Phantom students

As many U.S. universities face waning enrollment, some colleges have encountered a different problem: fake students. Since the pandemic, scammers have applied for student financial aid through California’s 116 community colleges, and about 1 in 3 applications in the past year was fake. On May 20, the Board of Governors for California Community Colleges voted to require prospective students to verify their identity through the digital identity wallet ID.me.

Clearing fraudulent students from the rolls made room for roughly 7,500 students at Santiago Canyon College alone. Adopting the necessary AI tools to detect fraud could cost colleges an estimated $10 million. While the Board of Governors passed the ID requirement, it rejected a motion to charge an enrollment fee to help pay for the authentication software, worried it would make community colleges less accessible to low-income students.

Over a recent 12-month period, bots stole roughly $13 million in state and federal financial aid from California schools, up from $6.5 million stolen between 2021 and 2023. And the problem isn’t exclusive to the Golden State. A 2021 report from the U.S. Department of Education found that fraud rings in North Carolina, Michigan, and Mississippi stole $2.3 million in federal financial aid.

No reprieve for seventh grader’s banned shirt

A middle schooler who wore a “There Are Only Two Genders” T-shirt to his public school will have to put on something else instead. On May 27, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Liam Morrison an appeal of his case against Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Mass.

When Morrison first wore his controversial shirt to Nichols—a school that celebrates “Pride Spirit Week”—in 2023, a student and a teacher complained, and the school sent him home. His parents sued after Morrison’s “There Are CENSORED Genders” T-shirt sparked similar umbrage. But two federal courts ruled against Morrison, despite the ­plaintiffs citing a 1969 case that allowed public school students to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he would have heard Morrison’s case. In a dissent, he noted that a school promoting LGBTQ ideology must tolerate pushback, especially since children are “susceptible to indoctrination.” —B.M.

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Israel ramps up religious instruction

Israel is revamping its national school curriculum with an emphasis on Jewish heritage. Education Minister Yoav Kisch on May 27 announced the rollout of “Roots—The National Program for Jewish and Zionist Identities,” requiring fourth graders to take a standardized Hebrew Bible assessment and students of all grades to take weekly Biblical studies classes. The government increased funding for Jewish identity instruction from 1% to 4% of the education budget, and schools will also teach Jewish history and facilitate field trips to Jerusalem. —B.M.