Education

From Texas Standard:

This week, the University Interscholastic League, which oversees athletic competitions throughout the state, asked school superintendents to approve a policy that would use a student's birth certificate or other government-issued documents to determine gender.

The UIL has a nondiscrimination policy that includes gender – but this new rule would put Texas junior and high school sports on a gender binary system.

It used to be a given: When your kids reached school age, they'd strap on their backpacks and head for the neighborhood elementary school. Or, you'd pay a hefty tuition to send them to private school.

In the last two decades, a third option has emerged. Today, there are more than 6,000 charter schools in the country. And lately, they've been the subject of passionate and often acrimonious debate about the right way to fix public education in America.

Small town doesn't quite describe Bethune, Colo. It spans just 0.2 square miles and has a population of 237. There's a post office, but it's open only part time. There's not a single restaurant, and the closest big store is in Kansas.

That didn't stop Ailyn Marfil from moving to Bethune a couple of months ago. In fact, she thinks it's a pretty exciting place to live. "I was looking for speed and action, and so Bethune gave me speed and action. More than I expected," she says.

Texas has long been a battleground over school textbooks. During the last year, experts have criticized them for naming Moses as a founding father and also downplaying slavery as a cause of the Civil War.

The latest controversy comes after a family near Houston pointed out how a geography book described slaves. Laura Isensee from Here & Now contributor Houston Public Media takes a closer look at what happened and what’s next.