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High school exit exams dwindle to about half a dozen states, including Virginia
Jill Norton, an education policy adviser in Massachusetts, has a teenage son with dyslexia and ADHD. Shelley Scruggs, an electrical engineer in the same state, also has a teenage son with ADHD. Both students go to the same technical high school. But this fall, Norton and Scruggs advocated on opposite sides of a Massachusetts ballot […]
Voters in several states support reducing property taxes
Voters in half a dozen states approved ballot issues aimed at lowering property taxes, but a measure in North Dakota that would have completely repealed the property tax proved to be a bridge too far. Ballot measures to cut taxes for some or all property owners passed in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Virginia and […]
Some states, including Virginia, want to make it easier to cancel subscriptions
When Tennessee state Rep. Bob Freeman, a Democrat, studied his cable and internet bill last year, he kept seeing recurring charges for app subscriptions he didn’t recognize. Turned out, his 14-year-old daughter had been signing up for subscriptions with introductory rates and never canceling when they rolled over to the full price. “I would question […]
Nearly half the states now allow in-state tuition for immigrant students
When Cristian Dubon Solis was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid. With no way to […]
Students blocked from campus when COVID hit want money back. Some are getting refunds.
Thousands of college students will get hundreds of dollars in compensation as colleges and universities move this summer to settle multimillion-dollar lawsuits stemming from canceled classes and activities during COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. While some of the class-action suits against the colleges and universities are still in litigation, and still others dismissed, several major cases have […]
Plagued by teacher shortages, some states turn to fast-track credentialing
Faced with alarming teacher shortages, Virginia last month agreed to partner with a for-profit online teacher credentialing company, hoping to get more teachers into classrooms faster and without the higher tuition costs of traditional colleges and universities. While some of the Virginia education board members had qualms about the process, they agreed to give it […]
Campus diversity will be a struggle without race-based admissions, history shows
States that have tried to enroll more Black and Hispanic students in state universities without using race-based admissions policies have seen the numbers of those students slip — especially at elite institutions. Nine states had affirmative action bans before last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking it down nationwide. Those states and others have tried […]
More states use taxpayer dollars to help people pay for private school
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which parents and educators reevaluated their relationship with public schools, lawmakers across the country have eagerly embraced state-funded voucher programs, giving public money to students to attend private schools. So far this year, at least 10 states have implemented or expanded programs for vouchers and other state […]