Puerto Rico is facing an unsustainable level of debt. Its lenders, guardians of financial probity that they are, have come up with a solution: close schools.

Yesterday, newbie Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley announced a plan to end student debt—and said that he had personally taken out $339,200 in student loans for his two daughters. Uhhh, what?

A high school English teacher was arrested Thursday for feeding pot brownies to two female students even though come on it’s called high school what did you expect.

A middle school substitute teacher has been “removed from the classroom” after he was caught on video Friday hitting students with his belt as they scrambled away from him. The district took action after the footage ended up on LiveLeak, YouTube, and fight-video clearinghouse WorldStarHipHop.

Hillary Clinton’s latest financial disclosure confirms that she pulled in $225,500 last year to give a speech plugging a skeezy online-schooling company that Jeb Bush helped run. Because nothing in America unites ideological foes like that sweet sweet college cash.

A Texas mom says she stopped by her son’s elementary school Wednesday after he got in trouble for a cafeteria food fight, and was shocked to discover the 9-year-old had been locked in a tiny, frigid “focus room”—basically solitary confinement for kids.

A West Virginia high school teacher may be in trouble after letting students pick a movie to show in class as a reward for their good performance. Turns out the kids’ tastes are very ... singular. You wouldn’t understand.

Here we go again: that liberal jerkoff with his hands in all our pockets, Bill “Tallest Man on Earth” de Blasio, has decided to dedicate $33 million of his upcoming proposed budget to struggling and underfunded public schools. What about that golden promenade we were promised? And the envelopes full of cash?

New York University, a Manhattan property development firm with a promising education wing, charges students a lot of money to attend. Undergraduate tuition, room, and board is currently estimated at $65,000 per year. What if a student wants to attend, but doesn't have the money? Who will pay? I don't know—the teachers, maybe?

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that two days in the NYC public school year will be turned into days off in observance of Muslim holidays Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

Student debt, like global warming, is one of those rare categories of news in which the latest news is always worse, never better. How are the very latest numbers? Bad!

Do you remember what you were doing in first grade? Picking your butt? Thinking about ghosts? Wearing a cape? It's probably unlikely that you were gabbing about the Harvard crew team with your cubby buddies. Kids these days, well, they are.

When a friend introduced me to the work of a theoretical physicist named Dr. Chanda Hsu Prescod-Weinstein, I had no idea what a "theoretical physicist" was. Whatever the work of theoretical physicists, I didn't imagine that there was one in our country who would say to a group of grad students at MIT, "Do not be afraid to be black, whatever that means to you. Do not be afraid to be black scientists. Do not be afraid to be black and simultaneously successful, whatever field you choose. For each individual, that may require creating something new and spectacular. Do not capitulate to the fear that you are not up to this glorious task."

Three essays from American public school teachers.

President Obama announced Thursday night a multibillion dollar plan to make the first two years of community college free for all students "willing to work for it."

Heyyyyy, teens, here's an SMS direct to your heart signed with the winking face emoji from Bill de Blasio: the mayor of New York City announced on Wednesday that the ban on cell phones at NYC schools has been lifted. All 1.1 million kids enrolled will now get to bring their phones and tablets onto campus.

A familiar lament that crosses career lines during the holidays is the human desire for ample time off from work, better schedule flexibility, and pay for hours spent on the job but off the clock. Whether you've been given a free week to enjoy your family this winter or you're working through into 2015, here's a reminder that teachers' daily schedules appear impossible to maintain for anyone other than superhumans with body doubles.

In the second volume in our series on American teachers, we're exploring the reality that many of our public schools are greatly underfunded, short on supplies, and are financially supported by teachers themselves. Take P.S. 132 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City where the children's toilets are decrepit, old, and overflowing with waste. Or, even worse, a Philadelphia elementary school with a yearly budget of $160. Yes, $160 to support a school of 400 students for the entire year.

A senior business communications instructor at Florida State University left her job but refused to apologize last week after blaming "filthy rodent Muslims" for ruining France and telling a prominent gay hairstylist on Facebook to "Take your Northern fagoot [sic] elitism and shove it up your ass."

Is it true that community college "takes two years" to complete, and regular college "takes four years" to complete? Not at all! It takes much, much longer.