This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
***
The United States has entered a “learning recession,” according to a new <a href="https://cepr.harvard.edu/education-recovery-scorecard">Education Scorecard</a> report. Nationally, eighth-grade reading scores now stand at their lowest point since 1990, and fourth-grade reading has fallen back to pre-2003 levels. Only 31% of U.S. students are proficient.
California’s results were <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/ca?cti=PgTab_OT&amp;sub=MAT&amp;chort=1&amp;year=2024R3&amp;st=MN&amp;sfj=NP&amp;sj=CA">similarly dismal</a>. Yet this news doesn’t seem to be ringing any alarm bells in Sacramento. As the school year wrapped up, the state’s Department of Education was busy <a href="https://navik12tracker.substack.com/p/state-hosted-teacher-webinar-promotes">sponsoring a training</a> for K–12 teachers that encouraged them to “take action” to transform schools into “liberatory systems.”
Such training is no aberration. Activism and ideology, not student performance, are priorities not just in California but also in many other states.
After the 2015 federal Every Student Succeeds Act gave states more control over school accountability and teacher quality, states used that authority to <a href="https://www.navivalues.org/cre">embed</a> “culturally responsive education,” or CRE, into the rules and expectations for educators. From teaching standards and program approval to licensing requirements and professional development, the result has been a bureaucratic system that pushes teachers to incorporate activism into classroom activities.
CRE isn’t as benign as its name suggests. Many parents assume it means that teachers should understand and make reasonable accommodations for students’ differing backgrounds or give a full and honest account of our nation’s history, warts and all. But in many state frameworks, CRE goes much further. CRE rules and standards direct teachers to view society through the lens of an oppressor/oppressed dichotomy, to treat institutions (including their own schools) as inherently racist or sexist, and to encourage students to engage in activism.
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These frameworks often apply across subjects and grade levels. In some states, they begin with children as young as <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/5-CCR-80067.2">three or four</a>. In many states — including <a href="https://www.isbe.net/Documents/24ark.pdf">Illinois</a>, <a href="https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/secure/pacode/data/022/chapter49/022_0049.pdf">Pennsylvania</a>, <a href="https://mn.gov/pelsb/current-educators/trainings/cct">Minnesota</a>, and <a href="https://docs.ctc.ca.gov/Document/Download/30328">California</a> — teachers must demonstrate mastery of CRE as a professional competency to earn or keep a teaching license. Teacher preparation programs also must conform to the same expectations to receive state approval.
With CRE built into the regulatory code and standards that set the rules for teaching, the entire teacher pipeline — from teachers’ colleges to licensure to ongoing professional development — is structured to help teachers push activist education into classrooms.
State lawmakers built this system. They should dismantle it. The first step: examine licensure requirements, teacher-preparation standards, professional-development mandates, teaching standards, and agency guidance. These are the channels through which ideological requirements entered the profession.
But rollback is not enough. States should also establish a new core competency for teacher licensure and program approval: the ability to teach controversial issues professionally and responsibly. Most teachers receive little training in leading discussions on thorny issues, presenting competing viewpoints, or helping students think through contentious subjects. Many avoid these topics altogether, while the most ideological teachers are often the most willing to teach them. That leaves students with either silence or advocacy, neither of which prepares them for citizenship in a free society.
Instead of requiring teachers to promote activism, states should insist that they create classrooms where students encounter multiple perspectives, weigh evidence, and disagree constructively. By tying that requirement to license renewal and program approval, states can make responsible teaching on controversial issues a condition of entering the profession.
With a growing number of young people believing that <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/12/4/hpop-poll-political-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">political violence can sometimes be justified</a>, schools have a heightened responsibility to prepare them for civil disagreement. They can’t do that if teachers are trained as activists.
State lawmakers created the problem of politicized classrooms. They have the ability and the responsibility to fix it.
***
This is republished with permission from the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. The original can be found <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/states-culturally-responsive-education-teacher-activism">here</a>.
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/person/dana-stangel-plowe">Dana Stangel-Plowe</a> is the chief program officer at North American Values Institute.

Students Walk Out Of School As Part Of Worldwide Youth Climate Strike

The Reason Behind The Rise Of Activist Teachers — And Our Classrooms

Activist Teachers

Culturally responsive education

Learning proficiency

MI x DW

Public Schools

Radical education

Today, the Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">announced</a> four additional interagency agreements as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s broader effort to return education to the states.
In typical fashion, the teachers’ unions and their political allies immediately attempted to spread fear, claiming that federal protections are being eliminated, a claim with no basis in reality. Instead, it’s yet another strategic step to reduce unnecessary federal bureaucracy, improve services, and move education decisions closer to the students, families, and communities they affect most.
The first agreement establishes a partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Some opponents immediately claimed that students with disabilities would lose protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Yet IDEA predates the Department of Education, and nothing in this agreement alters the rights and protections guaranteed under federal law.
Instead, the partnership allows agencies that already serve individuals with disabilities to work more effectively together. Families often navigate multiple programs across multiple agencies. Better coordination can improve services while reducing administrative barriers.
<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">According to</a> Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, “Through our partnership with HHS, we will align federal services with the goal of strengthening academic outcomes and supporting individuals with disabilities so that they can achieve greater independence, key life skills, and meaningful employment.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-announces-additional-partnerships-strengthen-coordination-individuals-disabilities-programs-bolster-civil-rights">weighed in</a> on the agreement between agencies: “Together, we will improve education and employment outcomes, uphold the rights of individuals with disabilities, and help every child reach their full potential.”
The second agreement strengthens collaboration between the Department of Education&#8217;s Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice. Protecting students from discrimination remains an essential federal responsibility, but effective enforcement does not require maintaining duplicative bureaucratic structures. By leveraging the expertise of both agencies, the partnership aims to strengthen enforcement while improving efficiency.
The third agreement focuses on student privacy and parental rights. At a time when parents across the country are demanding greater transparency and accountability from educational institutions, strengthening the enforcement of federal privacy laws should be welcomed. Parents have a right to access information about their children&#8217;s education and must be informed about decisions affecting their children.
The fourth agreement establishes a Training and Advisory Services Partnership with the Department of Justice related to school desegregation efforts and civil rights compliance. Rather than duplicating functions across multiple agencies, the agreement assigns technical assistance responsibilities to the agency with the greatest expertise in the field. Taken together, these agreements ensure that essential federal protections remain firmly in place while allowing agencies to work together rather than in silos.
The Trump administration continues to demonstrate that returning education to the states is not about rhetoric. Rather, it requires rethinking how government operates, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, and ensuring that agencies are organized to better serve students.
Despite claims from the opposition, none of these agreements eliminate federal protections. Students with disabilities remain protected under IDEA. Civil rights laws remain fully enforceable. Student privacy protections remain intact. Parents retain their rights under federal law.
What changes is that the federal government becomes more focused on its core responsibilities while creating greater flexibility for states and local leaders to innovate and respond to the needs of their communities.
For decades, layers of education bureaucracy have accumulated while student outcomes have remained horrifically low. Despite massive federal spending and increasing administrative complexity, student learning results remain far below where they should be. On average, only three out of 10 public school children are learning to read or do math at grade level. Additionally, parents are dissatisfied and continue to demand greater transparency and responsiveness from schools, while employers report a lack of workforce readiness from graduates.
The problem is not a lack of federal involvement or funding. The problem is that the system has historically prioritized bureaucracy over real results. But the Trump administration is working overtime to change course by taking decisive steps to downsize the Department of Education and return it to the states where it rightfully belongs.
Contrary to naysayers, returning education to the states does not mean abandoning students or weakening essential protections. It means acknowledging a fundamental reality: states, local communities, educators, and parents are far better positioned than federal bureaucrats to make decisions about education. It also requires a serious reorientation of government — one that prioritizes students over systems, directs resources away from bureaucracy and toward classrooms, and ensures responsibilities are carried out by the agencies best equipped to deliver results.
The future of American education is moving away from Washington, D.C., and back to the states, and ultimately closer to communities, classrooms, and parents. These agreements represent real structural reforms that restore balance, reduce duplication and inefficiency, and strengthen the ability of those closest to students to focus on what actually matters — equipping every child to learn, achieve, and thrive.
***
<a href="https://www.discovery.org/p/ingraham/">Dr. Keri D. Ingraham</a> is a senior fellow at Discovery Institute, director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a senior fellow at Independent Women.

