AI Makes Strange Bedfellows

There's that weird little feeling you get when you find that you kind of agree with someone you don't generally agree with. So here I am nodding my head to M oms for Liberty, Ron DeSantis, and National Parents Union because they are talking about AI.

In their newsletter, M4L proudly announced that Tina Descovich was "at the table" for the regime's AI in Education Task Force (pretty sure that's not an A1 task force). 

Representing parents across the nation, she expressed support for the responsible use of artificial intelligence as a tool to enhance educational outcomes, while also emphasizing parents’ serious concerns about rushed implementation without appropriate safeguards and guardrails in place.

Well, yes, that's...um...correct. 

Meanwhile, Politico's Andrew Atterbury covered Ron DeSantis's very crabby opposition to AI. 

“Let’s not try to act like some type of fake videos or fake songs are going to deliver us to some kind of utopia,” the governor said Dec. 18.

He notably has taken aim at data centers sprouting up across the country by attempting to slow their growth in Florida, siding with local communities opposing the massive developments. And DeSantis frequently raises fears of how AI could ultimately upend the economy by displacing countless workers. The Republican rails against what he calls the “mindless slop” AI creates and warns deepfakes and manipulation could pose “a potential existential crisis for self-government.”

“The idea of this transhumanist strain, that somehow this is going to supplant humans and this other stuff, we have to reject that with every fiber of our being,” DeSantis said Dec. 15 during an AI event in Jupiter. “We as individual human beings are the ones that were endowed by God with certain inalienable rights. That's what our country was founded upon — they did not endow machines or these computers for this.”

 Okay, a little christiniast nationalismy for me, but basically, I think he's right.

And here's NPR, running the Ai resistance banner up the flagpole that is Keri Rodrigues, the leader of the astroturfed National Parents Union. She found her son interacting with the chatbot on his Bible app. He was asking deep moral questions about sin and stuff. Author Rhitu Chatterjee sets her irony ignorer on stun and writes

That's the kind of conversation that she had hoped her son would have with her and not a computer. "Not everything in life is black and white," she says. "There are grays. And it's my job as his mom to help him navigate that and walk through it, right?"

She's not wrong (she's just a bad spokesperson for moral complexity and nuance). 

It feels a little reminiscent of the Common Core days, when the opposition include a coalition of people who were against the Core because they wanted to defend public schools and those who were against the Core because they considered it the ultimate example of everything Terrible and Wrong about public schools. 

And just to ramp up that sense of deja vu, here comes the AFT to team up with our AI overlords to spend $23 million on teaching teachers to use AI. Or maybe you caught AFT chief Randi Weingarten's Christmas posts on the twitter and ye blue skye-- some lovely arts from the plagiarism and lies machine. Sigh. AFT has displayed some caution about AI in classrooms, and Weingarten has been crystal clear about her opposition to Trump's order to keep states from passing any sort of AI rules.

Lots of smart folks are predicting (even more) AI backlash in 2026, so maybe the right wing outrage crowd is simply angling to get in front of what they believe will be the next big fifteen-minute wave. 

Whatever the case, these folks who are so reliably on the wrong side of so many education issues are, on this issue, are better on AI, or at least are saying some of the right words. Can they keep it up even as Trump continues to argue for unfettered, unregulated AI, including a federal attempt to forbid states to exercise their rights to regulate a business. Because if Dear Leader can do anything, it's sense where a whole lot of money is about to be thrown around so that he can insert himself into the transaction. States' rights? Who cares. 2026 could be an interesting year. 

OK: OU Earns Failing Grade

Oklahoma’s right wing governor Kevin Stitt calls the situation “deeply concerning" and we certainly agree on that but probably not on why.

University of Oklahoma student Samantha Fulnecky didn't do the reading and tried to bullshit her way through the assignment. Or maybe she was just trolling in attempt to follow in her activist mom's footsteps, so that she could get a trans teaching assistant in trouble. 

