Education Briefs
The number of Texas parents pursuing a homeschool alternative for their children has increased five-fold this month from the same time period last year. Texas Homeschool Coalition President Tim Lambert said his organization is "literally inundated with calls and emails from thousands upon thousands of families asking how they can begin homeschooling this fall." The coalition said that last fall the number of homeschooling families "nearly tripled from four-and-a-half percent in the spring [of 2020] to 12.3 
percent by October" according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Reasons for the increase range from parental dissatisfaction with what their children are learning in the schools, whether in-class or virtual, to "school districts' retaliatory policies for noncompliance" with ongoing mandates such as forced masking. The Texas legislature obligingly passed two bills which the governor signed, one allowing homeschool students to participate in "University Interscholastic League sponsored activities," and another that eases local government regulatory burdens in certain instances. Guard The Constitution.com 8-21-21
According to a former deputy national security advisor under President Trump, Chinese spying on American citizens is reaching new heights, and includes children. Matthew Pottinger testified at a Senate Intelligence Hearing on August 4, raising the alarm about Chinese spying. "Assembling dossiers 
on people has always been a feature of Leninist regimes, but Beijing's penetration of digital networks worldwide, including using 5G networks ... has really taken this to a new level," he explained. He testified that China not only has enough data to compile a dossier on every U.S. adult, but "on many of our children, too, who are fair game under Beijing's rules of political warfare." Another Trump initiative that Biden overturned was the former president's effort to ban Chinese-owned TikTok over spying concerns. Meanwhile, millions of American kids and adults alike continue to use TikTok and Minecraft, "blissfully giving these CCP-linked apps access to their personal data." Western Journal.com, 8-9-2021
In a late-night vote on August 10, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment prohibiting federal funding to K-12 schools and preschool programs that teach critical race theory (CRT). The measure passed 50-49 in what was nearly a strict party-line vote, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) the lone Democrat voting in favor. 
The amendment's sponsor, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), said it permits the chairman of the budget committee to prohibit or limit federal funds from being used "to promote critical race theory or compel teachers or students to affirm critical race theory in prekindergarten programs, elementary schools, and secondary schools." Opponents of CRT concede that the amendment is not perfect because many school districts deny teaching CRT even though they admit finding no problem with teaching it. The Gateway Pundit online news source believes one important aspect of the amendment is that 49 Democrats voted for "this sort of modern-day racism being taught to innocent children. The Dems are now on record supporting Marxist propaganda." Washington Examiner, 8-12-21; Gateway Pundit, 8-11-21
Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a bill into law in July that exempts high school students from having to prove they can read, write, or do math at a freshman or sophomore level before receiving a diploma. The governor reportedly downplayed the law and the fact that she signed it; no press release was issued nor was there a signing ceremony. The Oregon legislature passed the bill in June, 
officially suspending the proficiency requirements for three years but potentially up to five years. The bill's supporters said that considering math and reading to be essential skills for students unfairly challenges those who don't test well. Most, but not all, Republican legislators pushed back against any further dumbing-down of students. Oregon House Minority Leader Christine Drazan said she would have supported the bill had it focused on testing requirements alone. "If it had just been a testing bill, then I would have been supportive of it," said Drazan, "but what we were doing was taking a list of essential skills and saying we're not going to hold our kids to these standards anymore." KATU.com/Fox News/OR, 8-9-21
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