Students at Catholic school.

The New Department Of Education Agreements That Just Gave More Power To The People

Department of Education

DW Opinion

Teachers Unions

Trump Administration

On Wednesday, the superintendents of three of America’s most ideologically captured school systems — Loudoun County, San Francisco, and Chicago — testified in front of the House Education and Workforce Committee in a hearing entitled <a href="https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413292">“Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”</a> Three hours later, the witnesses had proved the hearing’s thesis true. Asked time and again about the federal rights of the parents and children they serve, all three offered a masterclass in the catechism of bureaucracy: deflect, deny, and aver fidelity to the law, even when the federal government has formally (and frequently) found otherwise.
Loudoun County’s Dr. Aaron Spence told Congress his district is “in the business of building trust” and follows the law. If so, the Department of Education would like a word. In July 2025, it <a href="https://northernvirginiamag.com/news/2025/07/28/5-nova-school-districts-have-been-issued-title-ix-violations/">was formally determined that the district violates Title IX</a> by opening intimate facilities to students based on gender identity rather than sex, and that Loudoun County Public School (LCPS)’s Stone Bridge High School had retaliated against a group of boys for reporting sexual harassment when a female student was given access to their locker room. In March, the district <a href="https://www.foundingfreedomslaw.org/news/loudoun-3-case-settles">settled with two of those boys</a>. And just last month, the Department <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-probes-loudoun-county-public-schools-over-alleged-bathroom-filming-incidents">opened yet another LCPS investigation</a> after a teen boy allegedly photographed and filmed dozens of underage girls in bathroom stalls over three years — conduct for which the county sheriff has <a href="https://www.loudounnow.com/news/sheriffs-office-charges-teen-for-filming-students-in-bathroom/article_d6aa1a4d-00a1-428d-9896-1eb7f9130f66.html">filed charges</a>. Yet Dr. Spence’s response <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/how-loudoun-schools-superintendent-sees-the-parents-rights-battle/4114558/">days before Wednesday’s hearing</a> was, “I don’t believe that our policies are failing children,” and if somebody “decides to do something bad in a restroom, that’s not something that’s preventable based on our policies.” A federal agency’s findings of civil rights violations, a legal settlement, criminal charges, a fresh federal probe, and no policy failure in sight. The audacity is breathtaking.
San Francisco’s Dr. Maria Su arrived with laryngitis and a carefully <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/10/sf-superintendent-congress-hearing/">executed script.</a> Chairman Tim Walberg asked Su four times at what age children should be exposed to drag-queen story hour. Four times she declined to answer, retreating to “we welcome all 49,000 students as they are.” Asked by Rep. Robert Onder whether biological males should be in locker rooms with girls, she answered twice, “we follow state and federal law,” which the congressman rightly took as a yes (California non-discrimination law directly contradicts Title IX). When asked whether the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) hides a minor’s gender identity information from his or her parents, Su conceded the district is still “adjusting its practices” to comply with the Supreme Court’s March order in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a810_b97d.pdf">Mirabelli v. Bonta</a>, blocking California’s nondisclosure regime. Three months post-Mirabelli, the district is apparently still “adjusting” to the proposition that mothers and fathers may not be deceived about their own children. Meanwhile, the district’s vaunted homegrown ethnic studies program made news this week when a teacher simply <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/09/ethnic-studies-washington/">swapped the approved curriculum for personal lessons</a> on Sydney Sweeney and Elon Musk, the “Nazi.” Who’s minding the classroom? In the SFUSD, apparently, no one.
Chicago’s Dr. Macquline King rounded out the panel, defending a district whose <a href="https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/06/09/chicago-public-schools-ceo-macquline-king-heading-to-dc-hearing-transgender-and-black-students">policies on gender identity keep parents in the dark</a> and whose partnership with Planned Parenthood she has personally highlighted. Like her co-panelists, King treated every question about parental rights as an attack to be survived rather than an obligation to be honored, while committee Democrats coached the witnesses not to, as Rep. Jahana Hayes put it, “buy into the bull.”
This is the posture of an educational establishment that has forgotten who it works for.
Parental rights are not a talking point. They are federal law, and the era of pretending otherwise is over. <a href="https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/ferpa">Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act</a> guarantees parents access to their children’s education records; in April, the Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-finds-four-kansas-school-districts-violated-federal-law">found four Kansas districts in violation</a> for concealing students’ “gender transitions” from their parents. <a href="https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/title-ix-and-sex-discrimination">Title IX</a> protects girls’ privacy, safety, and equal opportunity; Loudoun has already been found in violation once and is under investigation for purported violations, again. The Supreme Court held in <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/mahmoud-v-taylor/">Mahmoud v. Taylor</a> that parents with religious objections to normative curriculum are entitled to notice and opt-outs, a right reinforced in the <a href="https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/topic/protection-pupil-rights-amendment-ppra">Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment</a>, and a right that Dr. Su was forced to admit her school district must honor. Every one of these legal obligations attaches to federal checks that districts are all too eager to cash.
Parents are tired of being supplicants at the schoolhouse door. They are rights-holders with receipts and possessed of long institutional memories, with children still languishing under the weight of COVID-era learning losses. On Wednesday, high-profile school officials made clear two things: how little they grasp the federal law that binds them, and how much more litigation and enforcement are necessary to fully restore parental primacy in public schools. It’s high time these educators got a lesson in compliance with the law.
***
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education. Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.

