With budget cuts to mental health care services, schools have begun the practice of pressing charges against special needs children for behavior directly related to their disabilities instead of offering required services and following educational federal mandates to practice a manifestation determination. My 11 year old son now has a criminal record for the school's derelict actions in responding to his specific disability. This is the second school to respond to my son's disabilities, not by offering appropriate services, but by criminalizing him and pressing charges for non-injury incidents. Bullying triggered my son's disability and his inappropriate responses were his reactions to provocations. None of my son's actions resulted in anyone needing a band-aid nor even a trip to see a school nurse(or any medical attention). Stop adjudicating special needs children for actions directly relating to their disabilities. Fund mental health care services, now.

GOP leadership put Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) on the House Science Committee. This is the guy who says women can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape"(?) He's also said the federal government should not subsidize school lunches for poor children. What a great spokesman for GOP social Darwinism, as well as scientific ignorance.

College graduates today are facing unbearable high levels of student loan debt. Spread over 10 to 30 years of payments, these loans are preventing young college graduates from being able to afford to purchase a home. The current system is killing the American dream of home ownership. By making all federally funded student loan repayments pre-tax, more young families will be able to experience the satisfaction of home ownership. Future generations are now less likely to attend college due to fear of unemployment and unimaginable student loan debt. Don't let the United States become the land of broke, uneducated, and homeless.

I think that teachers everywhere should be educated about Autism Spectrum Disorder. I have ASD,and all of my teachers have never understood my Austism. They punish me for things like crying in class,not paying attention,standing up for what I believe in,not finishing homework,correcting them when they teach,and being disorganized. These are all symptoms of my ASD,but they don't seem to understand that. Me and my mother are organizing a walk-a-thon to raise money to hire an educator for the teachers of my school district,but I think that ALL teachers should have to be educated about the main mental disorders before being hired. It's becoming a serious problem,not just in my town,but everywhere. I know there's a chance I'll get in trouble at school if this rule is passed,but it's worth it if I can make things right. Please sign this petition to end the misunderstanding between Autistic kids and their teachers.

As Texas students, we petition the Texas Legislature to end the STAAR Tests and other high stakes tests immediately. Our position on STAAR testing is that it is atrocious. It’s not right to take the hopes and dreams of graduating high school away from us. The STAAR test will cause students to drop out of high school who can’t pass the tests. If the law is going to say that a freshman who failed STAAR will not graduate then why should WE try to do our best in the next 3 years? The 9th grade should be a year that orients us to the high school curriculum, not a year that forces us into a make-or-break test that could end our educational path before it begins. This is a very unhealthy atmosphere that the laws are bringing into our schools and homes. Teachers, parents, families, and students are put under enormous stress and pressure. It is not fair to measure our intelligence by administering a test given to a 9th grader. There are so many levels of intelligence and learning that develop after the age of 14. The tests don’t help students improve by identifying their weaknesses Testing and preparing for tests waste weeks of time when we should be learning from our teachers The tests aren’t educational, and they don’t prepare US for college WE want our teachers to test us on what we’ve learned.

Music participation and afford-ability for kids.

Music participation and afford-ability for kids

Background: Currently, Kentucky has linked its high school state education curriculum to National Education Standards. KY worked with the ACT program to develop state standards. Now, some Republican legislators are upset that the biology section includes evolution but not creationism. They think "Darwin made it up," and that evolution is "only a theory." I, the writer of the above petition, am a resident of KY and an evolutionary ecologist, and know very well how important the understanding of evolutionary theory is to understanding biology. The students of KY deserve the best education, not pseudoscience and religion in the science classroom.

Local newspaper coverage of the arrest of high school students handcuffed for fighting at school.

U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin is reportedly calling for an end to funding for school lunch programs for the poor. This would jeopardize the health and education of significant numbers of our children–and eventually, the well-being of our society.

In a time when we need a strong education system, Governor Haley has attacked the foundation of that institution. Our children and our future depends on our support for our teachers.

The early years of a child's development are crucial for the child and, by extension, all of us. What parent hasn't wrestled with trying to find safe, quality, convenient care for his or her child? What teacher hasn't wrestled with young students who have not had high-quality care? In some cases, the cost is higher than the cost of college tuition.