Georgia's four-year high school graduation rate rose to 88.5% for the class of 2026, up from 87.2%, the state Department of Education said Monday. Most districts topped 90%, while several of metro Atlanta's biggest fell below it. Here are the rates for 27 districts.
Kate Carter
From an angsty chatbot at a Dayton alternative school to AI math tutors in Wichita, districts are testing AI on their own. A Stanford review of more than 800 papers found only 20 rigorous studies of whether AI tools actually change outcomes for students or teachers.
Arthur Chen
California's Real Food, Healthy Kids Act requires schools to start phasing out ultra-processed foods by July 2029. A Stanford Medicine study of 20 San Joaquin Valley districts found food service directors expect tight budgets, thin staffing, supply problems, and kitchens that can't handle scratch cooking.
Mary Johnson
The Justice Department says it has ended more than 50 decades-old school desegregation cases, most of them in five Southern states. Officials call the orders outdated and costly. Critics say they still protect equal funding and access for Black students.
Arthur Chen
Hannah Jorgensen, a 24-year-old fifth-grade teacher at Borlaug Elementary in Coralville, and 10-year-old student Ahmed Osman died after going into the water near the Coralville Reservoir spillway during a class trip. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is investigating how each of them got into the water.
Mary Johnson
Two Detroit Lakes families and the ACLU of Minnesota sued the district and four board members Tuesday, arguing the ban on rainbow stickers violates the state constitution and the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The suit also accuses the four of arranging the July vote in private, and cites texts obtained through a records request.
Mary Johnson
Three years into Minnesota's universal school meals program, lunch participation is up 15% and breakfast 40%, and the state's bill has climbed to an estimated $306 million. A new survey finds a third of students who didn't qualify for free lunch used to skip meals. Longer lines are the main complaint.
Kate Carter
The Detroit Lakes school board added a rainbow ban to its agenda at the start of a July meeting and passed it 4-2 with no public comment. The stickers never came down, a vote to pause the ban failed, and the board is now weighing a rewrite that drops the word rainbow but limits what employees can display.
Mary Johnson
Ngone Talla, a Cincinnati Public Schools student with cerebral palsy, was found unresponsive in her wheelchair when her bus reached home Wednesday. The coroner says the death appears natural and shows no trauma. Her family says the bus sat outside for 10 to 15 minutes before anyone told them, and police have opened a death investigation.
Mary Johnson
A gym syllabus at Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores requires a parent note stating how long a girl's period lasts before she can make up missed swim days. Parents call it an invasion of privacy that applies only to girls, one says it cost his straight-A daughter a C, and another is asking whether it violates Title IX.
Mary Johnson
The District 210 board voted unanimously Thursday to let six students leave rather than be expelled over racist taunting at a Homewood-Flossmoor football game. An expulsion can follow a student to their next district for up to two years. A withdrawal does not carry that rule. Homewood-Flossmoor is weighing a lawsuit.
Mary Johnson
A new NBC News poll finds 56% think a school that prohibits AI prepares students better, up nine points since June 2025. The same survey finds only 31% say no AI use is acceptable on schoolwork. Both numbers are real, and the space between them is where district policy has to live.
Arthur Chen
The Board of Regents voted Monday to end the century-old exams as a diploma requirement after the class of 2027 and to collapse three diploma types into one. Rules are due in February and a vote in June. Critics say the state is tearing down the measuring stick before it has built a new one.
Mary Johnson
Julie Kaputa knew about Beaver River Central School's new ban on outside drinks when she carried coffee into first period and refused to toss it. Her target was the process, not the coffee: New York law requires a public hearing before a district changes its code of conduct, and the superintendent has now conceded the notice fell short.
Kate Carter
A student at Virginia Shuman Young Elementary discharged what police called a fart spray in a hallway, a restroom, and a classroom. Ten children were evaluated for trouble breathing and three went to the hospital. Hazmat crews found no actual hazard, which is exactly why these keep happening.
Mary Johnson
Springfield Public Schools canceled classes for more than 23,000 students after an outside group got into its network. The detail that forced the closure was not email or phones. It was the system school nurses use to check which child is allergic to what.
Arthur Chen
Four days after five Lincoln-Way East students were filmed making monkey gestures at Homewood-Flossmoor fans, three H-F cross country runners say they overheard a Lincoln-Way East coach call them monkeys before a meet. The school says the coach was recounting a story about a course section called the jungle. Students plan to leave class at 11:50 Wednesday.
Mary Johnson
Valdosta, Georgia has been named the top finalist to become the permanent home of the National High School Football Hall of Fame, ahead of Massillon and Berea, Ohio and Pittsburgh. The choice fits: Valdosta High owns more wins than any program in the country, and its crosstown rival is one of the largest high schools in Georgia.
Mary Johnson
A 22-year-old was charged with a felony after investigators say he described a plan to attack Serna Elementary, a 312-student school near his home, in messages to an Anthropic chatbot. The FBI flagged the chat 17 days later and traced it through phone, internet, and Google records. He is held on $250,000 bond.
Mary Johnson
Video from Friday's varsity game in Flossmoor, Illinois shows students from the visiting school taunting fans of a majority-Black high school with monkey sounds and gestures. Lincoln-Way East says it has identified the students and apologized. Homewood-Flossmoor says it is weighing legal options.
Mary Johnson