eagleclosed

On Capitol Hill These Three School Districts Admit Parental Rights Are A Joke

Chicago Public Schools

Loudoun County Public Schools

Parental Rights

San Francisco Unified School District

Authorities charged a Tennessee school board member with assault after he called a young female student “hot” last month during a board meeting. 
Washington County School Board member Keith Ervin <a href="https://johnsoncitypress.com/news/373972/washington-county-school-board-member-keith-ervin-charged-with-assault/">faces</a> a simple assault charge after he was caught on camera touching a student board member named Hannah Campbell on her shoulder before saying, “God, you’re hot. Damn. Where do you go to school at?” After the comment, Ervin leaned over and gave the girl a side hug as a few others present at the meeting laughed before moving on. 
The incident occurred on April 2, 2026, during a school board meeting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=977US_SUGg8">streamed</a> on YouTube. 
The girl’s father filed a complaint on April 3 and a grand jury returned a true bill on May 11 with the assault charge, the Johnson City Press <a href="https://johnsoncitypress.com/news/373972/washington-county-school-board-member-keith-ervin-charged-with-assault/">reported</a>. Ervin reported to the Jonesborough Police Department on May 18 and will make his first court appearance on August 7. 
In a statement, the Washington County Board of Education said it was aware of the charges.
“The Board reiterates that Mr. Ervin’s actions do not reflect the standards, policies, or values of the school district. The Board remains committed to ensuring a safe, respectful, and appropriate environment for all students and staff,” the board said. “Since this is an open legal matter, neither the Board nor any district official has any further comment.”
The board, which censured Ervin during an emergency meeting days after the comment was made, said it could not remove him because he was “independently elected.” 
At a later meeting, Campbell called the school board cowards for not taking more action. 
“To begin, I want to address Ervin’s actions, which were not only unwelcome, but sexist and derogatory,” she said. “I know this because he has not behaved this way with any of our male members, nor do I believe that he ever would. I do not wish to beat a dead horse, as everyone here has clear context as to what happened was wrong.”
In a statement after public outrage over the comment, Ervin said he was not referring to the girl’s appearance. 
“Last week at the board meeting I wanted to congratulate a student who did a great job sharing thoughts with all that was in the room,” he said. “When I mentioned she was hot, I meant she was on a roll. It was nothing to do with her appearance.”
Ervin has been on the board since 2006 and his school board bio describes him as a self-employed dairy farmer on the board of directors for the Washington County Farm Bureau. He is also a member of Bethesda Methodist Church. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire on the assault charge.

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One Creepy Word At A School Board Meeting Changed Everything

Education

Police

Tennessee

New York City operates the nation’s most expensive public schools, and they are empty.
The city’s proposed Department of Education <a href="https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Education.pdf">budget</a> is $38 billion, an 8% increase from last year. At the same time, enrollment continues to decline. Last year alone, New York City <a href="https://x.com/dany_egorov/status/2052395204510994473?s=20">lost</a> 3,500 pre-K and kindergarten students. This is not an anomaly. The School Construction Authority <a href="https://dnnhh5cc1.blob.core.windows.net/portals/0/Capital_Plan/Demographic_projection_Reports/Volume%202-2026.pdf?sv=2017-04-17&amp;sr=b&amp;si=DNNFileManagerPolicy&amp;sig=pl1f%2BywRLsn%2BsVXvRXNIEbkxmnewwAydpZBsa%2F8kIm4%3D">projects</a> that enrollment will decrease by another 153,000 students over the next decade. This decline is mostly due to demographic changes — since 2000, the <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/an-education-agenda-for-new-york-citys-next-mayor">number</a> of children born in the city has decreased by more than 20%. But also, New York families are increasingly <a href="https://cbcny.org/research/competitive-nyc">choosing</a> charter schools and homeschooling.
Currently, 380 schools — nearly 25% of all city schools — already <a href="https://cbcny.org/sites/default/files/media/files/CBCTESTIMONY_DOE-Prelim-Budget_03232026_1.pdf">operate</a> below 60% capacity.
Maintaining a sprawling system of underenrolled schools is fiscally irresponsible and educationally unsustainable. Even left-leaning publications such as the Atlantic have <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/new-york-city-schools-budget/686971/">acknowledged</a> the growing crisis facing NYC school districts with shrinking student populations.
New York City’s political leaders can no longer avoid reality. The mayor and chancellor should create a strategic plan to merge and close underenrolled schools, ensuring a better allocation of the education budget and improving academic outcomes.
My new report for the Manhattan Institute, <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/what-to-do-about-nycs-empty-schools">“What to do about NYC’s empty schools,”</a> analyzes the city’s enrollment declines and offers recommendations for rightsizing the district, particularly by addressing underperforming and underenrolled schools.
The underenrollment problem is getting worse. Last year, 112 city schools had fewer than 150 students; this year, that number has risen to 134. One <a href="https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/d_chanc_oper/budget/DBOR/galaxy/galaxybudgetsummaryto/default.aspx">school</a> currently employs 21 staff members for just 28 <a href="https://apps.schools.nyc/dsbpo/sbag/default.aspx?DDBSSS_INPUT=K319&amp;fy=2026">students</a>.
Charter schools, by contrast, face much stronger accountability pressures. Because they are funded on a per-pupil basis, shrinking enrollment forces them to adapt or close. Nationwide, charter schools represent only 7.5% of total student enrollment but accounted for nearly 12% of all school closures in 2021.
District schools face no comparable pressure. The NYC DOE continues to fund underenrolled schools as though they were operating at full capacity, <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/03/23/nyc-school-budgets-zohran-mamdani-hold-harmless-enrollment-decline/">costing</a> taxpayers nearly $388 million annually.
Unfortunately, city leadership has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to address this problem. Last March, New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels canceled a plan to <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/03/us-news/nyc-scraps-plan-to-close-school-at-center-of-hunter-college-professors-racist-hot-mic-scandal/">close</a> Community Action School after a parent made a racist comment on a Zoom meeting. The school remained open so students and their families could “process and recover from” the scandal. The comment was despicable, but it should not have prevented closing a failing school. Community Action School went from 229 students in 2020 to 141 in 2024. Its students&#8217; academic performance is below the district’s average.
More recently, Chancellor Samuels pulled back a plan to close and relocate three schools. One <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/11/opinion/mamdani-keeps-bankrolling-failure-in-nycs-schools/">proposed</a> for closure lost 240 students over five years and had only 54% of its eighth graders reading at grade level. This decision to throw good money at failing schools lowers educational standards across the board. By keeping bad schools afloat, we leave less money on the table for successful schools to open and expand.
New York City students desperately need high-quality education. Despite record spending, only about half of New York students are proficient in reading (53%) and math (57%), <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/05/us-news/nearly-half-of-students-across-ny-state-fail-to-make-the-grade-on-math-english-tests-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the results of 2024–25 New York State assessments
The decision to close and merge schools is a serious one and should be carefully considered. It creates disruption for students and staff — and it can have a small negative <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/short-and-long-term-impacts-school-closure-student-outcomes">impact</a> on students’ outcomes. But refusing to act is even more damaging for students and taxpayers alike.
The Mamdani administration will inevitably have to address this reality, given the continuous decline in student enrollment and the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/opinion/zohran-mamdanis-unbelievably-dishonest-budget/">budget</a> gaps the city faces. The city cannot continue operating a school system designed for a much larger student population that no longer exists.
Other major cities — including <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-11-20/bps-proposes-closure-of-three-more-schools-by-2027-amid-sharp-enrollment-decline">Boston</a>, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-school-board-closure-vote/">Philadelphia</a>, <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2026/02/27/hisd-approves-plan-to-close-12-schools">Houston</a>, and <a href="https://www.ideastream.org/education/2025-12-09/cleveland-school-board-approves-sweeping-consolidation-plan">Cleveland</a> — are already dealing with this problem and have approved plans to close schools. It is time for New York City to follow suit. Every year the city delays action, it wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars maintaining half-empty buildings instead of directing resources toward effective classrooms and student achievement. Students deserve a school system focused on quality, accountability, and academic success — not one committed to preserving empty seats and bureaucratic inertia.
***
Danyela Souza Egorov is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

