This reporting is based on an original story by Amanda Geduld in The 74

As schools across the country work to address pandemic learning gaps, a growing number are turning to an alternative grading system called “standards-based grading.” The goal is to more accurately communicate what students have learned and provide a clearer picture to parents and colleges. But as The 74 reports, the implementation has been messy, with many schools and consultants getting it wrong.

When education researcher Thomas Guskey was a middle school math teacher decades ago, he had an eye-opening interaction with one of his top students. The 8th grader revealed she had calculated exactly what test score she needed to get an A in the class, down to the tenth decimal place. “I only need a 50.2 to get an A,” she told Guskey nonchalantly. “I don’t need to study for a 50.2.” Guskey thought, “Wow. What have I done?”

For this student – and so many others – school had devolved into a Numbers game about scoring well rather than a passion for true learning. Traditional grading systems conflate academic mastery with factors like behavior, effort, attendance, and homework completion, muddying the meaning of a single grade.

Standards-based grading aims to pull these elements apart – reporting academics, work habits, and other factors individually on a kind of “dashboard.” Laura Link, an associate professor of teaching and leadership at the University of North Dakota, says this segregated reporting provides much clearer insight.

“By giving this kind of multi-metric dashboard of information,” she explained, “it helps parents, colleges, trade schools, military recruiters and others have a deeper understanding of what kind of students they’re looking at – their academic strengths, but also those habits and behaviors that enable student learning.”

Link has been working with schools like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to implement the model, which separates out academic grades on a 0-4 scale from behavioral factors like attendance, work ethic, and responsibility. But the nationwide push to adopt standards-based grading has vastly outpaced teacher training.

Thomas Guskey, now a professor emeritus of education at the University of Kentucky, warns that lack of preparation is proving disastrous. “So many districts are getting into this and they’re failing miserably,” he said. “Schools are jumping into this without a clear notion of what they’re doing and what the prerequisites are to being standards based. And then when problems arise, they have no recourse except to abandon it completely.”

Link and Guskey warn there is no consensus on what “standards-based grading” even means, with a slew of grading book authors, consultants, and self-proclaimed experts providing inconsistent, often unproven advice that derails implementation efforts.

One particularly controversial piece of advice is that students should get unlimited opportunities to re-do assignments until they’ve mastered the content. Link says that goes too far. “This is where a lot of non-academic proponents encourage that standards-based grading means you give as many retakes as it takes for mastery. Not true. That’s an assessment issue, not a grading issue.”

One New York City parent, Talia Matz, is concerned her son’s high school has taken retakes and other elements of standards-based grading to an extreme. At the School of the Future High School in Manhattan, she says meaningless assignments, endless re-dos with no consequences for missed deadlines, and conversions of standards-based grades back to percentages have undermined academic motivation.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any love of learning,” Matz lamented. “It’s just kind of to get it done and move on.” She worries her son will be unprepared for college expectations around self-directed study.

But some districts have had much more success taking a phased, thoughtful approach to standards-based grading implementation and teacher training. In the Grandview district near Kansas City, Superintendent Kenny Rodrequez says it has been a multi-year process of gradual rollouts.

“Our challenge is, nationally we still have a system that’s so entrenched and based upon our traditional letter grades,” Rodrequez said. “And that system’s been around for so long and never was designed to do what we’re now trying to get it to do.”

Despite the bumps, standards-based grading proponents insist the major overhaul is worthwhile to provide a clearer window into student learning versus just piling up points and percentages. Link says it’s a long road, but a critical one:

“This is not something we’re going to fix in just a year or two years. It will have to be an extended period of time of training, of implementation challenges, of getting the community buy-in. But it’s so important for us to get it right ultimately.”

Matt Townsley, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa, agrees standards-based grading corrects for equity issues baked into traditional grades.

“If we award points for assignments completed outside of class – called homework – we can imagine scenarios where some families are more privileged in their ability to complete that work, with things like quiet study spaces, tutors, parents able to help. So in that way, we may be grading for access to resources rather than learning.”

While a handful of schools were early standards-based grading adopters, post-pandemic interest appears to be surging, according to Cathy Vatterott, who wrote the book Rethinking Grading: Meaningful Assessment for Standards-Based Learning.

“After we got through COVID, all of a sudden I started getting offers to come and speak to people about standards-based grading,” said Vatterott, a professor emeritus of education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. “There seems to be new momentum building nationally.”

