And while we're talking about Texas, it's not just opinion polls, it's election results too. Anti-book ban candidates swept many of the non-partisan school board races across the state of Texas last week.

If a 7-year-old can show up to a board meeting to protest budget cuts at the library, you can do it, too. www.salemreporter.com/2026/05/08/a...

For some Richmond students, virtual school became a lifeline. Now it's about to disappear.

New: Trump's OMB is withholding more than $2 billion Congress approved in February for K-12 and higher education. Advocates and experts weigh in on what this means and whether it's time to panic: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

94% of teachers have to dip into their own pockets to buy school supplies. 85% of teachers are working second jobs during the school year, often just to keep up with the cost of living. Meanwhile, the average Wall Street employee got a bonus of $246,900 in 2025. Something has gone terribly wrong.

262 business days. That’s how long the Department of Education told us it would take for it to respond to our recent records request. That’s not how freedom of information is supposed to work. By @charlesornstein.bsky.social

What dystopian hell is this?

RESULTS from last night: Voters in Dallas approved the largest bond in Texas history, to unlock more than $6 billion in spending for schools. And voters in Fort Worth approved a bond package of roughly $800 million for infrastructure and municipal spending.

Um, guys. bsky.app/profile/soul...

It gets weirder, in a fairly Kubrickian way.

This. When I was in law school in the deep South 17 years ago, my liberal con law professor was out one day and a conservative professor subbed. People dropped their masks and I (and members of BLSA) found out just how racist some of our fellow students were.

St. Helens (OR) is laying off three of its library assistants due to budget cuts. They already furloughed some employees and will be cutting facility hours: youroregonnews.com/2026/04/30/s...

The horror! Heart of Darkness is my least favorite book. Mill on the Floss and House of Mirth are on the list, too. Interesting responses. Someone dislikes The Red Pony, which I love and hate simultaneously. I was listening to it in the car on a trip, and my 13yo daughter begged me to turn it off.

Always remember to check your sources before posting. You can check Trump's posts without going to Truth Social at Roll Call. I'm including the direct link.

People who use the R word are vile.

"It was my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why. Knowledge, of course, is always imperfect, but it seemed to me that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause." Tim O'Brien, "On the Rainy River"

One of the most clarifying passages I've ever read on what "polarization" actually means in the U.S."

And "COULDN'T care less"

This is coming from a place of warmth and acceptance… -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It’s ‘one fell swoop’ -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’

Eighty-six and 86 are in the top ten of Merriam-Webster's top look-ups this evening.

This is so gross. Teachers are out here buying snacks and books for their students and you want to give these ghouls another chunk of taxpayer money. On top of the overtime and toy budget. On top of the 6 digit public salary. Just gross.

When I was student teaching, a group of kids in my class decided that they would copy a classmate's essay. Each one changed a word or two and thought I wouldn't notice they had all cheated. (They were wrong.) This post reminded me of those days.

Over night, GOP legislators killed state testing requirements for voucher students in a yet another state Tennessee. This means they can continue to blame public schools for test results—while never answering for their own. They’re desperate to avoid more of these headlines.

Be a careful consumer of content this evening.

Much Ado About Nothing

If I'm a math teacher and my students are old enough to understand this concept, I'm using this video.

We need LESS AI and tech in education.

✨ A literary voice that has shaped generations is coming to the #ALAAC26 main stage. Lois Lowry—author of more than 50 books, including the iconic "The Giver," will take the stage for a rare and timely conversation. Register thru April 24th to save with early rates. https://bit.ly/4qJALBq

The alt text on this photo is a great example of descriptive writing.

Nan Prince, director of collections for the Mississippi Department of Archives & History: “Don’t brush over anything, don’t whitewash anything,” she said. “Just tell the absolute truth.”

I haven't watched all of this video. The misspelling alone made my eye twitch. The law school at Liberty University has informed its students applying with the federal government that transcripts don't matter as much as loyalty to Trump's policies. Competence is clearly no longer a priority.

Happy Confederate Surrender Day!

Malicious compliance is a teacher's friend these days.

books: the rectangle that can’t send you push notifications. Try: books.

And with that, I've closed all of my non-literary tabs. What I read online in March: "A Report from Occupied Territory," "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," "The First Dandelion," "Why I Live at the P.O.," "A Worn Path," "To Build a Fire," and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find."

I had students who would not stand for the pledge. Our extremely conservative administration instructed us to ignore it, and that was after 9/11. Why do people never learn? And why are these people teaching?

Still closing tabs . . . from March.

I have used a couple of LEGO architecture sets in my homeschooling, and I can provide you with my lesson plans for those. Star Wars? $30,000? No.

I'm loving these Merriam-Webster postcards. They will be released in August. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/merri...

Another tab I'm closing, this one from March . . .

I'm closing my tabs today. This article was one I had open from back in February.

❤️

The ‘bel’ in ‘decibel’ is for Alexander Graham Bell. Since the ‘B’ in 'dB' is a name-derived unit, it is capitalized when abbreviated.

The Trump administration has DROPPED its appeal in Rhode Island v. Trump, meaning that the victory for the Institute of Museum and Library Services in the case STANDS. Let's celebrate the win and then work like hell to restore IMLS funding in 2027: bookriot.com/rhode-island...

Here’s an easy call script to your rep: “Hi I’m calling to insist that Rep (so and so) along with Minority Leader Jeffries introduce articles of impeachment as a privileged resolution today. The president is not of sound mind and needs to be removed from office immediately.”

Demanding impeachment articles and inclusion of this demand required five minutes both of my senators and my rep. Get on it!

the next mentoring day has been canceled

The good news is that my lecture on the Cuban Missile Crisis scheduled for tomorrow just became a lot more relatable for my students!