SIGNS OF THE TIMES: After President Trump issued an executive order “to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times),” the federal government empowered visitors to click on QR codes posted in public places to snitch on parks that have not brought their signage in line with the current regime’s dictates. It did not go as planned. The majority of feedback “was a backlash to the effort itself,” the Associate Press found in an analysis of the 35,000 public comments submitted.
Meanwhile, on June 12, a judge ruled the federal government had to stop removing the signs and restore what had been removed by–and this was our favorite bit–July 4. Sadly, an appeals court ruling this week lifted that historic deadline but “left in place the underlying ruling.”
DATE WE CAN VOUCH FOR: Another Associated Press analysis, this one looking at use of school vouchers, discovered what we’ve been stating for a long time:
“Soon, half of all American schoolkids will be able to apply for state money to finance a private education, and many states will offer the scholarships even to families with high incomes. In theory, these programs are supposed to give children an educational opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have. In reality, students already in private or home school are most likely to benefit, an analysis by The Associated Press shows.”
A statewide analysis done by Cleveland.com shows that’s what’s happening with Ohio’s budget-busting voucher program. Its analysis “found that while the use of state vouchers jumped when the state legislature expanded availability to all Ohioans, regardless of income, most families were not fleeing troubled public schools. Rather, most of their children had likely already been enrolled in private school.”
CALCULATED CUTS: President Trump’s proposed 2027 budget includes $7.31 billion in cuts to education programs. How much will that cost your state?
Glad you asked. Free the Future has created a handy calculator that shows how much and where those cuts are for each state, and even congressional district (particularly handy if you wanted to, say, contact your representative with receipts).
ACT OF RESISTANCE: Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore this month introduced the Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act of 2026, which would eliminate the federal school voucher program created under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” In the Public Interest has urged support of the legislation. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the voucher program’s cost to taxpayers could soar as high as $51 billion.
PRO CON: A reminder that the Department of Education, which was in charge of naming the 11 degree fields that “meet the requirements to be considered professional,” is run by the person whose previous occupation was as head of the organization behind “professional wrestling.”
Photo: Courtesy of National Parks Conservation Association.