Critics argue the model is too complex, relies too heavily on teacher judgment, and eliminates helpful accountability measures like class rank and GPA calculations. But for proponents, standards-based grading is realigning classroom grading with its original intent – to uphold high academic standards and provide meaningful feedback to students and families.

Originally published in Mississippi Today by Bobby Harrison

A battle is brewing in the Mississippi Legislature over education funding.

A good old game of one-upmanship could break out between the House and Senate over which chamber is going to commit to more education funding. That would be welcome news for educators, who, like everyone else, have been beset with inflation and higher costs for their schools.

The House wants to rewrite the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which is the objective formula that determines the amount of state funds needed to provide the basics to operate an adequate school district. The House plan has many features supported by public education advocates but many of those advocates are concerned that the rewrite does not include an objective formula, but instead depends on a committee of education professionals to make recommendations to the Legislature on the amount of money needed.

The House has passed an appropriations bill to pump an additional $250 million into K-12 education — perhaps in an effort to garner support for the rewrite.

The Senate wants to make changes to the Adequate Education Program, but maintain the objective formula. With the Senate changes to MAEP, it will take about $210 million more than appropriated by the 2023 Legislature to fully fund the formula, and Senate leaders have committed to doing that.

If MAEP is fully funded this session, it would be the first time since 2007 and only the second time since it was fully enacted in 2003.

The bottom line is that under the worst case scenario, K-12 education should receive an additional $210 million under the early Senate plan. It should be pointed out that the Senate has not actually taken up its budget for education like the House has. So presumably, the Senate could opt to make additional “tweaks” to the MAEP and increase the amount of money needed to fully fund it.

Actually, there is a scenario that could be worse for education. Many members of the House leadership are so opposed to continuing the MAEP that there could be a scenario where they would refuse to put any additional money into education if the Senate does not agree to scrap the current school funding formula.

The House and Senate have a history of trying to outdo the other in terms of education funding. In 2000, newly-elected Gov. Ronnie Musgrove was advocating increasing teacher pay to the Southeastern average over a multi-year period. It looked as though Musgrove’s key campaign promise was going down in flames during his opening legislative session as governor.

Both presiding officers, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck in the Senate and House Speaker Tim Ford, said the state could not afford the massive pay increase. But late in the process, Tuck held a news conference without informing Ford and announced her support for a teacher pay raise.

Ford, who was traveling back from Alabama, was blindsided by Tuck’s reversal. But not to be outdone by Tuck, Ford met with the media upon returning to the Capitol to announce that moving teacher pay to the Southeastern average might not be enough. He said it was time to consider reaching the national average.

The pay raise passed that session did not reach Ford’s stated goal, but it remains the state’s largest percentage increase in teacher pay.

In 2000, as that pay raise was being considered and ultimately passed, revenue was tight because of a national recession. It was difficult to make that commitment.

This year, the state’s fiscal condition is much stronger thanks to a number of factors, primarily the unprecedented amount of federal funds that were pumped into the state to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, in recent months, state revenue has significantly slowed. That slowdown continued during the most recent revenue report for the month of February.

But the state’s fiscal condition still appears strong enough to achieve the stated goals of legislators to increase education funding — and perhaps even to try to outdo each other.

But there are some other headwinds. Besides the continuing slowdown in collections, many legislators, including Lt. Gov. Hosemann, have indicated that the Legislature might need to pump additional funds into the Public Employees Retirement System that provides a pension or retirement benefits to about 350,000 current and former state and local government workers and school employees. The governing board of PERS has said the additional funds are needed from the Legislature to ensure the financial stability of the pension program.

There have been estimates that an additional $350 million on an annual basis is needed.

Additional funds for PERS could make it difficult to provide more money for education.

Plus, if Gov. Tate Reeves prevails on eliminating the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue, increasing funding for education would get much tougher.

Originally reported in The Kansas City Star by Anna Sago and Kacen Bayless

Large Missouri school districts that want to shift to a four-day school week amid a teacher shortage would first have to get approval from voters under a sweeping education package passed by the Missouri Senate last week.

The legislation, which now heads to the House, would directly affect the Independence School District. The district last year became the largest school system in the state to try a four-day week in an attempt to attract teachers.

It would require school districts in Jackson, St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties, or districts that serve more than 30,000 residents, to receive approval from a majority of voters in the district by 2026 in order to keep a four-day week or to begin offering it.

School board members under current state law can decide whether a district shifts to a four-day week. The proposed legislation would not affect smaller districts in more rural parts of the state.

