The whole reading list

Everything we have published, newest first. Each piece starts from government data, a new law or an actual study, then says what it means for your kid.

  1. SyllabusThe $1,700 school tax credit pays the donor and hands you six maybesA family of four can earn $192,000 in McAllen or $616,500 in San Jose and still clear the income line. That’s the easy yes. Now find the other five.
  2. Morning BellThe mental health form you never returned can’t be a yes, Washington saysWashington wants ink, Illinois law names an opt-out, and one signature squares a district with both. California says the federal letter isn’t law.
  3. Honor RollOnly three states passed the pandemic makeup exam. Yours probably didn’t.No state is back on all four tests, kids at the bottom recovered only in those three, and the top-to-bottom gap grew in every state and DC, honor roll included.
  4. The CurvePublic schools lost 1.4 million students. We took attendance.Everyone has a villain. The roll shows three-quarters of the loss in one fall, and kindergarten classes through fall 2030 already born and already smaller.
  5. Snow DayBought an online school? Legally, you may be running a homeschool.The ad says school. The form you signed decides who pays, who tests, who owes special education and who signs the diploma.
  6. Exchange ProgramTop math countries don’t schedule more math. Many parents just buy more.Then England wrecks the easy story, climbing from 34 points behind America at grade 4 in 1995 to 35 ahead in 2023 on a fraction of East Asia’s measured tutoring.
  7. Extra CreditCongress doubled the 529 limit for K-12, and the tax break may be $110Lunch money, on $10,000 held a year. Ten of the 25 states we could pin down leave K-12 out of their own break, and the clawback can top the federal saving.
  8. Field TripYour fourth grader is a free national park pass, and screenshots don’t countThe whole car rides in on one printed sheet, the savings stop at $80, and the paper dies on August 31, 2027.