Infrastructure Bill Passes, Mask Mandates Prevail in TN, 5-11 y/o Vaccinations.
Editor’s Note: This weekly media report covers K-12 education news and trends. Please be in touch with alanna.klein@greendot.org with any questions.
NEWS
- The Infrastructure Bill was signed into law by President Biden earlier this week. Public education will see funds to close the digital divide, improve quality of clean water at schools, and change the quality of school buses. (Time, NPR, CNBC, Forbes, EdWeek)
- TN Governor Bill Lee attempted to ban mask mandates in schools a federal judge blocked this order, allowing districts to still require masks. (WREG, Fox 13, Chalkbeat TN, Commercial Appeal)
- The next push for Covid-19 vaccinations are for 5-11 year olds, and nearly 1 million have already been vaccinated. (AP News, NYT, WSJ, NPR, The 74 Million, USA Today, NPR)
VIEWS
- New York Times (Jay Caspian Kang, Opinion Writer): Can We Talk About Critical Race Theory?
- Newsweek (Callista Gingrich, US Diplomat and Businesswoman): Youngkin’s Education Revolution
- Washington Post (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Columnist): Progressives can no longer cede school boards to the GOP. They should treat them as political arenas to fight — and win.
- The Hill (Brad Bannon, Opinion Contributor): Infrastructure updates only get us halfway — we need Build Back Better bill, too