Dale Herl, the superintendent for Independence schools, was critical of the legislation in an interview with The Star this week. Four-day school weeks were never a problem until his district made the switch, he said.

“It seems like large school districts are very much being singled out,” Herl said. “How is the fact that large school districts want to do this as a way to attract and retain employees any different than a district that’s in a community with under 30,000?”

The provision was included in a massive 167-page education bill that senators passed on a 19 to 10 vote last week. If approved by the House, it would head to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.

The legislation would also allow charter schools to operate in Boone County, raise the starting salary for teachers to $40,000 and would expand a tax-credit-funded scholarship program for students to attend private or charter schools.

The core of the Republican-led bill, filed by Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican, was widely viewed as a win for school choice advocates, who have for years pushed for greater access to non-traditional K-12 education such as private and religious schools. Senate Democrats voted against the larger package, but were able to negotiate several provisions, including the rules surrounding four-day weeks.

Sen. Doug Beck, a St. Louis Democrat, added the language regarding four-day school weeks. He said on Wednesday that the reduced schedule posed a handful of challenges for school-age children and parents.

He pointed to increased childcare costs for parents and stagnant academic performance. Beck said Wednesday that he hadn’t seen a single test that suggested that four-day weeks improved student performance.

“They said they’ve dropped a little bit or maybe stayed the same,” he said. “But I guess my question is, is that what we’re looking for? Are we shooting for just staying the same?”

Beck added that he would have preferred to require all school districts to put four-day school weeks on the ballot. However, he pushed back on the argument that the bill unfairly targeted Independence schools.

The bill also includes incentives for school districts that stick with five-day school weeks: an increase in funding equal to 2% of the state aid that the district received the year prior. The bill requires that funding bump to go towards teacher salaries.

But Herl said Independence won’t take the money. He said the district already increased its levy to boost salaries and that retaining staff is about more than that.

“When you look at what’s going on with teacher retention, this boils down to far more than a situation about salary,” he said. “It’s about work life balance … and this four-day school week allows us to address that.”

State money to private schools

At the heart of the bill is an expansion of the Missouri Empowerment Scholarships, or MOScholars, program. The tax-credit funded program provides qualified K-12 students and their families with funding to attend a private or charter school.

The legislation raises the funding cap — or the total amount of tax-credit eligible donations it can accept — for MOScholars from $25 million to $75 million. Previously, the funding cap had been allowed to grow with inflation, reaching a little over $27.5 million this year.

Under the proposal, that amount will have to grow with the public school funding formula — a compromise Senate Democrats said would prevent public schools from being underfunded.

Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said last week that the state hadn’t yet hit that funding cap.

But Koenig, who is running for state treasurer, pointed to recent growth in donations as reason to raise the cap now. In 2022, the program raised around $9 million in donations and last year, it raised around $17 million.

The bill would also expand the number of students or families who would be eligible for the program. Currently, a family of four would have to make $110,000 or less per year to qualify. The legislation would raise that to a little under $167,000.

The sweeping bill would also allow new charter schools to be established in Boone County. Charter schools are currently only allowed to operate in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Some Republicans have pushed to allow charter schools in St. Charles and St. Louis County as well, but Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican, said last week that adding those counties to this bill might have drummed up too much opposition to the package as a whole.

Concern over costs

In a rare consensus, Senate Republicans and Democrats have both disputed the bill’s fiscal note, which was prepared by nonpartisan staff and estimates how much the legislation would cost state and local governments.

Rowden, Koenig and Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, estimated that the fiscal impact of the bill on state general revenue funds would be closer to $400 to $450 million once fully implemented. The fiscal note prepared by nonpartisan staff, however, states the figure could exceed $235 million.

Koenig said that the fiscal note had several incorrect assumptions, which may have impacted the accuracy of the final calculation. He pointed to the refundability of MOScholars tax credits as an example.

“I would have liked it to be refundable, but it’s not,” Koenig said.

Rizzo said he didn’t think that Republicans had tried to sway nonpartisan staff, but that he wanted to see more accurate fiscal notes in the future.

“The issue is that if we’re able to put the pieces of the puzzle together to get a good fiscal note, why are we not getting that?” Rizzo said during a Senate press conference last Thursday.

The teaching profession in the United States has been facing significant challenges in recent years, with teacher shortages and stagnant wages becoming a major concern. A new report from the ADP Research Institute, authored by Jeff Nezaj, sheds light on this troubling issue.

