K–12 isn’t the only education system getting a lot of attention from the new presidential administration. Two organizations devoted to higher education have begun “lobbying the Trump administration and lawmakers to correct what they see as years of over-reaching by the Obama administration,” Watchdog.org reports:
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent an open letter to President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day, offering advice on how the new administration could “help protect free speech, academic freedom and due process on college campuses.”
FIRE President Greg Lukianoff included a description of the major culture problems facing today’s campuses, and provided a solution for each.
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) has launched a campaign calling for an end to campus “kangaroo courts.”
SAVE cites a recent example from the University of Kentucky in which a college repeatedly failed to provide due process rights to the accused, resulting in multiple hearings and mental harm to the accuser, to bolster the case for more protections for students.
The campaign will focus on lobbying lawmakers about the current state of campus hearings, and will include a media push.
Judging by his Tweets, my guess is Trump will be all for protecting free speech on college campuses and elsewhere.
SOURCE: Watchdog.org
IN THIS ISSUE:
- TEXAS: A Texas senator has introduced a school choice bill that would leave half the student’s funding in the public school he or she un-enrolls from.
- WISCONSIN: A candidate for Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction says parents should decide how to fix schools.
- OHIO: A state senator says he plans to introduce legislation to expand Ohio’s voucher program.
- TENNESSEE: A state senator files voucher legislation in Tennessee for the 12th year.
- INDIANA: Indiana’s voucher program mimics the universal plan Trump has proposed, reports the South Bend Tribune.
- NEW ORLEANS: The final five traditional public schools in New Orleans have filed to become charters, making the city’s public schools 100 percent charter-run.
- “Boutique” schools with fewer students and alternative learning styles could be the way of the future, reports EducationNext.
- CATHOLICS: More non-Catholic students are enrolling in Catholic schools around St. Louis, writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- NORTH DAKOTA: North Dakota lawmakers introduced HB 1432 to repeal Common Core.
- IDAHO: A group of Idahoans rally at the Boise statehouse to urge lawmakers to “Buck the [Common] Core.”
- DeVOS: Trump’s pick for U.S. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been approved by the Senate.
- PRIVATE SCHOLARSHIPS: A Denver-based, private, nonprofit organization providing scholarships for children to attend private schools is expanding into Wyoming and Texas.
Thank you for reading! If you need a quicker fix of news about school choice, you can find daily updates online at https://heartland.org/topics/education.