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  • Education Beat in 2023: Our favorite podcast episodes

    Education Beat in 2023: Our favorite podcast episodes


    EdSource’s “Education Beat” podcast highlights stories from our reporters with voices of teachers, parents, and students, bringing listeners the personal stories behind the headlines.

    Here are a few of our favorite podcast episodes from 2023. Take a listen:

    Family reunited after four years separated by immigration policy

    A Central Valley dad was finally able to return to the U.S., after almost four years separated from his family by a Trump-era immigration policy. His return allows his children to pursue their college dreams.

    Bachelor’s degrees in prison promise incarcerated students a second chance

    Inside the first women’s program at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, incarcerated women are working to rebuild their lives by pursuing these higher degrees.

    How to teach English learners to read? Here’s how one school does it

    EdSource reporter and Education Beat host Zaidee Stavely visits a school that’s had an uncommonly high degree of success with teaching English learners to read: Frank Sparkes Elementary, in Winton, about 10 miles from Merced, in California’s Central Valley.

    A teacher removed, a play censored, and the chilling effect that followed

    A high school drama teacher was removed from the classroom in Temecula Valley Unified, after a parent complained students were reading the Pulitzer-prize-winning play, “Angels in America,” about the AIDS epidemic in New York during the 1980s. It’s the latest in a series of efforts by newly elected conservative school board members to change curriculum in the district.

    Schools are counting – and helping – more homeless students

    When Ana Franquis’ family was evicted, they had nowhere to turn. Their local school district helped them out, with food, diapers, even hotel vouchers.

    How a California professor once coded secrets in music

    Saxophonist Merryl Goldberg traveled to the Soviet Union in 1985 to meet up with another group of musicians, The Phantom Orchestra, and bring back information, including the names of people who wanted to escape the Soviet Union. 

    To do this, Merryl made up a secret code, hidden in sheet music.

    Want to know what high schoolers really think? Tune in to this radio station

    At El Cerrito High School, in West Contra Costa Unified, students produce and host their own radio shows. Some DJ their own music shows, while others host talk radio programs, with topics ranging from political affairs to chess to dating advice. There’s even an old-time radio drama, based on original scripts from the 1950s.

    How a teachers’ passion for space takes learning to new heights

    Have you ever thought about launching into space? One West Contra Costa Unified science teacher has done more than think about it. He’s preparing to become an astronaut.

    How a school lunch lady sparked better trauma response for schools

    A school lunch lady’s response after the Oklahoma City bombing sparked a new understanding of how teachers and school staff can help students recover from traumatic events, from wildfires and floods to school shootings.

    How dogs help bring kids to therapy at this Central Valley school district

    In Selma Unified School District in the Central Valley, two therapy dogs are helping destigmatize mental health services. Jeter and Scout help identify students who need help, and they give students a soft, cuddly entry to therapy.

    Like what you heard? Subscribe to Education Beat on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you get your podcasts. And share with your friends!





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  • Billionaires Are Running Our Country, Says German Data Firm

    Billionaires Are Running Our Country, Says German Data Firm


    The German data company Datapulse released a report showing the vast and growing power of billionaires in the U.S. The report confirms your and my suspicions about the rigging of our economy and our politics. Surely it’s no surprise that Trump’s Cabinet is packed with billionaires. Guess who they are looking out for? Not you.

    They cheered on Elon Musk’s ignominious DOGS as they slashed vital government programs. They didn’t complain when Musk closed USAID, causing the ultimate deaths of millions of children and parents because of the halt in US food, medicine and health clinics.

    They are thrilled to see Trump send in the troops to halt protests against ICE tactics.

    A democracy is supposed to be of the people, for the people, by the people. We are rapidly devolving into an autocratic regime where the rich run the show.

    Here is what Datapulse found:

    The report, “The Rich Aren’t Just Getting Richer—They’re Running the Show” moves beyond familiar headlines to provide fresh, specific data points on wealth, power, and policy.

    Key findings include:

    • The Myth of “Tax Flight”: Contrary to popular narratives, the mega-rich are not fleeing high-tax states. Our data shows that California and New York, states with progressive tax codes, are home to 40% of all U.S. billionaires.
    • Explosive Growth: The number of U.S. billionaires has nearly tripled since 2007, growing from 329 to 877 today. This trajectory is unique to America; China’s billionaire class, by comparison, is stalling.
    • The Rise of the Billionaire Political Class: In the post-Citizens United era, the top 10 political donors, all billionaires, contributed over $420 million in the 2024 cycle alone, directly translating wealth into political influence.
    • Policy for the Few: The study analyzes the direct impact of billionaire-backed policy, such as the House’s 2025 “Big Beautiful Bill,” which could see billionaires gain over $390,000 in annual after-tax income while households earning under $51,000 see their incomes shrink.
    • Concentrated Wealth: Tech and Finance now account for nearly half of all U.S. billionaires, with tech titans alone commanding 37% of total billionaire wealth.

