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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Bethany Blankley |Chrissy Clark |Jillian Schneider |John Ransom
(The Center Square) – The Texas House for the first time in state history passed a school choice bill after previous attempts failed in multiple legislative sessions. The House passed SB 2, filed by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, and its companion legislation filed by state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, after 15 hours of being in session on Wednesday. After eight hours of debate that went into the early morning hours on Thursday, the measure passed along party lines by a vote of 85-63. Gov.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Shanxi Omoniyi |Jillian Schneider |Reagan Reese
Nearly half of families leaving New York City’s public schools are looking for “more rigorous education,” and a quarter of them have safety concerns, a new survey reveals. “Education Department officials framed the survey results as a way to better understand parents’ choices…” explained Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization. “Public school enrollment, which was already on the decline before COVID hit, is now 11% below pre-pandemic levels, with 815,000 students in grades K-12.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Shanxi Omoniyi |Victor Skinner |John Ransom |Jillian Schneider
A public school district in Massachusetts is grappling with soaring transportation expenses for its 11,000 students, a recent news report concluded. “I am horrified at the burgeoning cost of transportation,” said Thomas Khoury, committee member for Fall River Public Schools, at an April 8 meeting. The Herald News, which is part of the Gannett USA TODAY network, traced the exponential hike in busing expenses from $8 million in 2021 to its present-day projections of more than $15.8 million.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Adam Wittenberg |Karsten Harrison |John Ransom |Jillian Schneider
A 17-year-old student is in custody after shooting four people at a Dallas high school Tuesday, the second shooting at the school in one year. No one died in the incident at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, which took place shortly after 1 p.m., officials said. An unidentified student reportedly let suspect Tracy Haynes Jr. into the building, where he indiscriminately shot five people, including one at point-blank range. Victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment, local media reported.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Tom Joyce |Jillian Schneider |Bethany Blankley
Life-giving pregnancy resource centers may get a substantial financial boost in Texas this year. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently voted to earmark $210 million in its state budget to a program that helps pregnancy centers, a $70 million increase compared to the current biennium, the Houston Chronicle reports. If approved, the money would go to the Thriving Families program, formerly known as Alternatives to Abortion.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Michael Gryboski |Merrilee Gasser |John Ransom |Jillian Schneider
(The Washington Stand) – An Arkansas bill prohibiting state officials from forcing faith-based adoption and foster care organizations from placing children in homes that go against an agency’s religious or moral beliefs was signed into law by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sanders, former White House press secretary for Donald Trump, signed Act 509 last Thursday along with several other bills on various topics.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Jillian Schneider |Merrilee Gasser |Victor Skinner |Lisa Buie
North Dakota is on the cusp of becoming the 47th state to legalize charter schools, as a separate school choice bill is still on the table. SB 2241, sponsored by six Republicans, would create an avenue for public charter schools to exist in the Roughrider State. Versions of the bill were approved by wide margins in both chambers – 40-7 in the Senate and then 64-29 in the House. The Senate must now approve the House version. Republicans control both chambers. If approved by the Legislature, Gov.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Dan Hart |Carrie Sheffield |Tara Mergener |Jillian Schneider
(The Washington Stand) – A spiritual awakening is stirring among young people in the West, according to a steady stream of survey data. In February, the Pew Research Center released a report showing that the decade-long decline in Americans identifying as Christian has leveled off. But new studies show that the downward trend is now in full reverse, with the engine driving the change occurring among Generation Z and millennials.
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1 week ago | 
readlion.com | Jillian Schneider |Joe Mueller |Mary Margaret Olohan |Bethany Blankley
Christian college students in Kentucky have launched a new method of sidewalk evangelism: writing the Gospel of John in chalk. Students at Western Kentucky University (WKU) wrote the entire Gospel of John in just over two hours in March. Around 70 students made quick work of John’s 19,000 words, which ended up spanning more than two miles of WKU’s campus. Pictures of the effort soon began circling social media.
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2 weeks ago | 
readlion.com | Carrie Sheffield |Jillian Schneider
(The Daily Signal) – Christianity’s decline in America has slowed and could be turning a corner upward—just what our country needs to return to its rich history rooted in “In God We Trust.”As a 2017 convert to Christianity from agnosticism myself, this is encouraging news. Pew recently reported in its annual religion study: “After many years of steady decline, the share of Americans who identify as Christian shows signs of leveling off.” Pew began its religion poll in 2007.
