Latest news with #ProtectOurKids
CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Huntington Beach to hold special election over library review board
It's less than a week from Huntington Beach's special election to decide two issues about how the city's libraries will operate. Measures A and B supporters claim they're hoping to protect the libraries from privatization and censorship. A yes vote on Measure A would block the formation of a community parent-guardian review board that the City Council appoints. The board would have the authority to determine which books are allowed on library shelves. "I'm really trying to stress to people this is where they get to vote for their rights," former librarian Barbara Richardson said. "They are voting for the right to be able to decide for themselves what books are appropriate for themselves, what books are appropriate for them and their families, not some political committee." "Protect Our Kids from Porn" signs have popped up across Huntington Beach and sparked outrage from some parents. The large placards were paid for by a city councilmember's political action committee. The council has made complaints that obscene material is available to young readers in the children's section, a claim that librarians insist is not true. At Tuesday's council meeting, members unanimously passed a resolution stating that Huntington Beach wouldn't ban books or sell its public library. "And whereas the public has expressed concerns regarding the future of the library and the treatment of library materials," Councilman Chad Williams, who paid for the "Protect Our Kids from Porn" signs, said during the meeting. Some voters said they were divided over Measures A and B. "I grew up coming to this library," voter Michelle Dixon said. "We've never had issues with choosing what to read, and from what my circles are, it's a form of censorship." Others said they need to protect children. "I think that we have to have our children be protected from the type of subject matter that they are not ready for or they don't need to know about at such a young age," voter Sally Kollar said. Three in-person voting centers are now open, with two more opening this weekend. They will be open through Election Day, June 10.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Do SLO County schools have to follow Trump's executive orders? Here's a Reality Check
As school districts around San Luis Obispo County clash over policies related to transgender students' participation in sports, calls to follow President Donald Trump's executive orders raise the question of what exactly constitutes federal law — and whether it supersedes state laws. Trans student rights and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in schools have come under significant fire during the second Trump administration. Within the first 100 days of his term, Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting trans students' participation in athletic programs and declaring that only two genders exist. One SLO County petition in particular asks local school districts to 'adhere to Federal Law, respecting Title IX and Executive Orders.' The Protect Our Kids petition, believed to be started by a group of North County parents, calls on local school districts to roll back policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports and use the bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identities. 'Sign this petition to show local school districts that they need to follow federal laws, not state laws that violate federal laws,' the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national parents rights organization that is strongly against teaching about or supporting LGBTQ+ identities in schools, wrote in a Facebook post. The same debate has cropped up in the South County, where tensions have come to a head in a disagreement over a transgender student athlete's participation in sports and use of school locker room facilities in the Lucia Mar Unified School District. The issue has taken over the public comment period at the two most recent school board meetings, where multiple people argued the need to fall in line with President Trump's executive orders. Similar claims were made in the North County on Tuesday night, when crowds on both sides of the debate showed up to speak their minds at the Paso Robles Unified School District board meeting. Some calls to comply with executive orders have conflated these presidential directives with federal law, but according to two lawyers The Tribune spoke to, they are not the same thing, and schools do not have a legal responsibility to follow executive orders. So, what are executive orders and how broad is their mandate? The Tribune spoke to legal experts in constitutional law to discuss the role and power of executive orders as part of its Reality Check series. As of May 12, Trump has signed 151 executive orders since taking office Jan. 20, according to the Federal Registrar. He broke the record previously held by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 99 executive orders signed his first 100 days of office, reaching 142 by April 29, CBS News reported at the time. Among the orders, at least four deal with the topic of gender identity directly by attempting to limit access to gender affirming care for children, dictate trans students' participation in athletic programs, end education about transgender rights and declare only two genders exist. At least eight others mention the topic or reference previous related orders. These executive orders, along with the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX nondiscrimination law, have formed the foundation for the widespread denial of transgender student participation on school sports teams and use of school facilities that align with their gender identity. But do they qualify as federal law? The Tribune spoke to Professor Jessica Clarke at the University of Southern California School of Law, an expert on anti-discrimination law with a focus on sex and gender, and Wilson Freeman, an attorney at the conservative law firm Pacific Legal Foundation and former federal senior counsel and policy adviser at the Department of Labor under the first Trump administration. He litigates on the firm's equality and opportunity team against school district DEI policies they find to be racially discriminatory and unconstitutional. The lawyers addressed the issue from different perspectives, but they agreed on the key point: Executive orders are not federal law. 