    The full study with all 10 interactive charts is available here:
    https://www.datapulse.de/en/billionaires-usa/ 

    This data provides a new lens through which to view the intersection of wealth and power in America.

    The report was compiled by Datapulse.


    https://www.datapulse.de/en/
    (+49) 30-75437064

    Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Budget Cuts, Corporate Reformers, Data, Democracy, Disruption, Ethics, Evil, Extremism, Failure, For-Profit, Fraud, Freedom, Garfield High School, Research



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  • Let’s keep our promise to California students

    Let’s keep our promise to California students


    2024 Student Voices Arts Advocacy Day at Cal Arts

    Credit: Las Fotos Photography

    Middle school students eagerly swiping paintbrushes across canvases, a group of fifth graders rehearsing lines from their upcoming play, and a first-time high school cello player thrilled to be part of the orchestra — all beaming with confidence, excited to attend school, and developing critical life and career skills.

    These are scenes that California voters, who overwhelmingly passed Proposition 28 in 2022, expect in every school. Ensuring every student benefits from the power of the arts is why I joined Create CA, the arts education advocacy organization, as executive director six months ago. I firmly believe, and research has shown, that the arts are critical for a well-rounded education and student success.

    Unfortunately, student access to the arts is inequitable and often depends on the unpredictability of local fundraising, community advocacy and school districts prioritizing the arts. Voters passed Proposition 28 to address these challenges. 

    The promise of Proposition 28 is increased access to the arts for all California public school students by providing dedicated, ongoing funding to expand the number of arts education teachers. Regrettably, we’ve heard that some districts are not complying with the law and the voters’ mandate to use the new funds to supplement (i.e., expand), not supplant (i.e., replace), their existing arts education funding.

    Californians voted for more arts education for all students, not the status quo. Create CA has been in touch with school leaders, teachers, parents and students who have shared examples of success, which we celebrate. In contrast, others have disclosed suspected violations in their respective school districts. 

    Districts meeting the promise of Proposition 28 have several things in common: a dedicated district arts education coordinator, an arts education strategic plan developed with community input, and a Proposition 28 report (mandated by the law) that clearly describes how their school district used the new funds to expand arts education. A great example is San Gabriel Unified, which outlines in its Proposition 28 report the hiring of two new art teachers, more dance and theater instruction at its elementary schools, and other investments that further its arts strategic plan. 

    Another exemplary model is the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD). The district formed a committee and implemented a plan that included creating job descriptions, arts curriculum planning, coaching and a Proposition 28 communication strategy. The result is that Long Beach hired itinerant teachers from all arts disciplines across its 35 elementary schools and added nine middle school positions and six high school positions. Because of these measures, every student will have access to the arts from K-12th grades, as the proposition intended. 

    On the other hand, some communities suspect their districts are willfully violating Proposition 28’s intention. Parents, unions and the author of the proposition are suing the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for eliminating existing funding for the arts and replacing it with Proposition 28 funds. We’ve spoken with teachers at Chula Vista Elementary School District who allege that the district intended to fire arts education teachers with the plan of rehiring them with Proposition 28 funds, skirting the law’s intention. In Hayward Unified, one teacher noted that “5.8 positions currently funded from Proposition 28 are being cut.” One of Create CA’s student advocates wrote a story on South Pasadena Unified’s plan to move funding for their elementary visual arts and music teachers from a “temporary funding source to this Prop 28 restricted permanent resource.” These examples demonstrate that school districts statewide may be denying students the right to more arts education as voters demanded. 

    We know schools face multiple challenges, but students deserve better. Arts education can help schools meet many of their challenges and help save money by reducing dropout rates, increasing attendance, attracting more community support and improving academics and mental health. All school districts should follow the law of Proposition 28 to ensure all their students have access to all the arts, all year. It’s every student’s right.

    •••

    Veronica Alvarez, EdD, is Executive director of Create CA, a nonprofit that advocates for high quality arts education for all students.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Our students need more recess

    Our students need more recess


    Students at Copper Island Academy in Michigan engage in unstructured play during frequent outdoor breaks.

    Credit: Courtesy of Timothy Walker / Copper Island Academy

    A flush of anger had spread across my fifth-grader’s forehead. I had never seen a student more upset in my classroom, and it was all my fault. During my first week of teaching in Finland, I had withheld recess — not just from this one fifth-grader, but from all my students.

