In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that has now killed over 1 million Americans, the federal government has allocated billions of dollars in funding for schools. Known as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), the funds were distributed in three separate tranches: ESSER I – On March 27, 2020, Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of […]

In a year when local school board races have turned into referendums on Donald Trump’s ultra-MAGA agenda, there’s one candidate for a local school board who is putting students and teachers above her own campaign. Hana Mitsusada-Boylan is running for the Trenton Public Schools Board of Education in the Downriver area of Michigan, just south of Detroit. In the middle […]

Cultural conservatives are trying to make the 2022 midterm elections about education in general, and the (phantom) issue of “parental rights” specifically. As someone who has been involved in education at various levels for the past 40+ years, I’ve not seen any evidence of a widespread lack of parents’ abilities to guide and influence their children’s schooling. To be sure, […]

Moms for Liberty (M4L), an astro-turf group that is probably not actually many moms and definitely not about liberty, has moved on. While they didn’t seem too afraid of a deadly virus that killed almost 6.5 million people around the globe—as evidenced by their increasingly dramatic and dangerous anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests at school board meetings across the country—they are […]

As Democrats gather this weekend for the Michigan Democratic Party’s statewide endorsement convention, there are two Democrats seeking the endorsement for two seats on the State Board of Education. Incumbent Pam Pugh is one of them and continues to be a progressive voice on the issues that impact schools and education in our state. In addition to Ms. Pugh, there’s […]

So, about Virginia… The election in Virginia was not about “education”–it was about racism, and white supremacy. Maybe if establishment Democrats hadn’t tacked hard right on education, starting with Bill Clinton and reaching a crescendo with Barack Obama and Arne Duncan, we wouldn’t have given up the “high road” on public education. There’s been a lot of discussion about the […]

The following essay was written by Trina Tocco. She is a resident of Royal Oak and has two amazing children who attend Ferndale Public Schools. When the pandemic hit, I had to make a choice – either one of my children wouldn’t be able to participate in virtual school because of mental illness or I would have to put my […]

I hear lots of folks talking about “our failing public education system” these days, and as a student of education there aren’t many conservative “talking points” that bother me more than this one. While much of this rhetoric lately has focused on the K-12 school reopening “debate”, the pandemic has also cast a bright light on the problems facing higher […]

I really tried to see “both sides” of this “reopen the schools” debate for the longest time…I know how hard it is to try to get anything done with little kids at home in normal times–multiply that by 100 during this pandemic. And I get the frustration that comes with trying to juggle work, bills, child care, and all the […]

In spite of most of the US public being supportive of public education, our schools, and our children’s teachers, a small but vocal minority has been growing increasingly rambunctious about reopening schools. Recently, Dr. Ben Linas, a physician in Brookline, MA, added his apparently cranky voice to this debate, penning a piece for Vox titled, “I’m an epidemiologist and a […]

Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas spent some time today questioning President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardonas, and decided to focus on the issue of transgender students playing sports in school. Here’s what Sen. Marshall had to say… New Republican Sen. Roger Marshall (Kansas) also used his questioning time to push transphobia. Cardona quickly shut him […]