Education

More than 2,000 homeschooling families descended on the Illinois Capitol to protest legislation that would require annual registration with local school districts and allow officials to review their educational programs. The measure has ignited a debate over where parental rights end and state responsibility for student welfare begins.

The New Mexico House of Representatives passed legislation this week that could remove a significant obstacle for the roughly 200,000 adults across the state who lack a high school diploma. House Bill 167 would eliminate the $145 fee for high school equivalency testing and provide funding for test preparation programs. For many New Mexicans, that $145 has been enough to keep them from even trying. State officials believe removing the fee barrier could boost test participation by 20 to 40 percent.

New York now spends roughly $36,000 per student annually, the highest rate in the nation. Yet more than 350,000 city students were chronically absent last year, and test scores remain below pre-pandemic levels. Critics say the math doesn't add up: the state is spending more but getting less. The pandemic changed how families think about attendance, but the problem runs deeper. Housing instability and economic pressure have made consistent school attendance difficult for vulnerable communities, even as education funding hits record highs. Whether new attendance programs can reverse the trend remains an open question, but with one in three students missing significant class time, the city's education establishment is running out of time to prove that billions in spending can translate into actual learning.

Nurses, teachers, and business leaders are flooding into artificial intelligence courses as AI reshapes work far beyond Silicon Valley. Universities across the country are scrambling to meet surging demand from non-technical professionals who see AI literacy as essential to career survival. According to the World Economic Forum, 44% of workers will need reskilling within five years due to AI advancements—and those outside traditional tech fields are getting ahead of the curve.