'Executive orders are policy statements of the executive branch, but they are not necessarily the final say on what is the law,' Clarke told The Tribune. '... They are not direct commands. They're statements of policy, and they're indications of what it is that the federal government intends to do.' While presidential orders can set out the policies of federal agencies, dictate how the agencies function and determine what programs they fund, they cannot command state or local governments or agencies, she said. Freeman echoed the same message. 'As a formal matter, an executive order doesn't have any power or authority over state governments, state government agencies like school districts or the state law enforcement at all,' he said. 'State law is an entirely separate animal. State anti-discrimination law is not affected by an executive order.' With respect to debates over transgender students' inclusion in sports, school districts are required to follow state law and state interpretations of Title IX federal education law, which in California includes protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity, Clarke said. With new executive orders that now say otherwise, this state interpretation is now in conflict with the Trump administration's interpretation. One trio of attorneys explained the Trump administration's reinterpretation of Title IX in an article for University Business, a publication for leaders in higher education. As indicated in his early executive orders, it effectively narrows the scope of protections provided by Title IX by focusing solely on sex-based discrimination, excluding discrimination based on gender identity and removing protections for transgender and other non-cisgender people. Meanwhile, based on the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, when state and federal law conflict, federal law takes precedent, the two lawyers The Tribune spoke to said. But the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX is not the law, even though the president has set the federal policy forward in an executive order, they said. Freeman said that it's 'not correct' to think of executive orders as federal law. 'That would be a misunderstanding,' he said. 'An executive order may announce or direct the federal government to adopt a particular understanding of federal law, but ultimately, that is just an understanding. It's not a new law.' The only way to create a new federal law is for legislation to pass through Congress and be signed by the president, and that has not happened in the case of the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX, Clarke said. 'Congress has not passed the law that explicitly reflects that interpretation, nor have the courts endorsed it,' she said of the executive orders on transgender students. 'Some federal courts have said Title IX actually requires that schools allow transgender women and girls to play women and girls sports as part of nondiscrimination, and so the Trump administration is pushing an extreme interpretation of that statute.' In fact, a bill was introduced in Congress earlier this year that would've ended transgender student participation in women's and girls sports, but it failed on the Senate floor. Senate Bill 9 would have codified the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX as exclusively focused on preventing sex-based discrimination, cementing Trump's executive orders — but it did not become law. SLO County Superintendent of Schools James Brescia sent a letter to district superintendents and charter school directors on April 16 sharing the same message. 'While (executive orders) direct federal agencies to enforce the law, they do not create or change established law,' he said in the letter obtained by The Tribune. Federal law, however, is 'extensive,' and executive orders can still have indirect sway, Freeman said. 'The president — even though he can't create new laws by himself — has enormous powers to affect the way those laws are understood, enforced, prosecuted, you know, in the way the federal money is is handed out,' he said. Of particular importance, executive orders give the president authority to restrict federal dollars from flowing downstream to state agencies like school districts that do not comply with presidential orders. But the state has the same authority for school districts in compliance with state law, and schools stand to lose much more from the state than from the federal government. For example, in the Lucia Mar school district, roughly 87.5% of its total funding received — or $152.3 million of $174.1 million — comes from state-administered funds, compared to only 6% from the federal government, Curt Eichperger, Lucia Mar's assistant superintendent of business services, told The Tribune. Some of the state funding is indirect federal money funneled through the state, but those dollars cannot be easily removed. 'The state government provides a significant majority of funding for California schools, and failure to comply with California law may result in the loss of state funding and expose (local educational agencies) to liability for discrimination or harassment based on both state and federal law,' Superintendent Brescia said in his letter. Section 221.5 of the California Education Code, the state education law, says that students must 'be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records.' Section 220 of the Education Code also specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of 'gender, gender identity, gender expression ... (and) sexual orientation.' Other school athletic governing bodies reiterate the same rules. He said failure to follow state law may result in fines, lawsuits and elected officials and school administrators facing personal liability and losing their credentials. Instead of asking the school board to take action, parents should be taking the issue up with their state government officials, Brescia said. Freeman also said that even though executive orders cannot be regarded as federal law and do not have the power to rewrite them, there is some gray area in which they can influence the law's interpretation. 