Kristi Fulnecky is an attorney who has, among other things, defended two January 6 insurrectionists. She's a right wing podcaster who served in politics, including a stint in combat with local government when they went after her for taxes owed because she operated a business without a license; just a political witch hunt, she claimed. During the height of the pandemic, she sued over mask mandates and sued Springfield Public Schools over their hybrid re-opening plan. As a local councilwoman, she regularly blocked anyone who corrected her. She apparently is also good at threatening legal-ish letters.

In other words, Mom has fully mastered the art of aggressive victimhood.

Fulnecky was supposed to read a paper about a study that looked at the connection between "gender typicality" and popularity in middle school students. In an assignment familiar to most teachers, she was to respond to the article in a way that demonstrated that she had actually read it. 

She did not.

Instead, she unleashed a rant about the Bible and transexuality. Many critics have argued that she cites no sources, and I'm not sure that's an issue for this kind of paper. However, the essay does not include anything that would allow one to correctly guess what she was responding to-- in other words, no signs that she had done the reading and was responding directly to it. 

Instructor Mel Curth gave her a zero. Unfortunately, Curth also took the bait. A simple, "This does not meet the requirements of the assignment" would have sufficed, but Curth challenged Fulnecky's assertion that gender is binary and fixed, and urged Fulnecky to show more empathy. Not saying Curth was wrong, but her extensive response gave Fulnecky raw materials for some oppression theater.

Couple of details to note. The assignment was worth 3% of the course grade, so not a make or break thing. And Fulnecky did not work her protest through the usual academic channels, but went straight to the right wing outrage machine, calling in the OU Turning Point USA chapter and former baloney peddler and edu-dude Ryan Walters. They also took the bait and put the outrage machine right in gear.

 

Said the TPUSA at OU chapter on line, “We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students.” Walters unleashed a giant pile of bullshit on Twitter

Samantha Fulnecky is an American hero. She stood firm in her faith despite the radical attacks from the Marxist professors at the University of Oklahoma. The OU staff involved should be immediately fired and OU should not be receiving taxpayer dollars if they continue their assaults on faith. The war on Christianity is real, and we will not be silenced.

Other instructors backed up Curth's judgment, but the University folded like a wine-soaked paper bag, posting its statement on Twitter, just in case you were wondering to whom they feel answerable. They had already canceled the grade, removing any accountability for Fulnecky. Now they've decided that Curth's grade was "arbitrary" and Curth "will no longer have instructional duties at the University."

There's some more noise about how seriously they take student and faculty rights and academic freedom and integrity and it is meaningless, because the university has show exactly where it stands. 

Deeply concerning? How do you enter a classroom to teach knowing that any 19-year-old who skips the reading, gets caught bluffing the assignment, and who cried religious victimization can end your teaching career? 

There are difficult conversations and decisions to be made in the area where academic freedom and personal conviction bump up against each other, but this was not one of them. The correct decision should have been easy to make, and OU somehow managed to blow it anyway. Shame. 

OH: An Unfunded Tutoring Mandate

The Ohio legislature is considering a bill that will require schools to provide students with free "high-dosage tutoring" that will be subject to Department of Education and Workforce auditing along with a new professional development program for math teachers. The legislators have not included funding for any of this. Not a cent. It is the very definition of an unfunded mandate.

As reported by Laura Hancock at Cleveland.com:

“Our educational system must be responsive to the needs of our students,” bill sponsor Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Delaware County Republican, said earlier this year during bill testimony. “In this last year alone, we have significantly increased the amount of funding each student receives for their education, provided resources for tutoring services, and made high quality instructional materials available while identifying methods of instruction that most benefit students. If we are unable to say that our students who need the most help are in fact receiving that assistance from their school, then we are putting the interests of adults ahead of the needs of children.”

Lordy, it's like a word salad made out of some of the most popular baloney talking points. "Putting the interests of adults ahead of the needs of children." You know, like teachers with their need to be paid for extra hours of work. Mind you, putting the needs of adult politicians to look like they're bravely Doing Something about education ahead of actually supporting that education-- that kind of adults-first posturing is perfectly okay. 

