It’s National Back to School month. As students prepare to head back to school, nothing is more top of mind than affording school essentials.

Parents are facing sticker shock over the prices of school supplies such as backpacks, notebooks, pens, and pencils. A basket of a dozen supplies costs nearly 15% more on average compared to one year ago.

For the most recent inflation numbers, check out our monthly tracking of year-over-year price changes on common household essentials.
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GO WOKE, OR GO HUNGRY: Did you know that the Department of Agriculture is threatening to make kids go hungry if schools don’t embrace their radical gender agenda? Learn more.

CHAMPION MESSAGE
READ JENNIFER'S PROFILE

HURTING NOT HELPING

California Rethinks Anti-Nuclear Power Stance  
For anyone seriously on board with a lower emissions future, nuclear must be a part of the equation. Despite this reality, extreme environmentalists have advocated against nuclear energy for decades. They worked to limit the development of new facilities and shut down existing ones. This longstanding effort is coming to a head in California as residents and its liberal leaders face the reality of the last nuclear reactor, Diablo Canyon, shutting down. Read more.

DID YOU KNOW 

Non-Union Job Wages Far Outpacing Union Wages
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), workers in non-union jobs saw increased wages compared to their unionized counterparts. The BLS’s June 2022 employment cost index revealed total wage and benefits costs for private sector jobs rose 5.5% from June 2021 to June 2022. Non-unionized workers saw their wages and salaries increase 6%, compared to a 3.4% wage increase for unionized workers. So much for the argument that union workers are better paid. Read more.

IN THE NETWORK

Escaping Your Government Assigned Schools
This week on Escaping Your Government Assigned Schools, guest Nicki Neily with Parents Defending Education discusses ways parents can combat critical race theory-themed lessons, materials, and professional development in their children’s schools.  
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TWO TRUTHS & A LIE

The Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was passed to give black Americans access to the ballot, which had been unconstitutionally denied to them in parts of the United States.

Can you guess which of the following statements is not true about the Voting Rights Act?

A. Voting is a fundamental privilege of every American over the age of 18 protected by federal statutory and constitutional law.
B. Efforts to ensure election integrity illegally discriminate against black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
C. The Voting Rights Act included federal oversight of particular jurisdictions. Congress intended this local oversight to be temporary.
CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

She Thinks Podcast

  • New Episode: Recently, Kristin Tate, visiting fellow at IWF, joined to discuss what you need to know about inflation and rising costs. Listen here.
Listen on your favorite podcast app: 
        
  • Next Episode: Coming up, Chris Fenton, president and CEO at Media Capital Technologies, joins the program to discuss the tangled web of Chinese influence. Hear it here.

CAPSULE REVIEW

College Enrollment Sags; Trades and Apprenticeships Boom 

When college enrollment plummeted during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, it was easy to blame the downturn on Zoom University. No one wanted to trade fall days on campus for learning through a screen in their parents’ basement, especially when the subpar product came at no discount.
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Parents Must Take a Stand for Choice

The data on pandemic learning loss are coming in, and they are devastating. And yet the failing grades and rising absentee rates dominating the public education system today are exactly what those of us who fought school closures warned would happen.
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