    Elementary school teachers in Finland typically incorporate a 15-minute break into every hour-long lesson. Many times each day, their students head to the playground and engage in free play after 45 minutes of classroom instruction. Coming from the United States, I questioned this model.

    I firmly believed my fifth-graders would thrive on longer stretches in the classroom. Instead of teaching in 45-minute chunks, I taught 90-minute double lessons followed by 30-minute breaks as often as possible. (Finnish law allows for this kind of scheduling, but it is far from the norm.)

    On the third day of school, just an hour into a 90-minute lesson, I saw that my go-to strategy of delaying breaks had failed. Miserably.

    “I think I’m going to explode!” my fifth-grader had said to me. “I’m not used to this schedule.”

    This awkward confrontation became a turning point in my teaching career. Until then, I had paid little attention to the importance of unstructured breaks. Research, however, has demonstrated many benefits of school recess.

    Over the last decade, a growing list of U.S. states — including Missouri, Florida and New Jersey — have mandated daily recess. California joined the trend in late 2023.

    Starting with the 2024-2025 school year, all K-8 students in Golden State public schools will receive at least 30 minutes of daily outdoor recess (air quality and weather permitting). Not only that, but the recess law also bans the harmful practice of withholding recess for disciplinary reasons.

    California’s new law is a welcome change that expands access to daily recess, but there’s a critical omission. The law does not mandate public schools to offer multiple breaks during the school day. Most U.S. elementary schools (83%) provide daily recess, but only a relative few (21%) offer two periods of daily recess. (Arizona requires its schools to give two periods of daily recess to K-5 students, but unlike California, it fails to specify the duration).

    “Increasing recess frequency offers a cost-effective, accessible and sustainable opportunity to improve children’s health on a population level,” U.S. researchers wrote in an article published this year.

    Under its new recess law, California schools can easily perpetuate the status quo, offering just a single 30-minute daily break. One recess is better than nothing, but I learned firsthand in Finland that keeping kids cooped up in the classroom for hours is a mistake.

    After my fifth-grader confronted me, I quickly embraced the Finnish approach to breaks. And it paid off. Following a 15-minute recess, my fifth-graders would return to the classroom looking refreshed. They seemed much more engaged and focused during lessons, too.

    At my former U.S. school, many of my students — after spending hours inside our classroom — used to struggle with behavior and attention issues. Especially in the afternoon. Back then, I often turned to energizers (i.e., brief songs, poems and games) in an effort to reinvigorate my students. These teacher-directed breaks could make hours in the classroom feel more tolerable, but they were only minimally effective. More than anything else, my American students needed more opportunities for unstructured play breaks (ideally outdoors).

    Decades ago, educational researcher Anthony Pellegrini conducted experiments at a U.S. elementary school and witnessed what I observed at my Finnish school: Students were more focused after a break than before one. When Pellegrini described his research to his 10-year-old daughter, she responded, “Well, duh.”

    Delaying recess — what I did initially at my Finnish school — flies in the face of neuroscience. “People who take regular breaks, and naps even, end up being more productive and more creative in their work,” Daniel Levitin, an American-Canadian neuroscientist, said in a public radio interview. “You need to give your brain time to consolidate all the information that’s come in, to toss it and turn it.”

    Implementing a Finnish-inspired schedule may seem like a far-fetched idea for American schools, but it’s already happening in the United States. I now work with a Michigan school that borrows best practices from Finland’s educational model, including its approach to scheduling.

    Copper Island Academy, a K-8 charter school, provides students with multiple outdoor breaks each day. Teachers supervise the students on the playground while giving them significant autonomy. Students can freely run up the slide, build forts in the woods and climb trees.

    It’s a bold strategy, especially in the Wolverine State. Like most states, Michigan does not require recess, and approximately 1 in 5 elementary school students receive less than 20 minutes of it daily (despite a state Board of Education recommendation to incorporate this amount).    

    When I visited Copper Island, a few teachers told me they were initially skeptical of the unstructured breaks. “I wondered what fifth-graders would do out on the playground,” fifth-grade teacher Leslie Fischer told me, “but I’ve been really amazed and impressed that it’s been so healthy for them.”

    Kevin Boyd — the middle school social studies teacher — has observed an increase in student engagement. “Boredom is not an issue at [Copper Island],” he said in an email, “and I attribute this to the Brain Breaks.”

    The nationwide movement to mandate recess makes sense, but it’s just the first step. U.S. elementary school students need more than just one play break each day.

    It is time for all American schools to align recess frequency with the science of learning. California can help lead the way.

    •••

    Timothy Walker is an American teacher and author living in Espoo, Finland. He is the author of “Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms,” and a consultant with Copper Island Academy, a Finnish-inspired charter school in Calumet, Michigan.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • We must take better care of our home-based child care providers

    We must take better care of our home-based child care providers


    Credit: iStock / Christopher Futcher

    I retired from the practice of family child care last December after 29 years. That same month, I attended a funeral for Deanna Robles, an amazing family child care provider and early care and education advocate who was 53 years old.