Brenner was a realtor and insurance salesman before he ascended to the legislature in 2019. He has a Masters in Ed in Leadership from far-right Christian nationalist Liberty University. In 2020, he warned that the state was going to become Nazi Germany over the Covid rules. 

The bill at least exempts schools from providing these services for IEP students. 

But it assumes that high-dosage tutoring is a real thing, without noting that it is hard and expensive to scale up. 

This is the story of education a million times-- some legislator gets a bright idea and declares "Let's require schools to fix this" while waving vaguely in the direction of schools. And while this bright idea may require more resources and human-hours, that lawmaker will be confident that this whole new program can be implemented for free. Rick Hess has often said that you can force folks to do something, but you can't force them to do it well. That is doubly true when you make zero effort to provide them with the resources needed to implement the program.

Doesn't matter. Lawmakers will sign the bill (already through the Senate and headed through the House) and congratulate themselves on solving an education problem. For those who, like many Ohio legislators, would like to gut public education, the school's failure to do a great job implementing the unfunded mandate is just more fodder for the "We gave them money and they didn't perform magical pedagogical feats" argument used to discredit and dismantle public schools. 

Would more no-cost tutoring be great? Sure, though I'd rather it were employed in a more useful cause than raising Big Standardized Test scores. And if you are undertaking a program that essentially increases the number of teacher hours in a day while simultaneously lowering the student-teacher ratio--well, if you are at all serious about it, you come armed with a big pile of money. 

The Ohio legislature is not serious about this, but it will be a serious problem for schools. 

But hey-- they're probably pre-occupied with the question of whether or not the state will be allowed to buy the obscenely wealthy owners of the Browns a new stadium with $600 million of taxpayer money. Gotta focus on important stuff that deals with the real interests of adults. 

ICYMI: Top Tenless Edition (12/28)

No top ten list this year, either for the blog or the ICYMI stuff, because A) there are too many posts to sort through and B) the analytics that decide which posts have been seen the most are wildly unreliable and C) sometimes you think a top ten list will be an easy less time-intensive way to get a post done during a busy season, but it turns out that's a snare and a delusion. My hat is off to everyone who did the work to get a top ten list assembled, but it has been a busy week here at the institute, with visits from all the branch offices, and today you just get the usual-- the reading from the week.

AI Conversations Behind Closed Doors

This may be hard to read, but Stephen Fitzpatrick's actual conversations with actual human students tells us about how AI is landing out in the field.

Unhelpful Disruption Rocks Indianapolis Schools

Andy Spears reports on the latest anti-public education shenanigans in Indiana and it's not very pretty.

On Vacations and “Learning Loss"

Steve Nuzum reminds us that the folks really leaning on the learning loss alarm have some whacky ideas about how to address it. 

The ABCs of College Board

Akil Bello connects the dots between the College Board and Glengarry Glen Ross. Plus what happens when marketing masquerades as useful data.

How Florida’s Grinch Privatized Classrooms

Sue Kingery Woltanski borrows from Dr. Seuss. 

Much Ado About Something

More from Sue Kingery Woltanski. This is an important read, because the Florida co-location scheme for getting charter schools free real estate is so awful that your first response is to assume that somebody is making stuff up. They aren't. It's that bad, and even if you aren't in Florida, you need to understand it just in case your state is next.

Choosing Harm Over Help: How U.S. Policymakers Are Turning Against Children

Bruce Lesley  on the many ways in which this country's leaders are turning against children.

Ohio bill requires free tutoring, extra help for students with lowest test scores

It's unfunded mandate time in Ohio, where the legislature wants schools to provide free after school tutoring for low-testing students, but offers no money to pay for it.

Most Depressing Blogs of 2025

I didn't take the time to do a Top Ten list, but Nancy Flanagan did, and while it's kind of a bummer, every one is worth the reading.

