Category: Local

  • Pilot program for New York City’s Asian American and Pacific Islander history curriculum launches for the 2022-2023 school year

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    A pilot program of New York City’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history curriculum was launched in select schools in September 2022. The New York City Department of Education announced in May 2022 that it had developed the curriculum, titled the Hidden Voices Project, in partnership with the Museum of the City of New…

  • U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D), Mark Robertson (R) running in a district that became less Democratic due to redistricting

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    U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D), Mark Robertson (R), and Ken Cavanaugh (L) are running in the general election for Nevada’s 1st Congressional District on November 8, 2022. The partisan balance of Nevada’s 1st Congressional District changed as a result of redistricting following the 2020 census. According to data compiled by Daily Kos, Joe Biden (D)…

  • Seattle voters to decide on whether to adopt approval voting or ranked-choice voting for city primary elections

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    In November, Seattle voters will vote on Proposition 1A and 1B to decide whether to adopt an approval voting system or a ranked-choice voting system for municipal primary elections. Currently, Seattle uses a plurality voting system for primary elections for the mayor, city attorney, and city council, in which the candidate receiving the most votes…

  • New Hampshire sees 19 U.S. House candidates this year, up from 12 in 2020

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    The filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in New Hampshire this year was June 10, 2022. Nineteen candidates are running for New Hampshire’s two U.S. House districts, including two Democrats and 17 Republicans. That’s 9.5 candidates per district, more than the six candidates per district in 2020 and fewer than the 12.5 in 2018.…

  • Washington school board passes new curriculum guidelines on U.S. history and race topics

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    The Kennewick School Board in Washington state unanimously voted to adopt a new set of curriculum guidelines on August 24, 2022, that aim to restrict teachings on U.S. history and race.  Kennewick School Board passed a new policy, known as Policy 2340, that would prohibit teachings that the U.S. is fundamentally or systemically racist or…

  • Texas school district limits discussions of race and gender, pronoun use, and certain books

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    The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas on August 22, 2022, approved a policy by a 4-3 vote that would limit classroom discussions of race and gender, pronoun use, and certain library materials.  The approved policy: Allows educators to use pronouns that align with a student’s biological sex rather than their gender identity Prohibits transgender…

  • Texas State Board of Education discusses changes to the state’s social studies curriculum

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    The Texas State Board of Education began discussing proposed changes to the state’s social studies curriculum in a meeting on August 1, 2022. The board aims to make changes and guide educators on how to teach U.S. history while aligning the curriculum with Senate Bill 3. The law, which went into effect in December 2021,…

  • Parents sue Tennessee school district over curriculum including race and gender topics

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    A parent group on July 8, 2022, filed a lawsuit in the Twenty-First Judicial District against Tennessee education officials and the Williamson County school district for allegedly violating state laws restricting teachings on race and gender. Tennessee House Bill 580 aims to prohibit school districts from incorporating materials into the curriculum that portray the United…

  • Ballotpedia’s mid-year recall report shows sustained interest in school board recall

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    In the first half of 2022, Ballotpedia tracked 152 recall efforts against 240 officials. These figures represent a small decline from 2021, when we tallied 165 recall efforts against 263 officials by midyear. In comparison, the highest number of recall efforts we have tracked by midyear was 189 in 2016. The lowest was 72 in…

  • San Francisco voters recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin

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    San Francisco voters recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin on June 7, 2022. Mayor London Breed will appoint a temporary replacement, who will serve until voters elect a permanent district attorney in November. Boudin was elected district attorney in 2019, defeating Suzy Loftus 50.8% to 49.2% in a ranked-choice voting election. Previously, Boudin served as deputy…