American Primary School: Interior of Modern Empty Classroom with Desks for Students

The Ghost Classrooms Haunting America’s Education System

New York City

The most infamous county in the United States of America for the past five years has been Loudoun County, Virginia. It is not because of its wineries; it is not because of its horse farms; it is not because of its beautiful, quaint downtown Leesburg; it is not even because of its data centers — rather, it is known for its school system. And that, unfortunately, is not a good thing. In just the last month, two stories illustrate why Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) have become shameful. First, law enforcement <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/24/us-news/trans-substitute-teacher-19-allegedly-plotted-chilling-murder-spree-at-a-virginia-school/">arrested a 19-year-old, “transgender” substitute teacher</a> for plotting a “murder spree” at a local high school and then bragging online about having a kill list. Then, just this week, it was <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/freedom-hs-student-accused-of-recording-peers-in-school-bathroom">reported</a> that a “transgender” student at another high school recorded and photographed over forty boys using the bathroom over the span of three years, resulting in another <a href="https://x.com/NickMinock/status/2054185784672927938?s=20">criminal investigation</a>.
Sadly, these incidents have become commonplace at LCPS since 2021, when the school board debated and passed <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:7d508727-41ce-425d-b0a6-f4fa0a1d2ad8">Policy 8040</a>, which formalized providing super-rights to “transgender and gender expansive students,” allowing them to use opposite-sex restrooms when it matched their “gender identity,” while requiring all other students to accept this or find a private restroom or elsewhere to change. From that moment on, school board members and administrators have been determined to elevate all things “transgender” to the detriment of students, parents, teachers, and common sense. In the process, LCPS has put its federal funding at risk, has exposed itself to significant liability, and has become a national laughingstock.
LCPS’s self-inflicted humiliation really began during the debate over its “transgender” policy in May 2021, when it suspended a teacher for speaking against the policy at a school board meeting because his faith prohibited him from acknowledging students’ “gender identity” by using their chosen pronouns. The trial court swiftly <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:8cb135d5-fe3b-4988-b154-63804808feb8">reinstated the teacher</a>, finding that LCPS had engaged in an “unnecessary and vindictive” attempt to violate the teacher’s free speech and free exercise rights. Rather than letting it go, LCPS appealed the decision to the Virginia Supreme Court and promptly <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:caaa5bea-6fb3-40c8-acc5-15eb33188a2d">lost again</a>.
The next month, hundreds of community members showed up to a school board meeting where Policy 8040 was being debated. The overwhelming majority of attendees voiced concerns that the policy would effectively eliminate students’ safety and privacy in same-sex restrooms and locker rooms. Following a round of applause for one of the speakers opposed to the proposed policy, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-parents-protesting-crt-trans-ideology-arrested-after-loudoun-county-school-board-shuts-down-meeting">LCPS shut down the public meeting</a> and arrested two individuals. When the meeting resumed, then-superintendent Scott Ziegler claimed that there were no records of assaults in LCPS bathrooms, and the school board passed Policy 8040 six weeks later, again over fierce vocal opposition from the community.
In October 2021, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says">broke the story</a> that one of the individuals who had been arrested at the June meeting was the father of a girl who had been raped in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School by a boy wearing a skirt. To make matters worse, the boy was quietly transferred to a different school, where he sexually assaulted a second girl. According to sworn testimony in court, the boy identified as “gender expansive.” This became national news, the subject of congressional oversight hearings, and arguably a motivating factor in Virginians electing Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares as governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, respectively. This remains the subject of an <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/loudoun-county-scott-smith-sexual-assault-student-daughter-bathroom-convicted-restroom-stone-bridge-high-school-vice-principal-title-xi-lawsuit-federal-eastern-district-msiconduct-superintendent">active Department of Education Title IX investigation</a> and a <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/loudoun-county-scott-smith-sexual-assault-student-daughter-bathroom-convicted-restroom-stone-bridge-high-school-vice-principal-title-xi-lawsuit-federal-eastern-district-msiconduct-superintendent">federal lawsuit</a> filed by the victim.
Upon taking office, Miyares opened an investigation, which ultimately ripened into a special grand jury investigation and the indictments of then-Superintendent Ziegler and then-Public Information Officer Wayde Byard. Byard was ultimately <a href="https://wtop.com/local/2024/09/acquitted-of-perjury-longtime-loudoun-co-schools-spokesman-has-new-book-on-school-culture-war/">found not guilty of felony perjury</a>, but <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/loudoun-county-public-schools-lcps-former-superintendent-scott-zeigler-verdict-guilty-acquitted-investigation-sexual-assaults-jury-trial-special-gran-jury-erin-brooks-virginia-special-education">Ziegler was convicted</a> of using his public office to retaliate against a teacher who spoke up about being inappropriately touched by a student. While Ziegler’s conviction was ultimately <a href="https://www.loudounnow.com/news/loudoun-judge-sets-aside-ziegler-conviction-orders-new-trial/article_04d65594-dca0-11ee-a183-cbe64e26a494.html">vacated due to a flawed jury instruction</a>, the school board fired him.
For the next four years, parents continued to show up at school board meetings, pleading with the board to repeal Policy 8040 and restore some level of sanity to its schools. In July 2025, following AFL’s formal request that the federal Department of Education open a Title IX investigation into Policy 8040, the Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-finds-five-northern-virginia-school-districts-violation-of-title-ix">announced</a> it had determined that LCPS’s policies constituted unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX. LCPS would have to rescind its “transgender” policies to come into compliance with federal law or risk losing all federal funding. In a move that would surprise no one in Loudoun County, LCPS <a href="https://www.loudounnow.com/news/loudoun-school-board-again-bucks-federal-pressure-on-title-ix-compliance/article_ba0bad16-de62-4f10-9c63-3c23d4cdcf63.html">voted to refuse to comply</a> with the Department of Education&#8217;s requirements to resolve the matter.
And, just days after telling the federal government to pound sand, LCPS <a href="https://www.loudounnow.com/news/loudoun-school-board-again-bucks-federal-pressure-on-title-ix-compliance/article_ba0bad16-de62-4f10-9c63-3c23d4cdcf63.html">suspended two boys</a> for objecting to an allegedly “transgender” female student using their locker room and filming other boys while she did so. Charged by LCPS with violating Title IX, the boys filed their own Title IX complaint against the female student for filming them and others in a boys’ locker room. LCPS dismissed their complaint. Enter the Department of Education yet again. The Department opened another Title IX investigation, finding the school system had engaged in sex discrimination against the two boys. The two boys also brought a federal lawsuit against LCPS, which led to a settlement this past February.
Loudoun County Public School parents have every right to wonder how a student could have surreptitiously recorded over 40 other students using the restroom over a three-year period. It strains credulity to believe that this situation had never been brought to the attention of teachers or administrators until now. And given that LCPS has shown a clear pattern of preferential treatment toward anyone who identifies as “transgender or gender expansive,” it would surprise absolutely no one if this student’s behavior had been covered up for that exact reason.
The good news is that parents in Loudoun County may soon get long-deserved answers about the dumpster fire that is their school system. That is because LCPS Superintendent Aaron Spence has been called to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee on June 10 at a hearing titled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.” LCPS may have been able to evade the tough questions over the past five years by limiting public comment, turning off cameras during school board meetings, and labeling every inconvenient fact “Misinformation and Disinformation.”  Now, however, the most infamous school system in America will be the subject of a must-see congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. Get the popcorn ready. This will be a good one.
***
Ian Prior is senior counsel at America First Legal and former deputy director of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice.