The U.S. has long struggled with a teacher shortage, a problem that worsened during and after the pandemic. Today, classroom professionals are in high demand but short supply – a classic economic imbalance that should lead to higher wages for teachers. However, Nezaj’s research shows that teacher pay has lagged behind that of other U.S. workers, and this pay gap is widening.

Using employment and wage data for public and private K-12 teachers, the ADP Research Institute built indexes to track employment trends. They found that openings for educators have increased dramatically since 2021, while employment levels remained relatively flat. In fact, teacher employment even fell in the months following the pandemic outbreak due to retirements and resignations.

As of October 2023, teachers were earning an average of $68,000 a year, which is 8 percent less than the average for all U.S. workers. This pay gap has been widening, as it was only 3 percent in January 2018. Nezaj notes that this comparison doesn’t even consider differences in education levels, which are generally higher among teachers, making the shrinking pay premium even more concerning.

The ramifications of this imbalance and stagnant wages are clear, as Nezaj states: “Stagnant wages and a stressful work environment are pushing classroom experts to the exits and discouraging young people from joining the profession.” The salary competitiveness has eroded particularly for younger teachers aged 20 to 30, which could create or exacerbate labor shortages by discouraging potential educators from entering the field.

In an article for District Administration, Micah Ward highlights the added responsibilities driving teachers out of the profession. Major culprits are the increased focus on student mental health and integrating edtech since the pandemic. Ward cites the ADP report, noting this imbalance between demand and supply is a “classic economic imbalance” that should lead to higher wages. However, teacher pay continues to lag, making it difficult for districts to retain and recruit qualified educators.

Alia Wong, writing for USA Today, further emphasizes the supply-demand imbalance. Despite efforts to hire more teachers after the pandemic, the supply of prospective educators hasn’t kept up with demand. The number of teacher job openings surged since 2021, but employed educator numbers remained flat. For months after the pandemic’s onset, the teaching force even shrank due to resignations and retirements.

K12Leaders conducted a survey in early 2022 that captured real-time teacher dissatisfaction data. Out of over 500 responses nationwide, a staggering 67 percent reported moderate or high job dissatisfaction. Even more troubling, 88 percent said they would give less than one month’s notice before leaving for another job.

The top cited concerns were lack of respect (77 percent), compensation (74 percent), scheduling/flexibility issues (70 percent), and lack of professional growth opportunities (65 percent). Student behavior was also a major stress factor for 62 percent of respondents.

The collective findings from ADP, District Administration, USA Today, and K12Leaders paint a worrisome picture. Urgent action is needed to address the imbalance between teacher demand and supply, stagnant wages driving educators away, and added responsibilities exacerbating the retention crisis.

Ward, from District Administration, cites some hopeful developments however.

Despite the grim perspective, many states and school districts have made efforts this budgeting season to bolster the teaching profession by offering more meaningful wages.

This week, senators in Missouri are voting to expand a state program that would pay for private school expenses and boost teacher salaries, the Columbia Missourian  reports. If the measure becomes law, the minimum teacher salary would rise from $25,000 to $40,000. A teacher with a master’s degree and more than a decade of experience is paid around $33,000 a year.  Under the new law, that would increase to $46,000, the news outlet adds.

South Dakota Searchlight  reports that in South Dakota, school districts may soon be raising their teacher salaries each year at a rate equal to the state’s increase in education funding. Last week, the state’s legislature approved Senate Bill 127, which aims to raise average teacher pay, including salary and benefits. Compensation would increase by 97% of the increase approved by the legislature and the governor each year beginning July 1.

“Right now we are 49th in the nation for average teacher salaries. This is unacceptable,” Sen, Sydney Davis, R-Burbank, declared on the Senate floor. “We need real accountability. It’s time to keep our promise to teachers.”

This story was originally reported by USA Today and Claire Thornton

Across the country, teachers are struggling to make ends meet due to rising housing costs and stagnant salaries. For many educators, finding an affordable place to live has become an immense challenge, leading some school districts to take an unusual step – building housing specifically for their teachers and staff.

Take the case of Kareem Wall, a 31-year-old English teacher in Kansas City, Missouri. Last school year, Wall found himself homeless after being evicted just two days into his first year on the job. With his first paycheck still a month away and no money left over from the summer, Wall was forced to bounce between his classroom couch, his car, friends’ couches, and the occasional hotel room for seven grueling months.

“There were times where I felt irritable, delirious, extremely fatigued,” Wall told USA Today. “I felt like my body was one step behind.”

