April 26, 2026

Principal Condra Allred visits a third grade class at Cleveland Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in April. Soon, Allred expects to hear for certain if her school will close.

Cliff Jette for NPR

It’s Cory here, feeling very excited to share a story I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year. I’ve been an education reporter for 12 years now, and often when school choice has come up, I’ve told my editor, “I’ll only do this if I get the time to do it right.”

By “right” I mean, going below the political to get to the personal. Not just skating along the partisan surface of school choice but instead capturing the nuanced, local interplay of choice options, like charter schools and private-school voucher programs, with a community’s public schools. What happens when kids switch schools? Where does the money go? Whose children benefit and do any get left behind?

The only way to answer those questions is to talk to school leaders on all sides, parents on all sides, even students.

In February, I got my chance. I spent about a week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, arriving in spring weather (65 degrees) and leaving in a snowstorm. I conducted a few dozen interviews about the explosion of school choice options there (including charters and private-school vouchers and open enrollment, which allows students to attend any public school that has space for them) and the role they’ve played in forcing the city’s public district to cut costs and close several schools. I heard why some families are eager to take their children out of the city’s schools while others are fighting to keep their neighborhood school from being shuttered.

The finished story is roughly 3,000 words in print and 30 minutes in audio — part of NPR’s Sunday Story and the Up First podcast. You’ll hear some yelling, some tears and a whole lot of complicated facts and feelings.

Read the story. Take a listen. It’s an interview format, with me telling the Cedar Rapids tale to host Ayesha Rascoe, but, because this is NPR, it’s also rich with sound and powerful, personal voices.

You can find it all right here.

Thanks again for reading our newsletter. Our small but mighty team really appreciates your support.

— Cory Turner, Correspondent, NPR Ed

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In other news...

Trump administration delays rule aimed at improving disability access in schools. Public colleges, K-12 schools, local governments and other public institutions will have an extra year to make their digital materials fully accessible for people with disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

— Jonaki Mehta, Education Correspondent, NPR

Pittsburgh will close schools for NFL draft and switch to remote learning. In recent years, the NFL draft has attracted hundreds of thousands of fans to the cities that host it. This week, Pittsburgh will be no exception.

— Jillian Forstadt, Education Reporter, WESA

The 11 most challenged books of 2025, according to the American Library Association. According to the ALA, 40% of the materials challenged in 2025 were representations of LGBTQ+ people and those of people of color.

— Anastasia Tsioulcas, Culture Correspondent, NPR

And here's something to make you smile...

Do less, ask for more: How to make life easier as a working parent.

The first day I returned to work after parental leave, I sat down at my desk, logged into my computer — and silently sobbed right up until my first morning meeting.

The guilt of leaving my child, the anxiety of starting over at my job, the stress of managing both worlds at once: It was the ultimate case of the Mondays.

Transitioning from "worker" to "parent" to "working parent" can be a shock to the system, says Amy Beacom, founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership.
Parents are often "learning two new roles fast, under a lot of pressure with lack of sleep, zero guidance and zero support," she says.

That's especially the case for mothers. The United States is the only industrialized nation without federal paid leave, and one 2012 report found that 1 in 4 women go back to work within two weeks of having a baby.

While I was one of the lucky ones — I had several months of protected, paid leave — coming back was still a struggle and a huge adjustment.

So whether you're about to return to work or already back, there are ways to set yourself up for success, Beacom says.

As always, thank you for reading and listening!

— The NPR Education Team

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