    In January, I attended another funeral for another family child care provider in her mid-60s. Renaldo Sanders was not only a professional who had done this critical work for over 25 years, but also a dear friend. Both died from “natural causes,” but there is nothing natural about working 60, 70, or 80 hours a week for 20 or 30 years.

    These were women who worked in a field with little, no, or all-too expensive health care, who struggled to provide for themselves and their families on wages far below the minimum. These were women who couldn’t get a good night’s rest trying to figure out how to take pennies and create a million-dollar early learning environment within the walls of their homes. These were women who sacrificed and gave their lives to children and early learning. 

    The reality is, California’s 24,700 home-based family child care providers, 71% of whom are women of color, earn the least of the state’s early childhood educators. These small business owners typically work very long hours with little pay. Smaller programs with a licensed capacity of six to eight children earn on average just $16,200 to $30,000 annually, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley. Larger programs may enroll up to 12 or 14 children, yet these provider-owners earn on average just $40,000 to $56,400 a year. Many experience stress and depression and health issues, the latter often caused by the job’s need to constantly lift, carry, and keep up with several young children.

    There is no way those conditions did not contribute to my friends’ deaths. I am 64 years old, and, sadly, I have suffered the same concerns, pains and pathetic wages as they did during their working lives. I got out just in time, perhaps adding a few more years to my life span.

    Something has got to change. I do not want to attend another funeral for a child care professional who has died too young.

    So how can we fix this mess and begin to support the women who are preparing our youngest learners for success? To start, we must treat early care and education as a public good and fund programs to reflect the true cost of care instead of relying on what parents can pay. Public preschool and infant-toddler teachers would then be paid similarly.

    Yet, public funding has not come despite President Joe Biden’s efforts, so I won’t hold my breath for that to happen. Meanwhile, here are some steps to move us closer to supporting early childhood educators:

    Step 1: Center and involve educators of color when creating child care policies. The absence of Black and brown women sitting at the table when these policies are being discussed, informed and written is shameful. As is the absence of family child care providers. When policymakers listen to and hear the women who do this work, and include them as they discuss and craft regulations, we will see different outcomes.

    Just look at last year’s landmark win by Child Care Providers United (CCPU), an effort led largely by educators of color, myself included. Together, we fought for and won a contract for family child care providers who accept state subsidies for low-income families. We secured $2.8 billion in payment enhancements over the next two years and an $80 million annual investment in a newly established provider retirement fund. This would never have happened without our active involvement.

    Step 2: When updating California’s reimbursement rate-setting methodology, include salary standards that consider education level, tenure and job role. This can ensure fair compensation regardless of program type, location, or an educator’s race and ethnicity. And, it would begin to reduce the vast pay gaps between Black educators and their peers of other races and ethnicities with similar education and experience. The planned switch to rate-setting based on the true cost of care was a key component of our union agreement. Once approved at the federal level, the new approach will need to be implemented promptly, and with educators of color at the decision table to address inequity and promote effective solutions.

    Last, but certainly not least:

    Step 3: Create a state-funded program to reward and sustain family child care providers for their commitments. Currently, there are no awards to recognize and retain these amazing women, and this lack of formal recognition while they dedicate their blood, sweat and tears for pennies contributes to burnout.

    Here are a few ideas. Award a $500 bonus for small capacity licensees that become large capacity child care homes after one year. Present “longevity bonuses” to providers who remain in business in good standing based on their years of operation, such as $5,000 for 10 years, or $10,000 for 20 years.

    Finally, develop significant bonuses for providers who stay in the business longer than 20 years and create a bonus for downsizing from large- to small-capacity programs. This is one way of supporting seasoned early childhood educators to live longer lives.

    Implementing these steps would create a different world for family child care providers, their own families, and for the children and families they serve. If we take these recommendations seriously, families and children will receive optimal attention from the educators who touch their lives, and providers could see their life spans grow.

    ●●●

    Tonia McMillian is a just-retired family child care provider in Southern California.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Summer Ready: Our Book-Based Curriculum is Primed to Support Students and Teachers this Summer

    Summer Ready: Our Book-Based Curriculum is Primed to Support Students and Teachers this Summer


    Summer is just around the corner and for both remedial and enrichment programs, we humbly think single book units from our Reading Reconsidered curriculum are an ideal match. Our Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support Alonte Johnson-James, explains why:

     

    Summer school and enrichment programs share a common goal of improving and advancing the knowledge and skills of students. They also provide a great chance for the teachers invested in their success to be able try out high quality curricula and newer, more research-backed approaches.

