Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.Amendment 80 would enshrine in the Colorado Constitution a right already guaranteed under state law: that children can apply to attend any public school in Colorado.This is known as school choice.But whether Amendment 80 would have other effects is disputed by various groups, and experts say the measure could end up in court.Supporters say Amendment 80 is about protecting the right to school choice. Opponents say Amendment 80 could lead to the funding of private...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.The Adams 14 school district will ask voters for the first time in 10 years to raise local taxes to build a new middle school and to raise teacher salaries.Similar requests from the district failed in both 2013 and 2014.In addition to building a new middle school, which was also the intent in 2014, this year’s $113.9 million bond request, if approved, would pay for security upgrades such as door sensors, HVAC system upgrades, new...

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.New York City’s teachers union has been a key supporter of the ambitious effort to overhaul the literacy curriculum in elementary school, but it’s been a very different story when it comes to a big math curriculum push.Schools Chancellor David Banks is mandating almost every city high school adopt the same curriculum for Algebra I – a move that United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew in recent weeks has been publicly criticizing in stark terms.“We have a mess on our hands,” Mulgrew told Chalkbeat...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system.Earlier this school year, Newark Board of Education co-vice president Allison James-Frison said she saw crowded New Jersey Transit buses passing Newark students waiting at bus stops long after they were supposed to be in class.Her own daughter was tardy three times in September because the buses were full and drove past her in the morning, she recently told the school board.James-Frison is not alone. Maggie Freeman, another Newark parent, said she drove her son and his friends to school one morning because NJ Transit...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news.Educators, parents, and advocates lobbied the Illinois State Board of Education to request an additional $550 million for K-12 schools from state lawmakers for the next school year during a Thursday budget hearing.That increase would be $200 million more than what state lawmakers put into the evidence-based funding formula for K-12 schools for the current budget. When the state created its school funding formula in 2017, legislators reached a bipartisan agreement to increase funding $350 million each year. But K-12 advocates have said for the...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system.Philadelphia students are showing up to school more often and improving their standardized test scores — albeit incrementally — according to the school district.Over the past two years, the percentage of third grade students scoring proficient or better on their English and math standardized tests have increased, the district said, citing preliminary data from this year’s state standardized tests, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSA, and the Keystone exams.In addition, the number of students attending schools regularly has increased and the number of...

Stay up-to-date on the latest news in early childhood education and development across the U.S. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free monthly newsletter The Starting Line.Religious preschools that participate in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program are allowed to reserve seats for members of their congregations. But that may soon change.State officials have proposed a repeal of the so-called “congregation preference” after a recent federal court decision that highlighted problems with that rule. The judge in that case, which was brought by two Denver-area Catholic parishes that run preschools, said the preference could be used to deny children equal access to preschool based...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.Four seats on Colorado’s nine-member State Board of Education are up for election on Nov. 5. The election is unlikely to change the board majority, which is currently held by Democrats, but it could narrow that majority and change the board’s dynamics.The State Board of Education holds schools and school districts accountable for student test scores, hears appeals when school districts reject charter school applications, and sets standards for what students should learn and what...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system.A group of students from across New Jersey is pushing to lower the voting age to 16 in school board elections. Now, top officials including Gov. Phil Murphy are adding their voices to the fight and supporting legislation that would make it happen statewide.If it becomes law, New Jersey would be the first state to enfranchise 16- and 17-year-olds in school board elections statewide, following in the footsteps of Newark and several other cities across the country.“I know, to some, this proposal may sound unconventional....

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system.Two months in, Philadelphia’s year-round school program is blossoming, officials say. But so far, the effort seems focused on giving more families access to programs that already existed, rather than revising the academic calendar.Mayor Cherelle Parker continues to tout the program as a new vision for the city’s schools and the realization of her campaign promise. But she’s shifted her characterization of it from “year-round” school to “extended-day, extended-year” school. Across the 20 district schools and five charter schools piloting the free extended-day, extended-year program,...