'To the extent the executive orders are discussing an understanding of federal law, there may be some cases in which ... they have some sort of relevance if the federal law then conflicts with a state law or state interpretation,' Freeman said. Clarke said the Trump administration has been taking advantage of that gray area to issue threats, but it has not proven to follow through on them, Clarke said. This is what happened in Maine, she said, where the Trump administration froze federal funding after previously concluding the state education system was 'violating federal law by allowing transgender athletes to play on women's teams,' the New York Times reported. The state sued the administration in response, but in early May a deal was reached to drop the lawsuit and restore federal funding to Maine 'without ending any of its sports programs as is,' Clarke said. 'There is also a piece of political theater to it, right? They're trying to win political points, and they're trying to do that at the expense of transgender people. And so it's not necessarily the case that they're going to carry out these enforcement threats,' she said. Ultimately, however, only the Supreme Court has final say over binding interpretations of federal law, and 'it remains to be seen what the Supreme Court is going to do (on gender-based discrimination),' Clarke said. At the end of the day, the debate comes down our foundational values as a country more than the laws that govern us, Clarke said. 'We can talk about the executive orders and the requirements of federal and state and local law,' she said. 'But we also should be talking about what our Constitution means and what it means to protect everyone.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Minnesota child care advocates rally against federal cuts
Members of the Head Start program and Kids Count on Us participate in the Protect Our Kids rally at the Minnesota State Capitol Monday, May 12, 2025. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer) It's been a disappointing year for Minnesota's parents of young children and the advocates hoping to secure more investments in child care. Across the state, child care centers are shutting down, exacerbating the shortage of day care spots. Meanwhile, the cost of care continues to climb; only Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts have higher average infant child care prices. Child care workers in Minnesota earn on average just over $15 per hour, often less than they could make at Target or a restaurant. Now, a plan by President Donald Trump to cut funding is threatening the already-precarious child care system. Teachers and advocates for Head Start, the federal program that provides subsidized child care to low-income families, gathered at the Capitol Monday — with hundreds of preschoolers in tow — to protest proposed Head Start cuts and the lack of state action to counteract them. More than 12,000 Minnesota children could lose their care if Head Start funding expires at the end of September. Advocates with Kids Count On Us — a child care advocacy group affiliated with the religious organization ISAIAH — rallied for state and federal spending on child care in conjunction with National Day Without Child Care events around the country. 'Minnesota needs to be bold about raising revenue to fund the things we need, like a fully funded child care system, so it is affordable and accessible for all families,' said Reneé Olsen, who runs child care centers in Barnum and Willow River. The threats to Head Start come on the heels of an especially difficult six months for child care. Although Gov. Tim Walz says he wants to make Minnesota 'the best state to raise a family' — and Vice President J.D. Vance fancies himself a beacon of pro-family public policy — neither the state nor the federal government plan major investments in child care anytime soon. In Washington, Republicans are rolling back programs that provide child care to low income families, at the behest of Vance and the world's richest man, presidential advisor/donor Elon Musk. Vance co-authored an essay in the Wall Street Journal in 2021 arguing against child care subsidies; instead, the government should reward parents who choose to stay at home and raise children, Vance wrote. More than 80% of stay-at-home parents are women. And in Minnesota, there's not money in the state coffers this year to make up for the potential loss of federal funds. The state is already spending more money than it's bringing in, and with tax increases off the table for Republicans, Walz and legislative leaders are looking for ways to cut spending. November's budget forecast, which predicted a $5 billion deficit in 2027 and 2028 if current spending trends continue, ended hopes of wide-scale state-level investment in child care before the legislative session began. State Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said a tax on social media companies, which was included in the Senate's recently released tax bill, could help pay for investments in child care. But in the House, which is tied 67-67, Republicans have vowed to vote against any tax increase.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Corpus Christi teachers, union supporters march for public education
