CONTENTS

Your child could fail 3rd Grade!

Federal Judge blocks Biden's gender rules in Title IX in 4 more states

Why does college cost so much? TAKE A LOOK

On a Personal Note . . .

Your Child Could Fail Third Grade!

This may sound like a BAD thing, but it isn't. It's a GOOD thing . . . not that your child might fail, but that children who haven't yet learned to read by third grade will be held back and given extra help in achieving that goal.

Maryland State Superintendent, Carey Wright, has drafted a new State Policy that "would require third graders be able to read at grade level before moving to fourth grade." The new Policy includes screening students three times a year so that anyone falling behind can be quickly identified and given additional help. It also provides for specific expanded instruction. Studies have shown that children who don't read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a high school diploma.

Finally, someone cares enough about teaching kids the basics, she is willing to restore policies that actually work. READ MORE

New regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Education are scheduled to go into effect on August 1, 2024 -- 10 days from now. That won't happen in the 14 states where U.S. District Courts have issued injunctions, preventing the U.S. Department of Education from implementing them.

The injunction also applies nationwide to members of several organizations who were four of the plaintiffs in Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education. They are: (1) K.R.'s school, (2) the schools attended by the members of Young America's Foundation, (3) the schools attended by Female Athletes United, and (4) the schools attended by the children of the members of Moms for Liberty.

The new Regulations would do the following:

1) Add:

Discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation or gender identity.

2) Declare that the Final Rule preempts state law.

3) Require recipients to designate, hire, and pay for a Title IX Coordinator to ensure compliance with Title IX. This revision further requires recipients to train employees and hire investigators and facilitators. The revision additionally sets forth required grievance procedures.

4) Prohibit any recipient from adopting or implementing any practice or procedure concerning a student’s current, potential, or past parental, family, or marital status where such practice or procedure treats students differently on the basis of sex.

5) Require recipients “with knowledge of conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination in its education program or activity” to mandatorily report the conduct to the Title IX Coordinator or to give the person alleging discrimination the Title IX Coordinator’s contact information.

6) Impose grievance procedures for complaints of sex discrimination. This includes requiring the recipient to perform and/or conduct an

investigation into alleged sex discrimination complaints, interview witnesses, and obtain evidence.

7) Prohibit recipients from requiring medical or any other documentation to validate the student’s gender identity."

from Memorandum Ruling in State of Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Education,

June 13, 2024, U.S. District Court, Western District, Louisiana

Thus far, all of the court decisions have come down on the side of the Plaintiffs who object to these regulations. (quotes below are from State v. Louisiana cited above.)

The primary holding by all of the courts is that the changes are substantive alterations of Title IX and are not the province of the regulators. 

• "The Final Rule is not a clarification of existing laws – it is a new law enacted by an administrative agency, not Congress."

Much revolves around the court findings that Title IX clearly acknowledged only two sexes, male and female and how Title IX has occasioned tremendous strides by women in both education and sports since its passage. 

• “Since the passage of Title IX, the percentage of women between the ages of 25 and 34 with at least a college degree has more than tripled."



• “Since the enactment of Title IX, female participation in competitive sports has soared to unprecedented heights… From 1972 to 2011 female participation rose from approximately 250,000 to 3.25 million."

Another theme was Congressional purpose:

• “Congress has recognized the probative value of the 1975 Title IX regulations ...[which] clearly dealt with protecting biological women in sports and show that sex discrimination means discrimination of someone based upon his or her biological sex."

This court also stated that the agency took no note of “cultural norms:”

• "Nearly every civilization recognizes a norm against exposing one’s unclothed body to the opposite sex. . . . Yet, Defendants did not consider these cultural norms or the reasons such norms are so prevalent when adopting the Final Rule.” 

In addition, the court addressed the agency’s “Failure to Address Relevant Factors:”

• "Defendants did not include any guidance for addressing “non-binary” students or students with other gender identities and failed to include any requirements for changing one’s gender identity. A “gender fluid” person could possibly change gender identities every day or several times per day.”

Legally speaking, the court found the Final Rules to be arbitrary and capricious:

• “Allowing a student to announce what gender they are, without requiring any supporting documentation, is arbitrary and capricious.”

Ultimately, the court found that:

• “The Final Rule only focuses on the ‘effect on the student who changes their gender identity’ and fails to address the effect on the other students (‘cisgender students’).”

The Baltimore Sun recently published an article listing the State's1,000 top-paid workers and their salaries. Below is the first page of the listing. Every one of the 30 top salaries goes to someone employed by the University of Maryland. But that is only the beginning. Continue looking and you find that employees of the State Colleges and Universities hold 142 of the top 150 salaries. That's 99.5%.

But it doesn't stop there. The University of Maryland salaries continue to dominate the top 1,000 list, employing 97 of the last of the1,000 top salaries.

These are salaries far beyond what most of us make. The top 10 salaries are over $1 million per year, and the last top 10 salaries are $278,000! No wonder college students have so much debt!

To read the article and see the complete list, CLICK HERE.

I had the privilege of sitting down with Superintendent Bill Barnes for an hour this month. As a candidate for the School Board, I requested the meeting to pick his brain about many of the things I've learned and questioned about the school system and the Board this past year. I learned a great deal and came away from the meeting feeling good about our new Superintendent and optimistic about the future of HCPSS.