    When considering a curriculum that best serves students and teachers, we believe the novel-based, modular units of the Reading Reconsidered curriculum provide the opportunity to support students with building knowledge and practice retrieving this knowledge throughout the unit.

    Even more exciting is the “one-stop-shop” benefit of high-quality instructional materials that support the training and development of new and veteran teachers alike. 

     Here are some of the attributes of the Reading Reconsidered Curriculum that make it ideal for summer programs:

    Novel-based: 

    With summer programs roughly spanning 5 to 6 weeks, our novel-based units are a hit! Leaders and teachers may select any of our 36 novel-based units based on their knowledge of their students. Using novel-based units affords summer school students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a good book and read it cover-to-cover. To support with choosing the best fit text, we provide a scope and sequence for text selection based on the time of year. Consider choosing a recommended beginning of year unit for supporting students through remediation or choose a mid-year or end-of-year unit to advance learning or prepare students for the upcoming school year.  

     

    Either way, choosing a unit with students in mind can increase investment and engagement in the novel. One teacher shared that the Lord of the Flies unit allowed students to be “immersed in deep concepts and look at things in a different light, that they would not normally think of. It helps get them involved in the plot of the novel and feel part of it.” 

     

    Knowledge and Retrieval: 

    As previously mentioned, Our student-facing materials provide students with the knowledge-building tools needed to see success in these novel-based units. A knowledge organizer makes the end of unit understandings transparent from the launch of the unit. Daily lesson handouts include a Do Now, Vocabulary Practice, Retrieval Practice and all essential knowledge students will need to access the reading and learning for the day. Additionally, materials also include embedded non-fiction and light embellishments to support teachers and students with key background knowledge needed to access pivotal moments of the text without spending valuable learning time with front-loading content. Including these knowledge-building moments at the “just right” moment allows students to build genuine connections between the non-fiction and the fictional text at the center of the class and deepen their learning and connection to the text. 

     

    Teachers will be better able to assess and respond to students’ understandings with the recursive practice embedded throughout units. Vocabulary lessons include recursive practice that revisits key literary and content-specific terms students will need to access the day’s materials and encode into their long-term memory for future study and application. Retrieval practice also assesses students’ understanding and retention of key knowledge and skills taught throughout the unit. Additionally, daily lessons include recursive practice of newly taught and previously learned content from the Do Now to the Exit Ticket. Teachers can leverage various portions of each lesson to gather data and best plan for how to respond to this data using the provided lesson materials. 

     

     

    One school leader had this to share about the retrieval practice:  

    I love the vocabulary boxes for exposure and how these are embedded words in the text. I also appreciate the periodic review of terms. The retrieval practices are a great quick check for where students are at and to emphasize what key details students need to retain.

     

    One-Stop Shop: 

    The book-based Reading Reconsidered curriculum is highly regarded by school leaders and teachers because of its rigor, its accessibility and the embedded teacher support. Teachers are provided with unit and lesson plans that outline essential unit understandings as well as the standards that are practiced and assessed throughout the unit. The lesson plans serve as guides for teachers to ensure effective implementation with suggestions for how to approach the day’s reading and plans for engaging students in the learning, and an additional benefit to having printable daily lesson plans and student packets is it simplifies planning and allows teachers to focus on assessing and responding to student work with intentional considerations for  adaptations and differentiation to tailor lessons based on students’ abilities and needs. Ultimately, the Reading Reconsidered curriculum lowers the planning lift for summer school teachers and makes the curriculum well-poised to serve as a training and development tool for more novice teachers. What’s even better? All materials are shared in Word form for easy formatting, adapting, and printing.  

     

     

    If you are looking for a literacy curriculum for this summer, choose Reading Reconsidered for its: 

    • Novel-based, modular unit structure to best select rigorous and engaging text that invest students in the novel and their learning 
    • Consistent recursive practice that reviews key knowledge students will need to master the unit’s content and provides teachers with consistent data to inform data-driven instruction 
    • “One-stop” approach to essential teacher and student facing materials that support implementation and differentiation 

    Email us at ReadingCurriculum@teachlikeachampion.org if you’d like to learn more and click here to see additional sample materials .



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  • Heather Cox Richardson: Courts Are Our Guardrail–For Now

    Heather Cox Richardson: Courts Are Our Guardrail–For Now


    Heather Cox Richardson is a national treasure. she is also an exemplar of the value of studying history as a guide to today’s events and their meaning.

    She writes:

    Political scientist Adam Bonica noted last Friday that Trump and the administration suffered a 96% loss rate in federal courts in the month of May. Those losses were nonpartisan: 72.2% of Republican-appointed judges and 80.4% of Democratic-appointed judges ruled against the administration.

