CHEERS
Virginia’s teachers unions gained considerable power between 2012 and 2026 relative to other states, according to Fordham’s new report, so it’s notable that (Democratic) Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger recently vetoed legislation that would have expanded collective bargaining rights across the commonwealth. As Kevin Mahnken reports, “Many of the governor’s supporters in labor were outraged by the decision, calling it a ‘betrayal’ of a key constituency,” but the move aligns with the governor’s mandate to reduce financial pressure on taxpayers. And I call it smart public policy and good for kid-centered reforms.
JEERS
Caitlin Gibson reports on a new study showing how much time teens spend on their phones in the middle of the night:
Teens averaged over 50 minutes of smartphone use between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on school nights, researchers found, and more than half of the teens used their phones between midnight and 4 a.m. The majority of that phone use was spent on social media apps like YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, the study found. Others were looking at streaming apps or playing games like Roblox or Clash Royale.
“The simple fix would be to get screens out of the bedroom,” according to Jason Nagata, who led the study. If only families took his advice.
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Also on the “phones are destroying adolescence” beat: Isaac Rose-Berman discusses teen gambling in Education Next, and calls on states to do more to protect kids, particularly from online casino games associated with high rates of addiction:
Online gambling is here to stay. The question is whether we treat underage access as a design failure or let the industry write it off as the cost of doing business. Physical casinos check IDs at the entrance. Online, the door is always open, and gambling companies spend billions waving everyone in.
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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