'We have to reject that with every fiber of our being': DeSantis emerges as a chief AI skeptic

Did you have "Ron DeSantis comes out wildly anti-AI" on your bingo card? Well, here we are. “Let’s not try to act like some type of fake videos or fake songs are going to deliver us to some kind of utopia,” he said, and more. 

Over at Forbes.com, a MAGA legislator wants to cut property taxes for anyone who doesn't have a kid in schools. Because who wants to live in an educated country?

A hair late, but I can't wait a whole year to share this new track from Scott Bradlee and Casey Abrams. 

It would be nice to see the subscriber list grow. Join up, for free! 

Merry Christmas Music

We started the day really early here at the Institute, where the Board of Directors is extremely excited about the day and are quite certain that it actually starts at 12:01 AM. I'm not a nap guy, but today...

Here is the annual version of my Youtube Christmas play list, which tries to center stuff that you haven't already heard a gazillion times. 

I also like to share every year my extended family's spotify playlist, curated during Covid Christmas. 

And if you are really a glutton for punishment, try this collection featuring nothing but Jingle Bells. Have a fine day, however you choose to celebrate it or not, because every day should be a fine day.

TX: More Anti-School Choice From The Choice Crowd

Once again, it turns out that school choice supporters are not actually in favor of school choice. This time it's in Texas.

Kelly Hancock was in the chemicals business when he decided to step up his political career from school board member to House of Representatives in 2006. After three terms in the House, he moved up to the Senate. His undistinguished career included his award from Texas Monthly for being one of the worst legislators in Texas in 2017. The 2021 gerrymander still gave him a safer district.

Then in June 2025, he resigned the Senate so he could be appointed the acting Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts by Governor Greg Abbott. He's planning to run for the office for realsies next year.

One of the major points for his campaign? Hancock and his crew will be setting up the taxpayer-funded school voucher program (named the "Education Freedom Accounts Program" because nobody who supports school vouchers ever wants to say the word "voucher"). Hancock has been traveling around the state promoting the taxpayer-funded vouchers and the opportunity for choice.

Only it turns out that choice is not actually okay. The Texas Tribune reports that Hancock asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton if maybe certain choices shouldn't be allowed. Like schools with alleged connections to a U.S. Muslim advocacy group or the awful Chinese. Hancock asked if schools could be excluded if the were linked to a “foreign terrorist organization” or a “foreign adversary.” Hancock is targeting any school hosted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that Abbott just labeled a foreign terrorist group because they want to impose Sharia law. Hancock also claims there are "credible concerns" that one school in the state is owned or controlled by a group of people connected to a person who is allegedly an advisor for the Chinese government.

CAIR issued a statement about the events it hosts, “Know Your Rights” events designed to inform students about state and federal civil rights and protections.

“Hosting civil rights education for students is lawful. So is teaching students about their rights under the U.S. and Texas Constitutions,” a spokesperson with CAIR Texas said. “Any attempt to penalize schools for learning about their civil rights from an organization Greg Abbott happens to dislike would raise serious First Amendment concerns.”

Well, yes it does. It also, once again, illustrates that many school choice fans don't actually want school choice. We see this pattern repeated. "There should be school choice and religious freedom for all," they proclaim loudly. "Oh, but not for you guys," they add when Certain People try to take them at their word. For these folks, school choice is not about choice-- it's about funneling tax dollars to private religious institutions, but only the correct ones.

This is why religious folks ought to be the biggest defenders of the First Amendment. Because the next step, as we see in Texas and Florida and Oklahoma and elsewhere, is for the state to step in to settle debates about which religious institutions are "legitimate" and which religions really deserve the freedoms (and tax dollars) that are being offered. And once a religion needs state approval to exist, we have some huge problems. Somebody who is upset about the imagined threat of Sharia law ought not to be comfortable using the power of the state to force students to look at the Ten Commandments every day. 

