Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reasserted his demand for free college for all when he released his education platform last week. Sanders joins other high-profile 2020 Democratic contenders such as Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joe Biden in their campaign claims that four-year degrees at public universities should be tuition-free.

In the 20 years since the shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., school safety has become a $2.7 billion industry that is still growing, according to IHS Markit. Schools across the country are spending millions of dollars developing training protocols, hiring armed guards, and installing metal detectors and security cameras. Texas and Florida even passed legislation recently that allows certain teachers to carry guns on campus.

Florida last week became the latest state to allow more teachers to carry guns in their schools. A bill passed Saturday by the state legislature expands the existing school guardian program that was enacted after the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 17 people died. Originally, only teachers who also served in an auxiliary role such as a coach were eligible for the police-style guardian training. The new bill removes the added role requirement, opening the door for thousands of additional teachers to become certified.

Charter schools in eight large U.S. cities provide a 53 percent better return on investment than their regular public school counterparts, a recently released study concluded. The University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform compared the cost-effectiveness of schools by dividing student scores on the reading and math portions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress by per-pupil funding.

Arizona recently repealed a state law requiring that AIDS and HIV instruction in schools adopt a traditional sexual ethic. The change poses a challenge to family groups working to protect children from harmful sexual education.

Atlanta’s all-male, historically black Morehouse College announced Saturday that starting in 2020 it would open admission to female students who identify as men. The school’s newly released gender identity policy states that “in recognition of our changing world and evolving understanding of gender identity, Morehouse will now consider for admission applicants who live and self-identify as men, regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth.”

A group of California legislators last week introduced a sweeping package of bills aimed at restoring confidence in the college admissions process after a widespread bribery scandal.