Students Return to Classes as Concerned Parents Look On
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Parents across the political spectrum are concerned with the state of public education heading into the 2023-24 school year.
The Details: Worries include access to attention-defecit medicine, scaling back special education and dual language programs, and potentially inappropriate curriculum and gender-transition discussions.
Concerns About Equality, Accessibility: NBC News (Lean Left bias) highlighted a group of parents in a Texas school district who are concerned about new state education plans, which reportedly include "eliminating nearly two dozen special education contracting jobs, changing dual language programs and converting at least 28 school libraries into discipline areas." NewsNation (Center) highlighted a nationwide shortage of Adderall, which millions of students take for ADHD. Another NBC article focused on new laws around LGBTQ+ issues in schools, and said "students and teachers must contend with a variety of restrictions on LGBTQ content and bathroom and pronoun use."
Concerns About Inappropriate Subjects: Deseret News (Center) highlighted a lawsuit from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian parents in Maryland who said their school district eliminated "local parents’ rights to opt their children out of ideological instruction on family life and sexuality, including gender identity." The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) focused on states with new policies requiring teachers to inform parents if their child is identifying with a different gender, and said they followed "national outrage at the revelation that school districts were allowing children to go by different names, use different pronouns, and wear clothing and use restrooms that did not align with their sex."
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