Is everyone who promotes school choice actually opposed to school choice? No-- there are serious real choicers out there, and I have a different set of disagreements with them. But those true ought to be keeping a closer eye on some of their allies who are absolutely anti-choice. It's the anti-diversity, anti-democracy, anti-freedom crowd that is bad for all Americans. And Texans.

ICYMI: Hope You're Ready Edition (12/21)

It feels like there are a couple of days yet, but there really aren't-- especially if we hold onto our reserve not to enrich Bezos this year. So let's use this last time to clean the house, pack in the groceries, and finish the laundry. That leaves us free to clear the decks and lower the expectations so we can just enjoy each other. We're only here for a little while; let's make the most of it.

Still got a reading list to look at. Here come this week's nifty reads.

Is Anyone Really Surprised?

It is hard to grasp how profoundly screwed up Florida's education funding is at this point. Sue Kingery Woltanski breaks down how just one district's students are suffering from the voucher drainage. These numbers are astonishing.

Rural schools hit by Trump’s grant cuts have few options for making up for the lost money

Annie ma reporting for the AP takes a look at how Dear Leader's cuts are making life difficult for families served by rural schools.

How the charter school industry’s newest scheme could be ‘the death of public schools’

Florida's voucher program isn't the only disaster brewing; the new rules allowing charter school squatters to take over public school property are crazy pants. Jeff Bryant reports.

Take note, Gov. Polis: Coloradans have repeatedly said no to school vouchers

Colorado's governor is gazing longingly at those federal school vouchers. Kevin Welner and Kathy Gebhardt explain why he should really just take a pass on this one.

As 2026 Dawns, Future of Civil Rights Protection in K-12 Public Schools and Higher Ed. Looks Bleak Under Trump Administration

Jan Resseger on the administration's continued whacking away at K12 civil rights.

Alabama state education committee identifies ‘burdensome paperwork tasks’ for teachers

Andrea Tinker in the Alabama Reflector with this interesting little nugget. The state went to identify time-wasting paperwork, and the results aren't surprising, but it's still something that the state was even trying to find out.

As state’s school voucher program expands, legislative oversight committee has not met in a year

New Hampshire is not exactly killing it in the oversight department.

Charter school advocates fear their future at the Labor Department

Charter school fans have started to realize that they are in fact one of the entrenched interests being threatened by the Trump administration. Matt Barnum for Chalkbeat.

Erie School District sues Erie Rise to spur ex-charter school's dissolution, find assets

In PA, when a charter is shut down, its assets are supposed to go back to the district its students came from. In Erie, one closed charter is dragging its feet (and maybe spending its leftovers).

K-12 Indoctrination: Every Accusation is a Confession

Anne Lutz Fernandez looks at the many ways that MAGA would like to indoctrinate children into their preferred ideology.

Swimming Below The Surface

Test scores. Vouchers. Security officers. Teachers coached via earpiece. TC Weber as always has a handle on what's going on in and around Memphis.

Empty empathy machines

Thin empathy, thick empathy, the kind of empathy we want teachers to have, and what chatbots lack. Benjamin Riley.

What If Students Want Something More Than AI?

John warner at Inside Higher Ed. "We should stop declaring we know the future and give students the space to figure things out for themselves."

How Black Barbershops Are Helping Boys Fall in Love With Reading

This story ran way back in February, but I didn't see it until it turned up on somebody's "swell stories from this year lists" and it's definitely worth a share.

O Christmas Tree

Nancy Flanagan is not yet convinced that she should buy an artificial tree so that more tree farms can become data centers.

Texas universities deploy AI tools to review and rewrite how some courses discuss race and gender

Well, you knew this was coming. How better to root out that awful DEI than with a soulless, brainless bot?

Silicon Valley’s Fake Christianity Enables Tech Genocide

Excellent interview with Paris Marx delving into our tech overlords and their God complex. Who's the AntiChrist, really?

Your seasonal palate cleanser this week is just the thing to calm the soul.

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