About two dozen members of local unions and community organizations gathered in front of Corpus Christi ISD's downtown administration building to draw attention to what they view as state and national threats to public education. The American Federation of Teachers held a "Protect Our Kids" day of action Tuesday across the country. The Corpus Christi chapter of the teachers union organized the local event, joined by representatives from the Coastal Bend Labor Council, the local chapter of the NAACP, League of United Latin American Citizens, CHISPA League of Conservation Voters and For the Greater Good. Amid widespread cuts to the federal government, President Donald Trump has discussed eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, which administers billions of dollars to schools annually, oversees federal student loans, protects students from discrimination and holds higher education institutions accountable. "Right now, our teachers need protection from the full-frontal attack on public education, on our public schools," Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers President Nancy Vera said. At the state level, the Texas Legislature is currently considering plans for education funding. After failing to pass a school vouchers program last legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott is again championing education savings accounts, which would provide funding for families to use for private school tuition and educational expenses. Last legislative session, state lawmakers failed to increase the basic allotment public schools receive per student after plans were linked to a voucher program. "Our government is undermining public schools — worse yet, they are undermining parents and our families and our children," Vera said. "And we won't stand for it." The Legislative Budget Board reported in January that local education agencies might experience funding drops when students leave public school to participate in an education savings account program. An analysis from Every Texan, a nonprofit organization focused on equity, estimates that if 5% of students accept a voucher, Texas public schools would lose an estimated $2.25 billion. This estimate is based on Texas Education Agency data on 2023-24 enrollments and school finances. If 1% of Corpus Christi Independent School District students accepted a voucher, the district would lose more than $2.7 million. If 5% did, it would be a $13.5 million hit, according to the report. Two years ago, Gov. Greg Abbott visited Corpus Christi to explain his support of "school choice." That year, several local private school leaders expressed optimism about how education savings accounts might impact school families. During the Tuesday event, the group held signs and joined in chants denouncing school vouchers and expressing support for public schools as they marched down the street. Attendee Conor Rice said that Texans already have choice without vouchers, pointing to his own education. "I went to Windsor Park (Elementary School)," Rice said. "Why? Because my parents realized school choice already exists, and instead of going to my closest school, I went to the best school for me in Texas public schools, which was Windsor Park Elementary." Windsor Park Elementary School hosts Corpus Christi ISD's gifted and talented program, drawing students from across the district. CCISD high schools also accept transfers for programs of choice, including career and technical education and early college high school programs. Other area public school districts also accept out-of-district transfers, sometimes at no cost. The Tuesday march took place on the sidewalk outside of the Corpus Christi ISD headquarters, though representatives of the school district did not participate. However, some of the concerns outlined by the community members align somewhat with past and present school district legislative priorities. Two years ago, CCISD's legislative priorities for the 88th session of the Texas Legislature specifically called out vouchers, asking lawmakers to prohibit the use of local taxpayer dollars for school options that would divert state funding from the public school system and to restrict the expansion of charter schools. For the current state legislative session, the voucher language has been dropped. CCISD is calling for an increase to the basic allotment that public schools receive per student and an overhaul to fund schools based on enrollment as opposed to attendance. The district is also calling for funded teacher pay raises and dollars to go toward state security mandates, as well as accountability reform, universal pre-K and assistance on insurance costs. West Oso's Milauni Williams named to UIL girls basketball all-state tournament team Here's how Del Mar College is eliminating tuition and fees for some full-time students Flour Bluff ISD invites community to see district facilities ahead of May bond election This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi teachers union opposes state school voucher plans
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge Backs Unions, Issues Temporary Restraining Order in Ed Dept. Privacy Suit
As debates about education issues and policy intensify across the nation, teachers unions are participating in rallies, lawsuits and legislative sessions to make their voices heard. Bills proposed in multiple states focus on unions, their work and funding, and unions are organizing to protest developments in education on the federal level. Here's a roundup of recent activities across the country as 2025 unfolds: On Thursday, a federal district court judge in Maryland granted a temporary restraining order barring the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management from disclosing personally identifiable information to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers union, filed a federal lawsuit with a coalition of labor unions Feb. 12 alleging that the department illegally gave DOGE access to millions of private and sensitive records. The court ruled that the AFT would likely succeed in its lawsuit and agreed that the two agencies 'likely violated the Privacy Act by disclosing their personal information to DOGE affiliates without their consent.' The restraining order will expire March 10. 