    The administration sustained more losses today.

    U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that 14 states can proceed with their lawsuit against billionaire Elon Musk and the “Department of Government Efficiency.” The administration had tried to dismiss the case, but Chutkan ruled the states had adequately supported their argument that “Musk and DOGE’s conduct is ‘unauthorized by any law.’” “The Constitution does not permit the Executive to commandeer the entire appointments power by unilaterally creating a federal agency…and insulating its principal officer from the Constitution as an ‘advisor’ in name only,” she wrote.

    U.S. District Judge Richard Leon struck down Trump’s March 27 executive order targeting the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, more commonly known as WilmerHale. This law firm angered Trump by employing Robert Mueller, the Republican-appointed special counsel who oversaw an investigation of the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

    Leon, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, made his anger obvious. “[T]he First Amendment prohibits government officials from retaliating against individuals for engaging in protected speech,” Leon noted. “WilmerHale alleges that ‘[t]he Order blatantly defies this bedrock principle of constitutional law.’” Leon wrote: “I agree!” He went on to strike down the order as unconstitutional.

    Today NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sued the Trump administration over Trump’s executive order that seeks to impound congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and PBS. The executive order said the public media stations do not present “a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.” NPR’s David Folkenflik reported White House spokesperson Harrison Fields’s statement today that public media supports “a particular party on the taxpayers’ dime,” and that Trump and his allies have called it “left-wing propaganda.”

    The lawsuit calls Trump’s executive order and attempt to withhold funding Congress has already approved “textbook retaliation.” “[W]e are not choosing to do this out of politics,” NPR chief executive officer Katherine Maher told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. “We are choosing to do this as a matter of necessity and principle. All of our rights that we enjoy in this democracy flow from the First Amendment: freedom of speech, association, freedom of the press. When we see those rights infringed upon, we have an obligation to challenge them.”

    U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis today denied the administration’s motion for a 30-day extension of the deadline for it to answer the complaint in the lawsuit over the rendition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man sent to El Salvador through what the administration said was “administrative error.”

    Despite five hearings on the case, the administration’s lawyers didn’t indicate they needed any more time, but today—the day their answer was due—they suddenly asked for 30 more days. Xinis wrote that they “expended no effort in demonstrating good cause. They vaguely complain, in two sentences, to expending ‘significant resources’ engaging in expedited discovery. But these self-described burdens are of their own making. The Court ordered expedited discovery because of [the administration’s] refusal to follow the orders of this court as affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.”

    Trump is well known for using procedural delays to stop the courts from administering justice, and it is notable that administration lawyers have generally not been arguing that they will win cases on the merits. Instead, they are making procedural arguments.

    Meanwhile, stringing things out means making time for situations to change on the ground, reducing the effect of court decisions. Brian Barrett of Wired reported today that while Musk claims to have stepped back from the Department of Government Efficiency, his lieutenants are still spread throughout the government, mining Americans’ data. Meanwhile, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought will push to make DOGE cuts to government permanent in a dramatic reworking of the nation’s social contract. “Removing DOGE at this point would be like trying to remove a drop of food coloring from a glass of water,” Barrett writes.

    Political scientist Bonica notes that there is a script for rising authoritarians. When the courts rule against the leader, the leader and his loyalists attack judges as biased and dangerous, just as Trump and his cronies have been doing.

    The leader also works to delegitimize the judicial system, and that, too, we are seeing as Trump reverses the concepts of not guilty and guilty. On the one hand, the administration is fighting to get rid of the constitutional right of all persons to due process, rendering people who have not been charged with crimes to prisons in third countries. On the other, Trump and his loyalists at the Department of Justice are pardoning individuals who have been convicted of crimes.

    On Monday, Trump issued a presidential pardon to former Culpeper County, Virginia, sheriff Scott Jenkins, a longtime Trump supporter whom a jury convicted of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and seven counts of bribery. Jared Gans of The Hill explained that Jenkins accepted more than $70,000 in bribes to appoint auxiliary deputy sheriffs, “giving them badges and credentials despite them not being trained or vetted and not offering services to the sheriff’s office.” Jenkins had announced he would “deputize thousands of our law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional right to own firearms,” if the legislature passed “further unnecessary gun restrictions.” Jenkins was sentenced to ten years in prison.

