U.S. suppliers have mostly caught up to the demand for masks and toilet paper since the start of the pandemic, but now tens of thousands of schoolchildren are suffering from the shortage of another item: laptop computers.

This year’s kindergarten classes have numerous empty seats nationwide—and not just because the little learners are logging in from home.

“I was stressed about everything and then thought, Why does he need to start kindergarten?” said Claire Reagan of Olathe, Kan. “And it was like a weight was lifted.” The high school teacher’s 5-year-old has autism, and she worried he would struggle with pandemic stressors such as switching between virtual and in-person learning. Kansas is one of 35 states that do not require kindergarten, so Reagan felt free to make the choice.

Is spending tens of thousands of dollars to bring in a well-known critical race theorist a valid use of taxpayer funds? Some Virginians took issue with Fairfax County Public Schools’ decision to fund a one-hour virtual conversation with author Ibram X.

The New York Times’ controversial “1619 Project” continues to stoke criticism, this time for rewriting its own story. “History is a harsh mistress when trifled with,” wrote The Heritage Foundation’s Jonathan Butcher late last month.

Some University of California schools accepted underqualified applicants in exchange for donations and other questionable conditions, according to a 76-page report released by the state auditor last week. “We conclude that the university has allowed for improper influence in admissions decisions, and it has not treated applicants fairly or consistently,” California auditor Elaine Howle wrote.

Families with children in New York City’s public schools are hopeful the third time’s the charm. Officials delayed a return to in-person instruction for the nation’s largest public school system twice this month because they could not come up with enough teachers and supplies to meet the safety standards outlined in a tenuous agreement with the district’s unions. Students attend virtually with some preschool and special education classes onsite for the first time this week.

If Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber’s public confession to institutional racism was an attempt at virtue signaling, it backfired.

“Racist assumptions from the past … remain embedded in the structures of the university itself,” he wrote in a letter sent Sept. 2 to people associated with Princeton.