The week’s education news has a common shape: adults outside the classroom are deciding what must be posted, tested, funded, delivered, or protected inside it.
For this Indianapolis measure, teachers may want to look past the campaign slogan and ask how the allocation formula would affect classrooms.
Classroom displays are back before the Supreme Court
A Louisiana teacher has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his challenge to a state law requiring Ten Commandments displays in K-12, college, and university classrooms at schools that accept state money, The 74 reported. The posters began going up this summer after a 2024 law and a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that allowed it to take effect, according to The 74.
Chris Dier, Louisiana’s 2020 Teacher of the Year, filed the motion asking the Supreme Court to intervene, The 74 reported. Dier said, “the state cannot turn my classroom into a place to deliver its own religious message.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, through a spokesman, did not comment on Dier’s petition and said schools should comply with the law, The 74 reported. Similar Ten Commandments display measures have been adopted in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas and have faced legal challenges, according to The 74.
If you teach in a state with one of these laws or challenges, ask for the district’s written direction before you answer student or family questions on your own. The open question for teachers is not personal belief; it is who is responsible for explaining a state-required display when students ask why it is there.
California may add early math assessments, but not yet
California’s Legislature approved Senate Bill 1067, which would create yearly math checks for students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade starting in 2028-29, The 74 reported. The bill now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not indicated whether he will sign it, according to The 74.
Districts would also have to respond with math help, including teacher coaching in elementary grades or small-group tutoring for children, The 74 reported. The Assembly voted unanimously for the bill despite opposition from the California Mathematics Council, the Association of California School Administrators, the California County Superintendents, and the California Teachers Association, according to The 74.
Those groups argued in an Aug. 12 letter that requiring assessments before adequate investment in teacher training and student help would be premature, The 74 reported. The bill’s author, Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, said California should not delay addressing “a real and urgent math achievement crisis,” according to The 74.
If this becomes law, the key teacher question will be whether support arrives before the assessment calendar does. Ask early how your district plans to connect results to coaching, tutoring, and parent communication, because a test without a response plan becomes another task instead of an intervention.
Indianapolis teachers are opposing a tax increase tied to cuts
In Indianapolis, a proposed tax referendum would raise money for public schools, but Indianapolis Public Schools would receive just half of the expected $95 million in annual revenue, Chalkbeat reported. The rest would go to roughly 60 participating charter schools under a new oversight body called the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, according to Chalkbeat.
Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said the money from the referendum would help IPS avoid financial trouble serious enough to bring possible state takeover, Chalkbeat reported. But IPS still expects to make around $20 million in further cuts even if the measure passes, according to Chalkbeat.
That has put the Indianapolis Education Association in the unusual position of opposing the measure, Chalkbeat reported. IEA Co-Vice President Monica Shellhamer said, “It’s hard to support something and say you’re OK with being cut.”
If you work in a district facing a similar revenue-and-cuts message, listen for the second half of every funding promise. For this Indianapolis measure, teachers may want to look past the campaign slogan and ask how the allocation formula would affect classrooms.
Special education services may become a private-school test case
Two Massachusetts families have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to a state regulation that lets private school students access public school special education services only at a public school or a neutral location, K-12 Dive reported. The families’ children with disabilities attend Jewish day schools, according to K-12 Dive.
Under Massachusetts law, students placed by their parents in private schools have their own entitlement to special education services, but state rules prevent state and local money from paying for those services on private school campuses, K-12 Dive reported. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed dismissal of the case earlier this year, according to K-12 Dive.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, public school teams should watch for any change in where services must be delivered, not just who qualifies. If the rules change, public school teams may need to ask how any new service-location requirements would affect staffing.
Safety data put student belonging back on the desk
A Glisten and Trevor Project report found that 61% of surveyed transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse students had at least one harmful school experience during the prior year, K-12 Dive reported. Verbal harassment related to LGBTQ+ identity was the most common incident, reported by 49%, according to K-12 Dive.
The report also found that 10% of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse students said mistreatment led them to leave their school, K-12 Dive reported. On the question of whether school or district policies were supportive, 20% answered yes, 41% answered no, and the rest were unsure, according to K-12 Dive.
If your district policy is unclear, do not improvise around names, pronouns, harassment reports, or family notification. Ask for the written procedure, because uncertainty is not neutral when students are reporting mistreatment.