parents

President Joe Biden prepares to sign an executive order in the Rose Garden of the White House in April 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Students, advocates frustrated with Biden administration’s slow response on Title IX changes

BY: - December 6, 2023

Democrats in Congress, students, and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are growing frustrated with the Biden administration’s slow pace to finalize proposed updates to Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in schools. More than 60 House Democrats sent a recent letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, calling on the agency to act. […]

We asked every member of Congress about child care policy. Only 5 Republicans answered.

BY: - November 22, 2023

Originally published by The 19th In September, when billions of dollars in child care funding were about to expire, a Senate subcommittee convened to discuss solutions. It was there that Sen. John Kennedy laid out the partisan tension at the heart of what’s billed as a bipartisan issue. He agreed that child care was an […]

A majority of the books being challenged in school and community libraries are written by authors who are people of color, LGBTQ, Black and Indigenous, and feature characters from marginalized groups. (Getty Images)

First Amendment advocates fight growing number of U.S. book bans

BY: - October 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — One of Thomasina Brown’s favorite books is a memoir about a girl who deals with the grief of losing her father and struggles with her sexual identity. Brown, a 16-year-old student at Nixa High School in Nixa, Missouri, said in an interview that she felt a connection with the book, as she grieved […]

Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) (Drew Angerer/Getty

GOP bill establishing a federal parental bill of rights passed in U.S. House

BY: - March 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Friday passed a bill designed to empower parents to inspect books and other teaching materials in local public schools, but Democrats sharply criticized the measure, saying it would censor teachers and ban books. The legislation, called the Parents Bill of Rights, passed on a 213-208 vote. It would codify […]

Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) (Drew Angerer/Getty

U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents rights,’ school vouchers and transgender athletes

BY: - February 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.  The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]

COMMENTARY
Library books on shelves. (Getty Images)

Libraries serve communities, not aggrieved parents.

BY: - December 19, 2022

Libraries hold a conflicted place our collective imagination. To many of us — to me personally — they’re magical. We were first exposed to worlds of imagination and ideas on the shelves of our local libraries. To others, these buildings serve as indispensable community gathering spots, places to learn and meet and share. But to […]

COMMENTARY
Image of crowd of transgender and cisgender people

Conway Schools should be embarrassed by anti-trans restroom policy, book censorship

BY: - October 14, 2022

The Conway School Board earned a badge of shame Tuesday when it adopted two policies that will harm transgender youth. One policy bans transgender youth from using restrooms not aligned with their assigned sex at birth. Gender nonconforming students made uncomfortable by this rule can opt to use single-use restrooms, but as one person noted […]