Covid-19 vaccines for 5-11 y/o, School Board Races, and School Choice.

Editor's Note: This weekly news report covers National K-12 education news with a focus on California, Tennessee, and Texas. Please be in touch with [email protected] with any questions. 

NEWS

• Today, the CDC unanimously recommended the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for 5-11 year-olds, joining the FDA. Vaccinations are expected as early as this week. (NPR, USA Today, CNBC, CNN, NY Times, Chalkbeat NY)

 

• School board races are becoming politicized opportunities that dictate contentious issues such as critical race theory and masks. (Associated Press, USA Today, NPR, US News, NBC, NY Times, Education Next)

 

• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is expected to sign a bill into law that would prohibit mask mandates, including in schools.  (Tennessean, Chalkbeat TN, Associated Press, ABC 9) 

 

• The Democrats’ social spending and infrastructure bills are still up in the air. Education funding has been significantly slimmed down from the initial proposal - especially in regards to K-12 infrastructure, but funding for HBCUs and Universal Pre-K remain.   (The 74 Million, Inside Higher Ed)

 

VIEWS

• USA Today (Nina Rees, CEO & President National Alliance for Public Charter Schools): Listen to parents: Families say they want more school choice. We should give it to them. 

 

• Washington Post (James Hohmann, Opinion Columnist): Republicans are testing messages to reverse their suburban slide, and education is a winner 

 

• Hechinger Report (Aaron Pallas, Professor of Education @ Columbia University): Why school ratings can backfire