'This is a significant decision that puts a firewall between actors whom we believe lack the legitimacy and authority to access Americans' personal data and are using it inappropriately, without any safeguards,' union President Randi Weingarten said in a press release. Related In other action, the union announced on Feb. 19 that March 4 will be a 'Day of Action' as part of a recently launched campaign called Protect Our Kids. The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, organized a rally outside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 12 to protest the nomination of Linda McMahon as secretary of education. In response to administration efforts to downsize federal agencies, the American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit to stop a resignation program that prompted thousands of workers to leave their jobs. The nation's largest federal employee union — which represents U.S. Department of Education staff — argued that the program was unlawful, according to The New York Times. Members of unions in 32 California school districts have banded together to negotiate a shared set of contract demands: improved wages and benefits, smaller class sizes, fully staffed schools and more resources for students. Related The locals united as part of the California Teachers Association's 'We Can't Wait' campaign, which launched Feb. 4. The districts employ a total of 77,000 educators and teach 1 million students, and include some of the largest in the state: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento. Many of the unions' contracts are set to expire this summer. California Teachers Association President David Goldberg said in a Feb. 4 webinar that the campaign is intended to build pressure statewide, according to EdSource. At one charter school in the San Fernando Valley, teachers staged a four-day strike after working without a contract since July 1. Educators at El Camino Real Charter High School, who are represented by United Teachers Los Angeles, walked out from Feb. 10 to 14 before reaching an agreement that includes a 19% salary increase over three years, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Related The nation's first charter school strike occurred in 2018, a four-day work stoppage at Acero, one of Chicago's largest charter school networks. The vast majority of charter schools are not unionized. A bill that would ban taxpayer funds from going toward teachers union operations advanced out of committee to the full House on Feb. 12. The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Judy Boyle, said the measure is intended to cut down on what she called 'under-the-table' dealings between school districts and unions, according to the Bonner County Daily Bee. HB98 would apply only to teachers unions, not to other public-sector unions that represent occupations like first responders, according to the Idaho Education Association. It would require teachers to use personal leave to do union work, eliminate payroll deductions for dues and ban distribution of union materials on school property. Violators could be fined up to $2,500. 'This wasn't the outcome we wanted, but we're not done fighting this bad bill yet,' Chris Parri, the union's political director, said in a statement. 'We'll need all hands on deck to kill it for good in the [state] Senate when the time comes.' The Chicago Teachers Union rejected a recommendation Feb. 4 from a neutral arbitrator that negotiators return to the bargaining table and reach agreement with Chicago Public Schools on a new contract that includes higher pay for veteran teachers and more librarians. In a letter to the district, the union wrote that the mediator 'rightly notes that [Chicago Public Schools] consistently signs … labor contracts despite claiming it lacks the funds to afford them.' Once the recommendation is rejected, the union has to wait 30 days before it can give the district a 10-day strike notice. The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike during contract negotiations for seven days in 2012, one day in 2016 and 11 days in 2019. Lawmakers questioned the state's largest teachers union at a special hearing Feb. 10 over learning materials that some members believe were antisemitic. The Massachusetts Teachers Association, which represents more than 117,000 educators, was criticized by legislators for materials made available to teachers about the Israel-Hamas conflict. President Max Page said in a statement that the documents were created by request from the union's board and published in a members-only area of the union website. Examples included a poster on the Israel-Hamas war reading, 'what was taken by force can only be returned by force' and a book about a Palestinian girl who says, 'a group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land so they stole it by force and hurt many people,' according to 'The notion that our union is trying to 'indoctrinate' our young people is simply not true, and accusations to that effect have led to death threats to me and my staff, and to other attacks on our union,' Page said. 'Posting resources does not imply agreement with each and every document. Nor would we ever expect that our members would look at these resources with an uncritical eye.' An online petition by the Israeli-American Civic Action Network that asks lawmakers and state agencies to halt collaboration with the union on legislation has received more than 17,000 signatures. One of the first bills Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law this year bars teachers unions from bargaining collectively and conducting operations on school property. The governor signed HB267 on Feb. 14, marking the end of a weeks-long debate about how public-sector unions should operate. Lawmakers who favored the bill said it will ensure transparency in unions and protect taxpayer resources, but educators said it will only make a job that's already full of challenges more difficult. Related While it doesn't prevent employees from joining a union, the law prohibits public agencies — which employ teachers, firefighters, police officers and county workers, among others — from 'recognizing a labor organization as a bargaining agent' and 'entering into collective bargaining contracts.' The Utah Education Association said HB267 will also weaken advocacy because it cuts off access to schools by barring unions from using public property for free. Some opponents of the bill charged it was created to retaliate against the Utah Education Association, which is challenging the constitutionality of Utah's school voucher program in court. The association is the state's largest teachers union, with 18,000 members.