    Although Jenkins was found guilty by a jury of his peers, just as the U.S. justice system calls for, Trump insisted that Jenkins and his wife and their family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden D[epartment] O[f] J[ustice].” Jenkins, Trump wrote on social media, “is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and ‘left for dead.’ This is why I, as President of the United States, see fit to end his unfair sentence, and grant Sheriff Jenkins a FULL and Unconditional Pardon. He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”

    Today Trump gave a presidential pardon to Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax crimes in 2024. The pardon arrived after Walczak’s mother donated at least $1 million to Trump. The pardon spares Walczak from 18 months in prison and $4.4 million in restitution. Also today, Trump announced plans to pardon reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, who were sentenced to 7 and 12 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud banks of $36 million and tax evasion. Their daughter spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

    Bonica notes that delegitimizing the judicial system creates a permission structure for threats against judges. That, too, we are seeing.

    Bonica goes on to illustrate how this pattern of authoritarian attacks on the judiciary looks the same across nations. In 2009, following a ruling that he was not immune from prosecution for fraud, tax evasion, and bribery, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi railed about “communist prosecutors and communist judges.” In 2016, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye rejected the authority of his country’s highest court and purged more than 4,000 judges. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe pushed judges to stop protests, and the judiciary collapsed. In the Philippines in 2018, Rodrigo Duterte called the chief justice defending judicial independence an “enemy,” and she was removed. In Brazil in 2021, Jair Bolsonaro threatened violence against the judges who were investigating him for corruption.

    But, Bonica notes, something different happened in Israel in 2023. When Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition tried to destroy judicial independence, people from all parts of society took to the streets. A broad, nonpartisan group came together to defend democracy and resist authoritarianism.

    “Every authoritarian who successfully destroyed judicial independence did so because civil society failed to unite in time,” Bonica writes. “The key difference? Whether people mobilized.”

    —



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  • We must champion our student parents

    We must champion our student parents


    San Diego State University, Hilltop Way.

    Credit: Jazlyn Dieguez / EdSource

    As we honor the dedication and love of father figures this June, it’s critical to spotlight a demographic in urgent need of support: student parents. Between balancing coursework with child care, these parents are pursuing better opportunities for themselves and creating a foundation to uplift their families. And they are doing so while facing dubious odds as they navigate a higher education system built without their unique needs in mind.

    More than one-fifth of undergraduate students in the U.S. — about 3.7 million — are parents. However, only 37% of student parents graduate within six years, compared with nearly 60% of their peers without children.

    In California, the proposed GAINS for Student Parents Act (Assembly Bill 2458) aims to address this disparity. The bill would adjust student parents’ cost of attendance to account for child care and improve data collection on student parents — two vital pieces of the puzzle for identifying and addressing the unique hurdles faced by students with children. 

    I recently spoke with a student parent on the cusp of graduation about his experience. Larry, 40, is raising nine children, six of whom are still at home. That’s a heroic feat for any father, but Larry also graduated from CSU Bakersfield with degrees in sociology and communications just in time for Father’s Day this year. His story, while inspiring, highlights systemic issues in higher education that make success stories like his much too rare.

    Larry sits at the intersection of many identities: father, veteran and previously incarcerated. Through these identities, he has experienced bias, stigma, and barriers to opportunities that others on campus take for granted. His experience is not unique. A national survey found that 40% of parenting students feel isolated on campus, and 20% feel unwelcome.

    “My children have dealt with a lot. I’ll have my kids on campus while I’m in class, but since I’m older, people think I should have things figured out. If there was someplace for them to be or something for them to do while they were on campus — what am I supposed to do when I don’t have child care?” Larry said.

    According to a New America survey, nearly 40% of student parents who stopped out of college cited caregiving and school work as significant reasons. However, the number of colleges with accessible on-campus child care has declined. When it does exist, long waiting lists and high costs are serious barriers. This exacerbates time poverty, forcing student parents to make sacrifices that impact their academic outcomes and their children’s future opportunities. Passing the GAINS for Student Parents Act is critical to addressing these hurdles. 

    California has made strides with legislation like AB 2881, passed in 2022, granting student parents priority class registration to accommodate their demanding schedules. But there is still much room for improvement. 

    The GAINS for Student Parents Act can help create an education system that uplifts families. The bill aims to standardize the financial aid process across institutions, making automatic adjustments to the cost of attendance for student parents, who are often first-generation students of color facing additional financial burdens not covered by existing aid programs. Since colleges and universities currently lack a systematic approach to identifying student parents, the bill would also improve the collection of data to facilitate more targeted support for these students.

    Co-sponsored by the Michelson Center for Public Policy, along with The California Alliance for Student Parent Success, Cal State Student Association, Generation Hope, and uAspire, this bill made it out of the Assembly and moved on to the Senate where it was passed in the Senate Higher Education Committee. It is now waiting to be heard in Senate Appropriations.

    When asked about graduation, Larry said: “I didn’t think I was going to finish this. I’m blown away. I’m graduating with a degree — what is that? A college degree!”