Wall’s situation highlights the dire housing affordability crisis facing many teachers across the United States. According to the National Education Association, the average starting salary for teachers in recent years was just above $40,000. Meanwhile, recent economic data shows that starting teachers would have to spend more than 30% of their salary on rent – the definition of unaffordable housing – in more than 1 out of every 5 of the country’s largest metro areas.

These financial pressures have led nearly 90% of public schools to struggle filling teaching positions this school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In response, some districts are taking matters into their own hands by building affordable housing units specifically for their employees.

The Jefferson Union High School District in Daly City, California, opened an employee apartment building in 2022 with 122 units. Since teachers moved in, the district has started the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years with zero vacancies for the first time in years.

“Our staff housing had a huge impact on that,” said Austin Worden, the district’s director of communications and staff housing.

In Kansas City, a nonprofit called Teachers Like Me built a duplex where Wall now rents a one-bedroom unit for just $400 a month – a steal compared to the city’s average rent of around $1,200.

“I feel like I’ve stumbled upon Kansas City’s best-kept secret,” Wall said of his new home.

But while teacher housing has proven to be an effective retention strategy, it’s not a perfect solution. These housing units are often limited in number with lengthy waitlists. And if a teacher loses their job, they also lose their affordable housing.

“When districts have to spend time and money and human resources to solve the housing problem of their teacher workforce, it takes them away from their core responsibility,” said Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Education advocates argue that while helpful, affordable housing shouldn’t be a band-aid solution – teachers simply need higher salaries that keep up with the rising cost of living. Some districts, like Kansas City, have implemented raises recently, but researchers say the additional income is often still not enough to make housing truly affordable.

As the teacher housing crisis persists, many hope for broader systemic changes to improve educator compensation and tackle the lack of affordable housing impacting communities nationwide.

Sources: USA Today article National Education Association data National Center for Education Statistics

This story was originally posted in the Houston Chronicle by Kennedy Sessions

Some Houston ISD parents are expressing frustration and concern about the future of their schools after Superintendent Mike Miles notified hundreds of principals that they must improve or risk losing their jobs.

Tim Sinyak, a parent with two children at Love Elementary in the Heights area, said he isn’t sure if they will stay in HISD depending on how the rest of the year goes. Love Elementary is currently rated D-plus and has seen a revolving door of 5 principals in the last 5 years.

The school recently held community meetings to decide whether to join Miles’ “New Education System” reform plan of overhauled curricula and increased testing. After parents voiced concerns, former principal Sean Tellez declined to join NES. Weeks later, he resigned – the same day the Houston Chronicle reported that 117 principals had been notified they were performing below “proficient” levels and could lose their jobs if they didn’t improve.

For Sinyak, this showed a disconnect between the district’s messaging and actions. “It’s disruptive and completely against the fact that the district claims everything is in the best interest of the children,” he said. “What Principal Tellez was bringing…was stability that we have been craving.”

The performance notices from Miles went to newly-assigned principals and veterans. His email said they were making “good progress” but needed to focus on “high quality instruction.” The list of principals named sparked controversy, with some popular leaders of top schools included.

Parent Tracy Lisewsky said, “The whole community is frustrated…you don’t really know what to be frustrated with anymore. I worry about principal and teacher retention.” A recent survey showed over 40% of HISD teachers said they would not return next year, though the district disputes this.

Miles stands by the evaluations, saying “I will not compromise on that. I expect every educator to continuously improve instruction with no exceptions. If we compromise…we will fail students, and that is not an option.”

Principal ratings from “Unsatisfactory” to “Exemplary” will determine compensation, with the highest-rated principals eligible for nearly $200,000 and lower-rated close to $130,000.

Miles added: “This is what raising expectations looks like. It asks a lot of people…makes some educators uncomfortable. That is expected and necessary. Some will not perform at the level our students need, and decide to work elsewhere. But 97% of our teachers have said they want to keep working in the district next year.”

As uncertainty looms, parents hope for stability amidst the district’s reform pushes.

This story is based on original reporting from Minnesota Public Radio and Elizabeth Shockman

It’s been four years since Minnesota schools first shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 15, 2020, Governor Tim Walz ordered schools to temporarily close with just 35 confirmed cases in the state. Students like eighth-grader Raeline McVicker were initially excited for some bonus time off.

“We were all like, ‘Yeah! We get an extra break,’” Rae said. “We were so excited to have like a few extra days to be out of school — ‘Yay! We get to completely play hooky!’”