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How Transgender Fixation Flunked Loudoun County Schools

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Today is May Day, and we begin hot with nationwide protests in our schools. This shouldn’t come as a surprise — the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of political events. From the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, there is no shortage of political controversy.
What is May Day, you might ask? For months, teachers&#8217; unions and high-profile left-wing nonprofits have <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/a-may-day-2026-host-toolkit-includes-training-information-for-a-coordinated-day-of-action-and-promotes-tactics-such-as-a-school-walk-in-nea-provided-1-7m-in-funding-to-organization-involved/">geared</a> up for mass mobilizations and boycotts to honor the socialist holy day and to flex their political power. Part of the preparation <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/a-sunrise-movement-training-guidebook-calls-for-students-to-take-action-monthly-to-disrupt-business-as-usual-to-bring-about-a-political-revolution/">efforts include</a> training and organizing children to engage in <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/k-12-student-walkout-and-protest-tracker/">school walkouts</a> and protests.
While left-wing activism is not new itself, what is relatively new is the degree to which the education system has been corrupted to engineer new generations to activists. These May Day protests are a feature, a byproduct really, of an education system steeped in radical ideologies designed to mobilize far-left activism and a “<a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/newly-obtained-slides-from-a-sunrise-movement-membership-meeting-calls-for-a-political-revolution-that-includes-the-need-to-structurally-change-the-foundations-of-this-country-to-achieve-eco/">political revolution</a>.”
Nor are these protests the end. They are an opening act for what the professional agitators and activists intend to be an ongoing affair leading up to the 2028 elections. K-12 schools are strategic collateral damage.
This pattern is visible in the series of <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/k-12-student-walkout-and-protest-tracker/">student walkouts</a> since January, many of which focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Less visible to the public, however, is the role of the <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/nea-president-becky-pringle-joins-sunrise-movements-roadmap-to-political-revolution-event-series/">teachers&#8217; unions</a> and <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/group-messages-and-training-documents-suggest-k-12-student-ice-protests-in-minnesota-may-be-organized-by-the-sunrise-movement-and-its-members-including-a-current-ivy-league-student-with-ties-to-past/">nonprofit allies</a> in these protests.
For American children, the learning experience is a constant barrage of heavily lopsided <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minnesota-eighth-graders-shown-videos-of-ice-arrests-and-alleged-harassment-of-u-s-citizens-principal-says-its-part-of-state-geography-standards/">political messaging</a> meant to train the youngest kids to see the world through a <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/critical-competency-consciousness/2023/12/07/id/1145144/">warped oppressor-oppressed</a> framing and to engage in action or activism to stop the perceived “injustice.”
Whether through <a href="https://web.ped.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/K12ParentandFamilySocialStudiesGuides.pdf">state standards</a> and guidance, such as New Mexico Public Education Department’s Social Studies “<a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/new-mexico-education-documents-for-high-school-history-and-ethnic-studies-include-climate-change-intersectionality-and-january-6-insurrection-content/">Instructional Scope</a>” or <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-k-12-liberated-ethnic-studies-industrial-complex/">ethnic studies</a> courses, students are being conditioned to be political actors from the <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Liberated-Ethnic-Studies-Model-Curriculum-What-is-Normal_-Slides-presentation-Gr-Pk-2.pdf">earliest ages</a>.
For example, a free <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-universities-landing-page/">lesson</a> produced by the University of Minnesota’s &#8220;Ethnic Studies Initiative” teaches sixth-grade students about the Black Lives Matter movement through the creation of “protest art.” The middle school students are then required to produce their own social justice protest art.
Such indoctrination is not only reserved for ethnic studies. It has permeated into our school system through Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) <a href="https://defendinged.org/resources/sel101/">programming</a>.
SEL is no less a political tool than ethnic studies. In 2019, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) <a href="https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2021/jagers_skoog-hoffman_barthelus_schlund">mainstreamed</a> “transformative” SEL, which integrates anti-racism and <a href="https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/research-evaluation/youth-organizing-and-transformative-sel">activism</a> into its framework.
Second Step, a popular SEL company that utilizes CASEL’s platform, went further and <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-4.17.30-PM.png">aligned</a> its curriculum with Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards, focusing specifically on action and activism. Learning for Justice is a program of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-grand-jury-charges-southern-poverty-law-center-wire-fraud-false-statements-and">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> (SPLC).
As students, teachers&#8217; unions, and left-wing activist organizations take to the streets this May Day to champion policies and an ideology that the majority of Americans reject, the public needs to understand that this is the starting gun, not the finish line.
Left-wing actors desperately want a “political revolution” and have no problem using other people&#8217;s children to achieve their goals. They have no issue turning the K-12 education system into a far-left activist pipeline. What we’re seeing now is just the beginning.
* * *
Rhyen Staley is a researcher for Defending Education. He holds a master&#8217;s degree in elementary education and has over a decade of classroom experience in both public and private schools. He has over 25 years of coaching experience from junior high to Division I.

