What new rules for U.S. charter school program say - The Washington Post

…These new regulations are an essential first step in making sure that fewer tax dollars go to schools that never open, schools that quickly close, and for-profit operators. Unscrupulous individuals who used the program for their enrichment will find it more difficult to do so. State Entities that have pushed money out the door will now be forced to provide more oversight and supervision. And so they should. State Entities get 10 percent of every grant, representing millions of federal dollars, to use for such supervision. 

 We do not doubt that some applicants will still provide false information, as we found time and time again, but now as all peer-reviewed applications go online, groups such as ours will serve as watchdogs and report falsehoods and misrepresentations to the Office of the Inspector General. 

 And for all of the charter schools that are fronts for for-profit organizations, the Education Department just put a big sign on the door that says "you need not apply."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/05/new-rules-us-charter-school-program/

Alarm as US supreme court takes a hatchet to church-state separation

"The court pandered to a religious extremist agenda and implemented it by forcing one set of religious views on all of us and taking away the right of a woman to do with her body what her religious and moral views dictate, or taking away the right of a Maine taxpayer to not fund the teaching of a religion or religious discrimination that they disagree with, or taking away the right of a Jewish or Muslim or an atheist or a Buddhist public school student not to feel pressured to pray to play and be included in public school."…

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jul/02/us-supreme-court-religion-church-state-separation

Lewis Black | 1/26/20 Des Moines IA: Your Vote Matters

Blake is a middle school science teacher in Iowa. He shares his experience with the crisis in public school funding and urges everyone to get out to vote, and to vote for candidates who understand the value of a properly funded public education.
https://youtu.be/GaZ4svoSqbY

Republican Plan Threatens School Funding to Pay for Corporate Tax Cuts -- Mother Jones

Republicans in the House and Senate are trying to gut a deduction for state and local taxes that mostly helps the richest Americans. Democrats are outraged. What's going on? ...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/republican-plan-threatens-school-funding-to-pay-for-corporate-tax-cuts/

Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos Set to Announce Taxpayer Funding for Religious Schools

When she’s not getting booed by college students, Betsy DeVos‘ day job is to make public education worse all over the country. Looks like she’s close to achieving that goal, according to budget documents obtained by the Washington Post, and one of the biggest ways she’ll do it is by funneling money from public schools to religious ones....
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/05/18/donald-trump-and-betsy-devos-set-to-announce-taxpayer-funding-for-religious-schools/

Taxpayer-funded student vouchers keep Catholic schools afloat - Business Insider

Many Catholic parishes in Milwaukee that participate in student voucher programs rely almost entirely on those public funds to stay in operation, a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research has found....
http://www.businessinsider.com/catholic-schools-voucher-programs-study-2017-2

What Connecticut's Schools Reveal About National Education Inequality

Americans know that funding local schools with local property taxes means inequality. We know that whole communities of children are coming up with substandard, even lousy education. And we don’t fix it. Last week, one judge said “enough.” A Connecticut judge said his state is failing - that it “has left rich districts to flourish and poor districts to flounder” - and gave legislators 180 days to design a better way. The whole country’s watching. This hour On Point, facing up to education inequality. — Tom Ashbrook
Interview:
http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/09/13/connecticut-schools-academic-inequality

Teachers in over 200 cities protest public school funding

As part of a national effort coordinated by Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, teachers, parents, and students protested lack of funding and other issues affecting the quality of education in public schools this week.

Cities participating in Thursday morning’s “walk-ins” include Oakland, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, Little Rock, Dallas, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Toledo, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Racine, to name a few. In February, thousands of people in over 30 cities participated in similar walk-ins coordinated by AROS....
https://thinkprogress.org/teachers-in-over-200-cities-protest-public-school-funding-ffb1a8572025#.gj35h7xoz

New York teachers march to state capital to demand more funding for public schools

Public school teachers say New York needs to make good on its promise to equitably fund its schools....
https://thinkprogress.org/new-york-teachers-march-to-state-capital-to-demand-more-funding-for-public-schools-de3945c728#.hdlgu4w2x

Overtime with Bill Maher: Obamacare, Charter Schools, Politricks (HBO)

Bill Maher and his Real Time guests – James Carville, Mark Cuban, Johann Hari and Pitbull – answer viewer questions after the show.
Interview:

https://youtu.be/BRTjmDA5CHc

Inappropriate Appropriations: U.S. House Approves Spending Bill Limiting Reproductive Rights While Boosting School Vouchers And Pulpit Politicking

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an important appropriations bill (H.R. 5485) yesterday that will help fund the federal government for the next year. Tucked into this legislation are three troubling provisions that would weaken church-state separation and harm true religious liberty....
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/inappropriate-appropriations-us-house-approves-spending-bill-limiting

State funding church: 93 percent of ‘scholarship program’ vouchers go to religious schools

In this year alone the state of North Carolina has spent $12 million on what they refer to as Opportunity Scholarships, which exist to help lower income families move their children from public to private schools. Of that $12 million, approximately $11 million has gone to faith-based schools and only $800,000 to secular schools....
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/state-funding-church-93-percent-of-scholarship-program-vouchers-go-to-religious-schools/