children. While doing so, support for school choice options soared, a new poll from Real Clear Opinion Research found.
Different rules for unvaccinated in COVID school policy update
On Friday, the House Education Committee discussed new rules that schools must follow under the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions, which haven’t changed since October. Among other things, vaccinated and unvaccinated students may have different guidelines.