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Teachers’ Unions Celebrate Socialist Holy Day

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Public schools teaching children about sexuality and transgenderism without parental consent have been put on notice by the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department&#8217;s Civil Rights Division <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-launches-investigations-concerning-gender-ideology-pre-k-12-schools-36" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Thursday it was investigating 36 Illinois school districts to find out if they have sexual orientation and gender ideology content in their pre-k and K-12 curricula, noting these districts receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.
“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The Supreme Court sided with parents when it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-sides-with-parents-says-schools-cant-mandate-lgbt-curricula" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> in June 2025 that parents have the right to opt their children out of LGBT programs in public schools.
If Illinois school districts are discovered to be teaching students sexual orientation and gender identity content, the DOJ will determine if parents have been given the chance to opt out of the programming. The department will also be investigating whether students can access bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex and whether only biological females can compete on girls&#8217; sports teams.
Shannon Adcock, founder and president of the parental rights group <a href="https://www.awakeil.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Awake Illinois</a>, called the investigation a &#8220;huge win&#8221; for parents.
&#8220;The DOJ’s launch of investigations into 36 Illinois school districts for pushing gender ideology in Pre-K-12 classrooms without proper parental notification is a huge win for parental rights and child protection,&#8221; Adcock told The Daily Wire. &#8220;For years, groups like Awake Illinois have been on the front lines demanding transparency, opt-out rights, and adherence to Title IX — protecting single-sex spaces, girls’ sports, and biological reality in our schools,&#8221; Adcock told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Every district under scrutiny should immediately restore parental authority and biological fairness,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We won’t stop until our kids’ schools prioritize truth, safety, and parental involvement over ideology.&#8221;

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Justice Department Investigating Schools That Secretly Teach Children About Transgenderism

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
When news broke last month that a Minnesota district would include Islamic prayer rooms in its new high school buildings, many commenters drew the wrong conclusion. Some expressed legitimate concerns about the scale of Muslim migration, but others seemed committed to accusing the district of hypocrisy.
“Separation of Church and State for 1 religion only it appears,” one X user <a href="https://x.com/lanedrivinsmoke/status/2046246050508263593?s=46">snarked</a>.
To which another <a href="https://x.com/jacktomczak/status/2046275017302757521?s=46">replied</a>, “What do you mean? Christian and Jewish kids can use this room too.”
They both have a point. The blueprints include foot-washing stations for Islamic ritual ablutions, which makes it pretty obvious which religion these <a href="https://alphanews.org/plans-for-prayer-room-and-foot-washing-station-at-minnesota-schools-go-viral/">prayer rooms</a> are designed to serve. At the same time, there’s nothing stopping Christian students from using these rooms. They just won’t do it. And that should set off alarm bells for Christians.
A quick example should suffice to illustrate what I mean. One day last spring, when I was between jobs working as a substitute teacher at a local public middle school, a few Muslim students approached my desk and let me know they’d be leaving class to pray in a room set aside for that purpose.
A few minutes later, the conclave in Rome elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. I’d been monitoring the election closely (<a href="https://spectator.com/article/betting-on-a-papal-conclave-felt-mildly-degenerate/?edition=us">because I had money on it</a>), so I saw the news right away and decided to share it with my students, of whom a plurality, if not a majority, were Hispanic. 
And because I still had the prayer room on my mind, I mentioned that I’d be happy to let any Catholics among them leave class briefly to pray for their new pope. In response, I got nothing but blank stares.
I realize this is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. The obligation to pray at five set times each day is one of the five pillars of Islam. There’s no comparable Catholic tradition of laypeople interrupting their day to pray for a newly elected pope (or for any other reason).
But maybe that’s the problem.
American Christianity has become invisible in the public square. We don’t wear headscarves, grow forelocks, carry <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan">special daggers</a>, or stop what we’re doing to flop down on prayer rugs. Our Sabbath-keeping is a joke compared to how the Jews do it.
We don’t even fast much anymore. In 1966, U.S. Catholic bishops “ended the obligation to abstain from meat on the Fridays outside of Lent” as long as “some other form of penance or work of charity was done,” the <a href="https://dio.org/catholic-times/hey-father-what-is-the-history-of-no-meat-on-friday/">Catholic Times explains</a>. That leaves a grand total of seven mandatory meatless days per year. Whoop-dee-doo.
Evangelical Protestants, meanwhile, tend to define their faith as a liberation from man-made rituals and religious obligations. They might endorse fasting as a valuable personal discipline, but the idea of requiring everyone to fast in the same ways on the same days sounds too much like works-based righteousness.
Why Christianity has adapted itself to secularism more fully than other religions is a tricky question. Tom Holland addresses it at length in his book &#8220;Dominion,&#8221; but the short answer is that this transformation is the product of the Christian West’s unique history and of Christianity’s own internal logic.
The reasons might be complex, but the negative consequences are obvious. 
First, Christians lose cultural influence. A religion that’s willing to make demands on secular institutions can often extract concessions. Muslims get foot-washing stations in public schools. Jews get “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator">sabbath elevators</a>” that stop automatically on every floor so they don’t have to break their law by pushing an electronic button. <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/features/how-a-catholic-businessman-put-the-filet-o-fish-on-the-mcdonald-s-menu?amp">Catholics got the Filet-O-Fish</a>, but that was back in 1963. Today, with the fasting rules relaxed, McDonald’s would have little reason to introduce it.
Second, Christians internalize the idea that there’s nothing different about them. This is especially true during adolescence, the stage when <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9167890/">peers become a bigger influence than parents</a>. If faith is part of a tween&#8217;s home life but doesn&#8217;t matter at school, it will naturally become less important to him over time.
Third, non-religious people come to regard Christianity as thin and ephemeral, something anyone can simply “<a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/taylor-swift-calls-gop-sen-marsha-blackburn-trump-in-a-wig-in-new-documentary/">identify as</a>” without any skin in the game. Remember, these &#8220;nones&#8221; don’t see what happens at mass or mosque. They’ve watched their Muslim friends, even those for whom religion is mostly cultural, suffer through Ramadan fasts. But what do their Christian friends do? Try to be nice to people? That’s fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t exactly scream “<a href="https://biblehub.com/john/1-46.htm">come and see</a>.”
Fortunately, I have a solution: Catholics should use the noon <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayers/angelus">Angelus</a> as a ministry to members of their church who attend public schools. This medieval devotion consists of ringing a bell, followed by a few scripture verses commemorating the Annunciation and a few Hail Marys. The whole thing takes about two minutes.
Implementing the Angelus in public schools would be easy. All you’d need is a bell, a parent, or a mature student to lead the prayers, and an empty room reserved from 11:55 to 12:05. If the school won’t give you a room, sue them. You’ll win.
For Protestants, a shortened version of <a href="http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/07-Midday-Prayer.pdf">the midday prayer service from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer</a> would be just as workable.
It is, of course, possible that some kids would attend these services just to get out of class. But that’s a feature, not a bug. 
Carving out space for Christian worship in public schools would strengthen the faith of devout students, but it would also give nominal adherents a stronger sense of themselves as Christians while showing non-believers that Christianity is a religion worth taking seriously.
The reason Muslims have public school prayer rooms and we don’t isn’t because administrators favor Muslims over Christians (though I’m sure they often do). It’s because Muslims demand them and we don’t. It’s time for that to change.
***
Grayson Quay is the author of &#8220;The Transhumanist Temptation&#8221; and a former editor at the Daily Caller.

