Hello from Erica and Lily on Chalkbeat’s national desk. Public schools are under a lot of pressure these days, particularly in states with robust school choice options. Our big story this week looks at a public school superintendent who’s taken the approach of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” 

Keep reading for that, plus a new study that revealed an important limitation on AI tutoring, the pros and cons of integrated math, and a public opinion survey on religion in public schools.

If you read this newsletter, there’s a decent chance you’re a voter. Our colleagues over at Votebeat are answering reader questions about the midterms, starting with “Will the midterms happen?” (Yes, but that’s not the end of the story.) RSVP here for our July 13 event and submit your questions.

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An Indiana microschool nestled in the woods draws from classical and Montessori models and allows students to move at their own pace, with a flexible schedule and lots of parental involvement.

It’s attracted families that don’t feel like homeschooling offers their children enough — but who would never consider a traditional public school. 

But Nature’s Gift is also a public school, of sorts anyway. It’s the first school of the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, which already has plans to open five more sites. Legally, the collaborative is classified as a single charter school and is funded as such. CEO George Philhower is also the superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools. 

Are these two great tastes that taste great together, like the Reese’s peanut butter cup? A genius pairing like the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell? 

Or is it more like bleach and ammonia, which produce a dangerous chemical reaction when mixed?

Philhower believes microschools can work collaboratively with their local districts and offer families an alternative to leaving the public school system altogether. 

“At a broader level, the goal is not to create separation between schools but to create more connected and flexible public learning opportunities for families,” Philhower said.

But other superintendents fear these microschools could create unnecessary competition. They also wonder why only some students in a school district should get small class sizes and experiential learning opportunities.

“Charter schools are based on the idea that the public schools are failing to provide something for kids. Your job as a superintendent is to fix that, and provide what’s needed so that every student can be the best that they can be,” said Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, president at Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Parent Jen Shipley, meanwhile, is just glad she found a school that meets her daughter’s needs.

“I love that she can learn from teachers who love teaching reading and math,” said Shipley, who previously homeschooled her daughter. “Sure I could teach my child a science experiment, but not with the same passion behind it.”

Read the full story.

Having access to an AI tutor is not the same as using it. Stanford researchers encountered a problem when they tried to test whether human support would help students learn more from using an AI early literacy tutor. With or without a helping human hand, students didn’t really use the AI tutor. School districts considering whether to buy such tools should put as much thought into how they’ll get students to use them as to whether the tool itself is high-quality, researchers concluded.

A small but growing share of states and districts have adopted integrated math in lieu of the traditional algebra-geometry-algebra sequence. Enthusiastic advocates of this approach say it helps students make more connections between concepts and opens doors to data science, statistics, and other applied math, according to our partner The Hechinger Report. But critics say it can leave some students unprepared for calculus, still a critical skill for STEM careers.

About half of all Americans favor displaying the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms and 46% would favor allowing teachers to lead classes in prayer, according to new survey data from the Pew Research Center. Very few, 8%, believe students should be required to participate, though a few Chalkbeat colleagues wondered how you might enforce that requirement … (Are you there, God? It’s me, Chalkbeat.)

When issues around school prayer arise, some folks are quick to declare that a “separation of church and state” exists in the U.S.

But matters over religion and education have never been completely cut and dry, maybe now more than ever. Three states in two years — Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas — passed laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, prompting lawsuits. Just this month, a Tennessee lawsuit challenging the state’s religious charter school ban advanced in federal court. The suit argues the state is unconstitutionally blocking such schools. 

Interestingly, more people in the Pew survey indicated that they’d favor a coach to lead their team in prayer — 57% — than a teacher (46%). In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a high school football coach from Washington state after his district fired him when officials discovered his post-game prayer tradition.

And more religion could be coming to public education, particularly in red states.

On Tuesday, the Texas State Board of Education gave initial approval to requiring a reading list that includes Biblical stories such as Noah’s Ark and David and Goliath, as well as passages from Luke and Corinthians. Final votes on this are Friday, reports the Texas Tribune. 

The survey data is interesting to sift through, with some statistics separated by how folks of different Christian affiliations feel about school prayer. The survey’s sample didn’t include enough non-Christians to separate their answers, Pew specified. White, evangelical Protestants are most likely to support teachers leading classes in prayer, but not as a requirement. People in the South favor teacher-led prayer at a higher proportion than people in the West.

That’s the median salary of home health aides, the largest single occupation in America and one of the fastest growing. This number is part of an important reality as many policymakers downplay the need for all students to attend college. Even in the trades, six-figure salaries are the exception rather than the rule. Most workers without a college degree — especially women — work in relatively low-paid professions, Ideas Editor Matt Barnum writes. Jobs that require a college degree continue to offer higher pay on average than jobs that don’t require a degree.

That’s Lauren Yates, who was among the Louisiana school teachers who received a $51,000 bonus in addition to their annual salary this year, thanks to a spike in sales tax revenue in their rural district, Richland Parish. Much of the money came from a massive data center the company Meta (parent company behind Facebook and Instagram) is building to accelerate its AI business. The bonuses are more than the salaries of most Richland Parish teachers — the district’s average salary, $41,000, is far below the national average, $74,495, according to the National Education Association.

The windfall may look like a clear win in the argument for more data centers around the country, but under the tax agreement with Meta, an expert warns teachers shouldn’t expect such a massive bonus every year.