    Father’s Day graduation success stories like Larry’s should be more common and less fraught with tribulations. Student parents are resilient and strive to do what is best for their children. But as policymakers, leaders, administrators and practitioners, how can we build a more equitable system for parenting college students nationwide?

    By supporting student-parent success, we ensure the success of their children and future generations. So, this Father’s Day, how will you join the movement to ensure every student father and every student parent has the support they need to succeed?

    •••

    Queena Hoang is the senior program manager for Michelson 20MM Foundation’s Student Basic Needs Initiative. The initiative aims to tackle the real cost of college, especially the nontuition costs that place students in positions of housing insecurity, homelessness, food insecurity, and overall financial instability. 

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • William Kristol: A Permanent Stain on Our History

    William Kristol: A Permanent Stain on Our History


    William Kristol was a leading figure in the conservative movement. His father Irving Kristol was renowned as the godfather of neoconservatism. Bill was the editor of the Weekly Standard for many years. But because he is a principled conservative, he loathes what Trump is doing to our nation. He writes at The Bulwark, my favorite Never-Trump blog.

    What’s happening is not normal, he writes:

    If the Trump administration’s sudden assault on thousands of foreign students legally studying at Harvard seems unprecedented, it’s because it is. If the abrupt abrogation of temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans legally living and working in the United States seems unprecedented, it’s because it is. If the sudden arrests and deportations of law-abiding immigrants checking in as ordered at government offices seems unprecedented, it’s because it is. If the deportations of other immigrants without anything like due process and basically in defiance of court orders to prisons in third countries seems unprecedented, it’s because it is.

    And if it all seems utterly stupid and terribly cruel and amazingly damaging to this country, it’s because it is.

    But it turns out nativism is one hell of a drug. The Trump administration has ingested it in a big way, and it’s driving its dealers and users in the administration into a fanatical frenzy of destructive activity. And the Republican party and much of Conservatism Inc.—and too much of the country as a whole—is just watching it happen.

    The United States has many problems. No one seriously thinks that Harvard’s certification to participate in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program is one of them. And the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement of the action against Harvard makes clear this isn’t just about Harvard: “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.” Are our other institutions of higher education suffering from their ability to attract and enroll students from abroad, if they chose to do so? Are the rest of us?

    No. And to the degree there are some discrete problems, nothing justifies this kind of action against Harvard. As Andrea Flores, a former DHS official, told the New York Times, “D.H.S. has never tried to reshape the student body of a university by revoking access to its vetting systems, and it is unique to target one institution over hundreds that it certifies every year.”

    Similarly, what’s the justification for the Trump administration’s unprecedented sudden and early abrogation of temporary protected status for 350,000 Venezuelans who fled tyranny and are now living peacefully and working productively in this country? There is no broad unhappiness at their presence, no serious case that they are causing more harm than doing good. Nor for that matter is there a real argument that the presence of 20,000 Haitians living and working in Springfield, Ohio, is a problem that required first lies to denigrate them and now attempts to deport them.

    And this week, the nominee to head U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the Trump administration intends to end the well-established Optional Practical Training Program, which is the single largest channel for highly skilled immigrants to stay and work in the United States after finishing their education here. A study by a leading immigration scholar, Michael Clemens of George Mason University, finds that slashing that program would cause permanent losses to U.S. innovation, productivity, economic growth, and even job opportunities for native workers.

    But here we are, with an administration where fantasy trumps reality, ideology trumps evidence, and demagoguery trumps decency. As the economist Dani Rodrik puts it, “Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.”

    Foreigners studying and working here are not damaging the United States. A virulently nativist administration is what’s damaging the United States. It’s doing so in ways from which it will be difficult to recover. Just as important, it’s doing so in ways that will be a permanent stain on this nation’s history.



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  • Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s War on Science Is Damaging Our Economy and Our Future

    Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s War on Science Is Damaging Our Economy and Our Future


    If someone asked you which of Trump’s policies was the most catastrophic, what would you say? His personal attacks on law firms that had the nerve to represent clients he didn’t like? His unleashing of ICE to threaten and arrest people who have committed no crime? His efforts to intimidate the media? His assault on free speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom? His blatant disregard for the Constitution?

    All of these are horrible, despicable, and vile.

    Yet one of his grievances burns deeper than the other. This is his contempt for science.

    His first show of irrational hatred for science was his selection of the utterly unqualified Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a conspiracy theorist with no experience in science or medicine. RFK has been a one-man wrecking crew.

    Then he used his authority to close down university research centers. These centers are working on cures for the most intractable diseases: cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s, and more.

    Why does Trump hate science? Is it another facet of his ongoing hatred for knowledge, the arts, culture?

    Fareed Zakaria of CNN gives a good overview.

    Watch.



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