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Why Public Schools Are Making Space For Faith And Christians Aren’t Part Of It

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On Tuesday, at the UCLA School of Law, history repeated itself — this time without even the courtesy of waiting for a federal judge. James Percival, the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, had been <a href="https://dailybruin.com/2026/04/21/demonstrators-protest-ucla-event-hosting-dhs-general-counsel-james-percival">invited</a> by the UCLA Federalist Society for a conversation about immigration law. More than 150 demonstrators protested the event. Many heckled Percival throughout, yelling, playing doorbell sounds and ringtones, and tapping on desks after being asked to silence their phones. The open Q&amp;A never occurred. The Federalist Society had put it plainly in its invitation: &#8220;Come, ask your hardest questions, and make your case.&#8221; The students answered with noise.
This should sound familiar. In 2023, the UCLA script played out at my alma mater, Stanford Law, now ranked first in the nation. Judge Kyle Duncan — a Fifth Circuit judge nominated by President Donald Trump during his first term — had been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/struggle-session-at-stanford-law-school-federalist-society-kyle-duncan-circuit-court-judge-steinbach-4f8da19e">invited</a> by Stanford&#8217;s Federalist Society to speak. Students greeted him with shouted insults, sustained disruption, and signs. Stanford&#8217;s own associate dean joined the heckling from the podium. Duncan was ultimately escorted out by federal marshals. Stanford&#8217;s president and dean later apologized.
Duncan, life-tenured and apparently unbothered, returned to his chambers and kept writing opinions.
This week, he may have written his finest.
On Tuesday — the same day UCLA students were busy shouting down the DHS&#8217;s top lawyer — the full Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, upheld a Texas law requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Judge Duncan wrote the opinion in <a href="https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-50695-CV0.pdf">Rabbi Mara Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District</a>. It is a serious, carefully constructed piece of constitutional reasoning, and it deserves more attention than the protest theater unfolding across the law school quad. (Full disclosure: Rabbi Nathan is a college friend whom I respect but disagree with.)
The legal question before the court was straightforward: Does a classroom display of the Ten Commandments resemble any of the historic hallmarks of an established religion? Duncan shows, methodically, that it does not. No student is compelled to recite the Commandments, profess belief in them, or even glance at them. They are present as part of the moral and legal inheritance that shaped Western civilization and, with it, the country those students live in.
Critics reach reflexively for Jefferson&#8217;s &#8220;wall of separation between church and state,” a phrase that appears nowhere in the First Amendment. It comes from a 1802 <a href="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html">letter</a> Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists as a promise of non-interference, not a mandate to scrub faith from civic life. George Washington was blunter in his <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Washingtons_Farewell_Address.pdf?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">Farewell Address</a>: A republican government depends on a moral people, and religion and morality are its indispensable supports.
And then there are claims that the display text is somehow sectarian. In First Things, a Protestant scholar, Mark David Hall, and a rabbi, Stuart Halpern of Yeshiva University, joined me, a Catholic, to <a href="https://firstthings.com/a-nonsectarian-version-of-the-ten-commandments/">show</a> that the text these states require was crafted through deliberate interfaith collaboration and recognized by multiple courts as nonsectarian. Judge Duncan wisely observes that it is not the province of federal courts to opine on such theological matters.
It’s worth noting that the generation least likely to have encountered the Ten Commandments in any formal setting is also the one now turning to faith in quietly remarkable numbers. Gen Z, raised on curated content and institutional skepticism, is discovering that ancient things sometimes endure for good reason. Washington feared that a republic without religion and morality could not long endure. A generation quietly proving him right is a development worth more than a classroom wall. But the wall is a good place to start.
The Texas case will likely reach the Supreme Court. When it does, the justices will have the opportunity to confirm what most people outside law schools already sense: that a civilization that acknowledges its moral inheritance is not establishing a religion. A classroom wall is not an established church. It is a reminder.
Meanwhile, Judge Kyle Duncan — the man they tried to silence at Stanford Law — just handed down the opinion of his career. He didn&#8217;t need a microphone; he had a pen.
Back at UCLA, the noise has likely faded. James Percival returned to Washington.
Stanford Law students shouted down a federal judge; now their counterparts at UCLA have done the same to the government’s top immigration lawyer. The targets were different. The impulse was identical. And the man they couldn’t silence at Stanford has just written an opinion that will serve as the roadmap for the Supreme Court when a key religious freedom issue arrives there — and it will.
***
Andrea Picciotti Bayer is director of the Conscience Project and recipient of the Religious Freedom Institute’s 2025 Religious Freedom Impact Award.

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Heckled Judge Just Handed The Left Its Worst Ruling In Years

First Amendment

Ten Commandments

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti accused a Nashville public school of &#8220;promoting particular religious viewpoints&#8221; through its accommodation of Muslim students during Ramadan, saying the school crossed the line from allowing religious exercise to actively facilitating it.
In a Tuesday <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/justice/tennessee-ag-skrmetti-weighs-legal-implications-of-muslim-prayer-accommodations-in-nashville-public-school/khousler/2026/04/15/">interview</a> with the Tennessee Star, Skrmetti responded to reports that a Metro Nashville Public Schools employee set up a dedicated Islamic prayer room at John Overton High School and encouraged Muslim students to skip class to use it.
“Free exercise says the government can’t stop you from practicing your religion,” Skrmetti explained. “The establishment clause, as interpreted, and as we hear about every time the legislature tries to do anything these days, says that the state can’t … participate in promoting particular religious viewpoints.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨BREAKING &#8211; I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/AGTennessee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGTennessee</a> Skrmetti today if the MNPS decision to allow Muslim prayers during school hours in a dedicated room led by an MNPS employee at Overton High School coerces non-Muslim students and violates the Religious Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. <a href="https://t.co/LhaaXAwEgL">pic.twitter.com/LhaaXAwEgL</a>
— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelpleahy/status/2044187616606859387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
John Overton High School, according to a <a href="https://nashvillebanner.com/2026/04/07/ramadan-muslim-students-overton-high-school/">report</a> from the Nashville Banner, permitted more than 80 students to skip class daily during Ramadan prayer sessions, in addition to separate “food-free” classrooms for fasting Muslim students. Students reportedly used paper towels as improvised prayer mats and set up a divider separating boys and girls before one student recited passages from the Quran. Outside of the month of Ramadan, students are reportedly permitted to leave school grounds once a month to pray.
“So if the school is dedicating resources to something, that’s a very different situation than if the students are self-organizing,” Skrmetti added. “I look at it as an attempt to propagandize and proselytize [non-Muslim] students. That’s my view.”
In a similar vein, the U.S. Department of Education guidance released in February <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-issues-guidance-prayer-and-religious-expression-public-schools">states</a> that “public schools may not sponsor prayer nor coerce or pressure students to pray.”
“School officials should allow members of the public school community to act and speak according to their faith, as long as&#8230; The school itself does not engage in religious activities or speech as an institution,” the guidance continues.
The Tennessee attorney general teased further state action on the issue, concluding: “I expect that we’ll be hearing more about it one way or another.”
The controversy comes as Tennessee lawmakers grapple with the role of religion in public schools more broadly. State House Bill 1491, which would have required public schools to set aside a period for prayer and Bible reading, was temporarily <a href="https://www.tnfirefly.com/news/protecting-religious-liberty-and-expression-in-public-schools-act-tabled-for-summer-study?ref=pamphleteer.co">tabled</a> in a 12-7 committee vote last week in favor of further research on the issue over the summer.
Proponents of the bill argue that the bill aligns with the Supreme Court&#8217;s Kennedy v. Bremerton decision in 2022, which held that the First Amendment protects individuals engaging in religious activities from government reprisal.

