Nearly half of American kids under 6 live in a licensed "child care desert." Does that match what you're seeing?

New data from the Center for American Progress dropped recently, and the numbers are stark: 46% of young children nationwide live in areas where licensed child care slots are outnumbered by demand at least 3-to-1. In remote rural areas, that number jumps to 70%. That's not a niche problem — it's basically a coin flip for any family with a toddler.

Break it down by congressional district and the picture looks worse:

• In 42% of U.S. congressional districts, a majority of young kids live in a child care desert
• In 14 districts, over 80% of young children have insufficient access to a slot
• Majority rural congressional districts are hit hardest — 49% of rural districts qualify as deserts, vs. ~42-46% in suburban/urban ones

This isn't just a data point — it's waitlists that stretch months into years; it's families who end up cutting hours or leaving jobs entirely because there's simply no care to be had; it's programs operating under capacity because they can't hire staff. For K-12 educators, it ripples forward: kids who miss out on early learning windows often show up to K-12 already behind.

🔗 Full report
🗺️ Interactive map (search and zoom into your area)
📊 Congressional district breakdown

Curious what this looks like from your POV: Do these numbers track with what you're seeing in your school or district? Are you noticing kids arriving less "kindergarten-ready" because they couldn't access early care? What does the waitlist situation look like where you are?

Submitted July 23, 2026 at 10:19AM by haileymgibbs https://ift.tt/eMSRbAB

How to educate our children in MAGA times?

I live in a red state but in a very large metropolitan area. We thought we were fortunate to get a spot for an acclaimed elementary in the magnet school lottery. Two years later, our school district was taken over by the state and our beloved principal was fired and atrocious changes were implemented (removing our award winning library, teaching to test, error-ridden AI lesson plans and constant evaluations, etc.). We fortunately had another option as we have a second home in a rural area, so we moved our primary residence to our second home and enrolled our children at the local, highly rated school. I come from a rural farm family educated in public school, so I thought this would be a good change. Unfortunately, my children were bullied for not being religious (my moms side of the family is full of extremely religious conservative preachers but I decided to distance myself and my children from that religion due to many factors). My oldest child, a daughter, is extremely smart and was the main target of bullying, so I tried to find another alternative. She was accepted to a non-religious private school. However, I have since learned that key board members are Republicans politicians or their spouses.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, we received an email discussing their dress code which included the line “students are expected to adhere to conduct and grooming per their biological gender assigned at birth.” What does conduct per biological gender mean? I am livid. If they wanted to specify dress code requirements, fine, but this is ridiculous. There are religious schools in the area, but as a non-religious school, I expected more. Other than leaving our state or homeschooling, which are not feasible due to our jobs, how should we educate our children without indoctrination and interference from politics?

Submitted July 22, 2026 at 05:48PM by Riviera_Sunset https://ift.tt/RiaU2zx

Feedback on educational video

My son has been working on fun, animated, educational videos this summer. He created this song and video about the Boston Tea Party. Is this something that would find worthwhile to share with your kids or classroom? Do you have any feedback?

Submitted July 22, 2026 at 01:30PM by tapneal17 https://ift.tt/Qgf06pT

What online college did you attend, and would you recommend it?

I’m currently researching online colleges and would like to hear from people who have attended an online program and can share their honest experience.

What school did you attend, what degree did you earn, and how was your overall experience? The biggest things I’m interested in are the school’s reputation, whether you actually liked the school, and if you would recommend it to someone else.

I’d also like to know about the cost and whether you felt the degree was worth the money. How were the advisors, financial aid office, and other staff? Were they helpful and easy to work with? How were the professors and classes? Did you feel like the online format was organized and that you were getting a quality education?

If you could go back and choose again, would you pick the same school?

I’m looking for a reputable online college with a good student experience, reasonable cost, and a degree that employers respect. Any honest opinions or recommendations would be appreciated!

Submitted July 22, 2026 at 10:00AM by Special_Ad2800 https://ift.tt/kvSydcT

need help copyleaks ai plagiarism detector

hello! i was just wondering if any of you here has copyleaks. our thesis is due today and theyre requiring us to submit an ai and plagiarism check from copyleaks but the library is closed already so i cant get it scanned there. thank u please help abgirl out 😭😭😭

Submitted July 22, 2026 at 01:51AM by Powerful_Bird_4079 https://ift.tt/gX6M0Lf

Is it no longer the norm for school buses to pick up and drop off at the students' home?

When I was growing up, it was common place for the school buses to drive through town on a particular route and pick up kids, then go to each school and drop them off. This is a small suburban town. I imagine things are different in big cities.

That was 30 years ago. Now they do pick up and drop offs at the closest school. So basically if the kid goes to a school 1 mile away, they get dropped off by parents at a nearby school, where a bus takes all the kids that get dropped off there to the different schools in the system so they can get where they need to go.

This seems inefficient even though they say it's so we can "avoid the drop off lines" at the actual school he's going to. But wouldn't this just create another drop off line at the closer school? And the drop off lines are probably long because this bus system seems so inefficient. A lot of parents figure if they have to drop the kid off at a school anyway they might as well drive a little bit further to the actual school the kid goes to.

So what's the norm in your district? And what's ideal these days? Should we have school buses picking up and dropping off directly at kids' homes? Should that just be the approach for young kids while older kids get a more standard city bus type schedule but with school buses? Or does it make sense to drop off kids at a nearby school facility and then bus them wherever they need to go in the district?

(I imagine larger cities have a single school for multiple grades in a district. Our town is one school district with multiple schools for different grades scattered all around town.)

Submitted July 21, 2026 at 02:24PM by -Clayburn https://ift.tt/pBQKhat

What do paras do during the off - periods for income?

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Submitted July 21, 2026 at 01:31PM by xray9899 https://ift.tt/cmJkE2V