This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Headway Election Challenge. Chalkbeat and Headway at The New York Times will ask young people to share their insights and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election.Throughout 2024, Headway and Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization focused on education in America, have been in conversation with teenagers about the upcoming presidential election.We’ve asked these teenagers some big questions: How are you engaging with the election? Why are you engaged, or why not? What issues matter to you? So far, we’ve heard from a broad range of students, from self-described political...

It was a blazing hot summer day, and I was playing freeze tag with my cousins in front of my house. I was 13. My mom was sitting on a stoop nearby, talking to a neighbor, but still maintaining a watchful eye on us.Everything was fine until I heard three loud bangs. Instantly, my mother’s demeanor changed and she screamed, “Get inside, now!”I was confused and annoyed that my game of freeze tag was cut short. But my mother’s authority made me hurry toward the house. As I stepped inside, I asked her what was the matter, but all she...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Tennessee’s free daily newsletter to keep up with statewide education policy and Memphis-Shelby County Schools.Gov. Bill Lee said Hurricane Helene’s massive destruction in northeast Tennessee, plus a growing backlog of public infrastructure needs statewide, won’t prevent his administration from pursuing a universal private school voucher program during his final two years in office.He also suggested that there’s no need to tap into the $144 million set aside for his Education Freedom Scholarship Act to beef up the state’s disaster response. That money currently is not being used, because his proposal stalled in the legislature this year.“We...

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.Departing New York City schools Chancellor David Banks is already lining up his next act: a book based on his experiences leading the nation’s largest school system.Banks, who will leave his role Tuesday following a public spat with his longtime friend Mayor Eric Adams over his departure date, has been taking copious notes every single day for the more than 2½ years he served as chancellor, he told parent leaders Thursday.“I capture my notes on a daily basis, and I have not missed a day...

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news.Amid turmoil over district leadership and a disagreement over the budget, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said Wednesday that a special set of city funds meant to incentivize development could help stabilize the district’s finances.In a prepared statement, Martinez said CPS has been advocating since April for the city to use Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, funds to help CPS pay for things like pension costs for non-teaching staff, costs related to a new Chicago Teachers Union contract, and the inaugural contract for a...

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.New York City middle school applications will open about a week later than anticipated, after technical issues with the city’s MySchools portal forced officials to push back the start date.Thousands of fifth grade families were likely furiously checking their MySchools accounts on Wednesday afternoon, when applications were slated to open, only to be greeted by a message from the Education Department saying they were making updates to the platform and to check back soon. Eventually, officials updated the Education Department’s website and contacted applicants to...

Leer en españolWhen I hear about President Joe Biden’s recent action to halt asylum from the U.S. Southern border, when I hear about efforts to deny undocumented students a free public education, and when I hear former President Donald Trump using hyperbolic, criminalizing anti-immigrant rhetoric from the presidential debate stage, I am reminded of the faces and voices of young people I have encountered who are or were undocumented or from mixed immigration status families.For the past 15 years, I have worked as a teacher, coach, and then ethnographer and education policy researcher to try to understand how newcomer immigrant...

Sign up for our free monthly newsletter Beyond High School to get the latest news about college and career paths for Colorado’s high school grads.Enrollment at nearly all of Colorado’s four-year universities is up, despite delays and glitches this year that made it harder for students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.It’s an outcome that defies the widespread fear that the FAFSA snafus would lead to lower college enrollment, especially among students from low-income families.Instead, the all-hands-on-deck response that many high schools and universities took to helping students fill out the FAFSA in this troubled year...

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.Within 24 hours of announcing his plans to step down as New York City’s schools chancellor, David Banks flanked Mayor Eric Adams at a jubilant press conference naming a successor to run the nation’s largest school system.Neither Banks nor Adams took credit for selecting Melissa Aviles-Ramos, a deputy chancellor, as the next schools chief. Instead, they pointed to a top aide seated in the front row who had worked behind the scenes to elevate her: First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg.The moment revealed a dynamic inside...

​​This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Headway Election Challenge. Chalkbeat and Headway at The New York Times will ask young people to share their insights and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election.Early in 2024, the Headway team, along with Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization focused on education in America, started talking with high school students about the upcoming presidential election. We wanted to understand how youth were processing an election in which age had become an issue, especially four years after young people turned out at among the highest levels since 18-year-olds received the...