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Prayer Mats. Gender Dividers. Quran Readings. Classroom Changes During Ramadan Paid For By Taxpayers

Islam

Religious Freedom

Across the country, policymakers have long assumed that boosting K-12 funding is the surest path to better student outcomes. Yet decades of rising spending have proven otherwise. The missing ingredient is not money — it’s meaningful choice.
Florida provides one of the clearest examples. In <a href="https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-programs/ftc/">2001</a>, the state launched a modest tax-credit scholarship program to help low-income students access alternative educational options. Roughly 15,000 students participated in the program’s first year. Today, Florida’s school choice ecosystem serves <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/state/florida/">over 500,000 students</a> across multiple programs, giving families options tailored to their children’s needs.
Critics long warned that policies empowering parents with educational options for their children harm public schools and their students. The data, however, tell a different story — the positive effects of school choice extend beyond participating students.
Florida public school students exposed to greater levels of school choice competition have experienced learning gains equivalent to as much as <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/florida-school-choice-cost-effectiveness-study/">120 additional days</a> of instruction in reading — nearly two-thirds of a school year. These effects are especially strong for low-income students, who often have little to no alternative to their residentially assigned district public school, regardless of whether it fails to educate children in the basics or to keep them physically safe.
A substantial body of <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/123-of-School-Choice.pdf">research</a> across multiple states — including Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina — shows that as public schools face increased competition, students who remain in traditional public schools achieve higher test scores and stronger outcomes.
It is no coincidence that students do better when school choice exists. When families have options, schools must compete. The market force of competition is a powerful incentive that can drive innovation, sharpen priorities, and shift the focus from bureaucratic compliance to providing improved academic instruction. It also encourages schools to be more responsive to parents and more intentional in how they use resources.
For years, however, the default answer in education debates has been simple: spend more money. Calls to “fully fund” public schools are constant, yet rarely defined — and even less often tied to accountability for results. What matters is not how much is spent, but whether those dollars translate into improved student learning.
Despite steady increases in per-student spending nationwide, academic outcomes have persistently been low for years. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the “Nation’s Report Card,” <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/">reading scores</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=4">math scores</a> remained relatively flat, then declined sharply following the pandemic and prolonged school closures.
The most recent results reveal that <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=4">69% of fourth-grade students</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=8">70% of eighth-grade students</a> are not proficient in reading, while <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/">61% of fourth-grade students</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/">72% of eighth-grade students</a> aren’t proficient in math. With an additional <a href="https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-200-billion-question-how-much-of-federal-covid-19-relief-funding-for-schools-will-go-to-covid-19-relief/">$200 billion</a> poured into K-12 public education during the pandemic, these figures underscore that greater funding does not equate to increased student learning.
Simply put, more money has not produced better outcomes. Instead, what has made a measurable difference is competition.
A recent <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/florida-school-choice-cost-effectiveness-study/">analysis</a> by Patrick Graff finds that Florida’s school choice programs are more than 11 times as cost-effective at improving public school student achievement compared with equivalent increases in K–12 spending. Achieving similar gains through funding alone would have required more than $1,400 in additional spending per student annually, totaling roughly <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/florida-school-choice-cost-effectiveness-study/">$31.8 billion</a> over 15 years.
Nationwide, school choice spending accounts for an incredibly small share of state funding. For example, in 2022, school choice programs accounted for just <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/the-fiscal-effects-of-school-choice/">0.3%</a> of total state spending. In Arizona, critics have fear-mongered that the state’s school choice program with universal eligibility would bankrupt the state. The claim is far from factual as the <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/the-fiscal-effects-of-school-choice/">Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account</a> program funding in 2022 was “only 0.9% of the state budget,” and the state experienced a <a href="https://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/arizonas-universal-esa-program-a-history-of-surplus-savings-media-misinformation/">$2 billion surplus</a>. The end result of school choice is enormous savings to the state.
These are not isolated cases, but are becoming a consistent pattern emerging across the country. The improved outcomes driven by school choice are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
A 2025 <a href="https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/wordpressua.uark.edu/dist/9/544/files/2025/10/2024-25arkansaseducationfreedomaccountsprogramannualreport.pdf">study</a> of Arkansas’ Education Freedom Accounts finds that school choice is delivering strong academic performance, high family satisfaction, and sustained participation, signaling real benefits for students.
In Washington, D.C., students who used a scholarship through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program were <a href="https://www.congress.gov/event/112th-congress/house-event/LC2715/text?utm_source=chatgpt.com">21 percentage points</a> more likely to graduate from high school than their peers who did not receive one.
Similarly, in Milwaukee — home to the country’s longest-running modern private school scholarship program — longitudinal research shows that students participating in a school choice program are <a href="https://scdp.uark.edu/milwaukee-parental-choice-program-evaluation/">more likely</a> to graduate from high school and attend college than comparable public school students.
A study by the Urban Institute on the Educational Choice Scholarship program found that students in Ohio using private school scholarships were significantly more likely to <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/effects-ohios-edchoice-voucher-program-college-enrollment-and-graduation">attend and complete college</a>, including higher rates of bachelor’s degree attainment.
Together, these findings point to lasting benefits that extend beyond K–12.
As the traditional system continues to fall short, the evidence points to a clear reality: funding levels alone do not account for differences in student performance. What does make a difference is access to educational options. School choice introduces the kind of competitive pressure that has long driven improvement in other sectors — and education is no exception. As more families recognize these benefits, demand grows further.
If the goal is to raise student achievement — particularly for the most vulnerable — expanding access to educational options warrants adoption. It delivers significant advantages for students who pursue alternatives and for those who remain in traditional public schools.
Education policy should be guided by what works. For decades, the prevailing assumption has been that increased spending will reliably produce better results. The data tells a different story. School choice, by contrast, has demonstrated consistent, measurable effects — not only on academic performance but also on long-term outcomes such as high school graduation, college enrollment, and degree attainment.
The question is no longer if school choice works — it’s whether policymakers elected by the taxpayers, but beholden to the teachers unions, are willing to act on the evidence.
* * * 
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.

Parents Are Gaining More Control In Education And The Results Are Hard To Ignore

Charter Schools

Florida

School Choice

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