Deactivating Affirmative Action

Recently, President Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate the use of affirmative action in elite university admission. The extent to which this policy helps minority students has diminished to the point that the simultaneous disadvantage to white and Asian students is unmerited.

Big-name charter school backers donate to key governor races

Prominent charter school supporters are dishing out campaign money, as key gubernatorial races in several states have now begun in earnest. June primary contests set up a number of state battles for governor in the midterm elections this November, with both Democratic and Republican candidates that could change how public resources flow into charter and private schools in the coming years.

It’s Past Time We Tackled Education Reform

While Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been the source of several negative and polarizing news stories since her appointment, there have actually been very few major news items about what the Department of Education is doing. We have some idea of what the future of the Department will be, given that it is part of a larger Trump Administration plan to consolidate government.

Revamped Lawsuit Vows To Expose ‘Discrimination’ In Obama FAA’s Diversity Hiring

A federal judge breathed new life into a lawsuit over the Federal Aviation Administration's race-based hiring practices for air traffic controllers. The D.C. federal judge's ruling not only allows plaintiff Andrew Brigida's suit to move forward, but reignites the controversy over what critics call the Obama administration's decision to put "diversity over safety" at FAA.

Op-Ed Columnist: Who’s the Worst for the Holidays?

The other day Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. chief and well-known candidate for Worst Person in Washington, tossed some reporters out of a public conference on water contamination. Pruitt has been in a long-running battle with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for the title of most terrible Trump minion.

Mirroring the Powerful They Often Cover, Major Newspapers Dominated…

A new study offers data to support the commonly-held notion that elite media organizations draw from elite universities in hiring staff, likely contributing to an insular worldview. A recent study offers data to support the commonly-held notion that the news media are staffed largely by Americans from "elite" educational backgrounds-likely placing serious limits on the perspective top news outlets are able to offer about the nation and people on which they are tasked with reporting.

The Problem With Privatizing Public Education for Military Students

On March 7, Rep. Jim Banks introduced the Military Education Savings Act of 2018 to divert funding from a long-standing federal program, Impact Aid, into a voucher-like program to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, or homeschooling materials for military families. The bill is modeled off a Heritage Foundation proposal, which is supported by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, to create education savings accounts for certain military-connected students-or students who have a parent on active duty.

A new proposal would let Californians donate to the state instead of paying taxes.

California Democrats are toying with a brash scheme to skirt a new federal cap on state and local tax deductions: Instead of paying taxes to the Golden State, Californians would be allowed to donate the money to the state's coffers - and deduct the entire sum from their federal taxes. The hastily drafted proposal - to be unveiled as soon as Wednesday, when lawmakers return from a monthslong recess - strikes back at one of the least popular elements of the GOP's tax overhaul, one that hit California and other high-tax, high-cost states the hardest.

With shutdown clock ticking, GOP struggles for spending deal

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walks through Statuary Hall for final passage of the Republican tax reform bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday. Republicans muscled the most sweeping rewrite of the nation's tax laws in more than three decades through the House.

Success Academy’s Radical Educational Experiment

One of the most celebrated educational experiments in history was performed by James Mill, the British historian, on his eldest son, John Stuart Mill, who was born outside London in 1806. John began learning Greek when he was three, and read Herodotus and other historians and philosophers before commencing Latin, at the age of seven.