But that temporary break turned into the rest of the school year as cases surged. For students like Rae and her classmate Allie Meyer, it meant being thrust into a high school experience turned upside down – with remote learning, canceled activities, and prolonged isolation.

Rae struggled with distance learning. “I have to be in a classroom to be able to learn things,” she said. “I was failing my classes really badly. COVID really threw a curveball in my education.”

Allie was able to keep up her grades, but found herself depressed from hours spent online. “I spent a lot of time online…I definitely didn’t enjoy sitting on my phone for hours during the day. But, you know, I still had to be logged on to my computer for my class period, even if I wasn’t learning anything.”

The pandemic’s impact on student mental health was severe. A 2022 statewide survey found nearly a third of Minnesota students struggled with long-term mental health issues. Amerin Chamberlain, now at Venture Academy in Minneapolis, described distance learning as “a nightmare” that led to poor habits.

When schools reopened for in-person learning, the transition wasn’t easy. Rae and Allie noticed classmates seeming withdrawn. “COVID took away a lot of physical and social exercise for our whole grade,” Allie said. “Coming back people don’t have the same emotional stamina.”

Test scores plummeted and chronic absenteeism skyrocketed over 70% in the 2021-22 school year. TJ Valtierra of the Little Earth Boys and Girls Club said, “Overall, we’ve seen a lot of struggle…there’s groups of kids that are still not really recovered.”

Despite the challenges, some students persevered. Kely Bunay at Academy of Holy Angels pushed herself, motivated by her immigrant parents who hadn’t finished high school. “I just felt like if I didn’t go through, if I let myself get distracted easily by just being home, I was sort of gonna … disappoint them,” she said.

For Rae and Allie in Red Wing, internship programs reinvigorated their passion for learning after feeling stuck in a “repetitive” cycle. “The key word for these last four years has just been recovery,” Allie said. “I had to teach myself how to do hard things and how to focus again.”

As the Class of 2024 nears graduation, their resilience shines through a turbulent era. As Aisha Abdullah from Minneapolis South said, “It’s definitely always gonna stick with me…But I think I managed OK. And my high school experience was still pretty good. I’m still happy about what happened.”

Sources: MPR News Article “Students persevere after COVID disrupted Minnesota high schools”

The source of this story was Beth Hawkins and The 74

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit challenging Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law that restricted classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The agreement clarifies what is and is not allowed under the law, in an attempt to resolve confusion and fears around its implementation. Beth Hawkins has more for The 74, an education news publication.

Attorneys representing students, parents and teachers in Florida have settled their lawsuit against the state over the Parental Rights in Education Act, known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The 2022 law originally banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through 3rd grade. It was later expanded to restrict such instruction in all grades.

The vague language of the law and related regulations from the state Board of Education led to fears that any discussion of LGBTQ topics or people would be prohibited in schools. Teachers began removing pride flags, stickers and books with LGBTQ characters from classrooms.

Survey data from the Williams Institute at UCLA showed 9 in 10 queer parents in Florida feared the impact of the law, with over half considering leaving the state.

Under the settlement announced this week, the law remains in effect but with key clarifications. Specific instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity is still banned, such as teaching an overview of gender theory or a particular view on marriage equality.

However, the agreement stipulates that the law does not prohibit “mere discussion” of LGBTQ people or topics that arise naturally in classroom settings, such as a student writing about their family for an essay.

Lead attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represented the plaintiffs, said the settlement means “LGBTQ+ kids, parents and teachers in Florida can, in fact, say that they are gay.”

The agreement requires education officials to send the settlement terms to all school districts, emphasizing that discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity must be prohibited.

It also states that references to LGBTQ people or relationships in classroom materials like books do not constitute prohibited instruction, any more than a math word problem about apples constitutes instruction on farming.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hailed the deal as a “major win,” saying his law remains intact while providing what he called “common sense clarifications.”

However, LGBTQ advocates say the nationwide chilling effect from such laws has already taken hold, with increasing rates of anti-LGBTQ harassment, bullying and violence reported in schools across the country.

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating the recent death of a non-binary Oklahoma teenager after a fight in a school bathroom, a case highlighting the safety concerns for LGBTQ youth.

Katie Blankenship, director of the free speech group PEN America’s Florida chapter, calls the settlement a positive step but expects “uneven” compliance from schools initially, depending on local demographics.

She says the “bubble of fear” created by the vague law has been “popped” but that challenges will remain, as legislators in many states pursue similar legislation restricting LGBTQ topics in the classroom.

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