It’s #NewstodonFriday! It’s been another busy week for the many newsrooms who have an active presence in the #fediverse, and we’re highlighting their work in the thread below. If you like what you see, follow the profiles and boost their stories.
If you’re a journo or newsroom that we don’t know about or if there’s a newsroom you’d love to put on our radar, please let us know in the comments.
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Some places in the USA are trying to minimize how much African-American Studies appears on school curriculums, but not San Francisco.
@SFPublicPress reports on how a half dozen high schools in the Bay Area will offer the subject as an Advanced Placement course in the upcoming school year, and why educators are enthusiastic about this.
St. Paul schools turn towards geothermal energy as Minnesota‘s climate shifts
And if students are uncomfortable, it’s difficult to focus on learning. A high school on the East Side of Saint Paul is wrapping up its first year with a new heating and cooling system that draws energy from the ground
A #School District’s Reliance on #Police to Ticket Students Is Discriminatory, Civil Rights Complaint Says
Two civil rights groups are asking the US Dept. of #Education to force the third-largest district in #Illinois to stop discriminatory discipline that involves police.
Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers
The rapid expansion of state #voucher programs follows court decisions that have
💥eroded the separation between church and state.💥
School vouchers can be used at almost any private school, but the vast majority of the money is being directed to #religious#schools, according to a Washington Post examination of the nation’s largest voucher programs.
Vouchers, government money that covers education costs for families outside the public schools, vary by state
but offer up to $16,000 per student per year,
and in many cases fully cover the cost of tuition at private schools.
In some schools, a large share of the student body is benefiting from a voucher, meaning
a significant portion of the school’s funding is coming directly from the government.
The programs, popular with conservatives, are rapidly growing in GOP-run states,
with a total of 28 states plus D.C. operating some sort of voucher system.
Eight states created or expanded voucher programs last year,
and this year, Alabama, Georgia and Missouri have approved or expanded voucher-type programs.
#NewYork Education Department Hindered an Abuse Investigation at Boarding School for #Autistic Youth
A judge ruled that the agency must cooperate in a #disability rights investigation into Shrub Oak International School, which charges up to $573K/year but has no meaningful oversight.
A ProPublica investigation found that would-be whistleblowers could not get state authorities to intervene at the #school.
“The Remnant Alliance is just the latest version of an ongoing effort to politicize evangelical pastors and their congregations by the radical right wing of the Republican Party.”