National News
Labor-HHS-Education Markup Scheduled
By Caitlin Emma, Politico
Senate spending leaders have yet to introduce any of their 12 appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, but the panel is expected to mark up several of them next week.
— Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has said he wants to clear the two largest spending bills before federal funding expires at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, taking care of funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Education and HHS.
— Lawmakers will have just 13 working days after returning from the August recess to pass measures that provide updated funding or extend current levels for federal agencies to prevent another government shutdown at month’s end.
— The Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee markup will be held Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in 124 Dirksen.
State News
8/22/19- ‘The minimum annual salary for public school teachers in Illinois will be raised to $40,000 by the 2023-24 school year under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Thursday that is aimed at making a dent in a statewide teacher shortage.’
8/29/19- ‘Throughout the next year, a new commission of state legislators will meet to study the way it funds higher education in Pennsylvania.’
NV- Strike avoided, Clark County School District and teachers union reach a deal
8/28/19- ‘The Clark County School District and Clark County Education Association have reached a deal in negotiations, avoiding a teachers strike.’
A battle over California charter schools ends — for now — with a deal in Sacramento
8/28/19- ‘Warring factions of California’s K-12 education system have reached an agreement on legislation that would place new restrictions on charter schools and pause a long-standing battle at the state Capitol between politically powerful teachers unions and deep-pocketed charter advocates.’
NC Students Could Be Taking Fewer Standardized Tests Soon
8/28/19- ‘North Carolina legislators have reached a compromise on doing away with more standardized testing in public schools.’
OR- State reviewing how it divvies up higher education money
8/25/19- ‘When state lawmakers set aside money for Oregon’s seven public universities every two years, it’s as a lump sum. But that money isn’t split evenly across the board — some schools receive more than others based on a state formula that judges their outcomes.’
Research and Analysis
Chartered: Florida’s First Private Takeover Of A Public School System
Florida’s first all-charter school district was engineered by unelected state bureaucrats at then-Gov. Rick Scott’s Department of Education, funded by the state Legislature and carried out by a charter school network based in South Florida, nearly 500 miles away. This “experiment” in rural Jefferson County has been transformational for many students but disastrous for a few. And it’s already changing education in Florida forever.
Preparing Students for Learning, Work and Life Through STEAM Education
This Policy Brief shares insights from a recent Thinkers Meeting that looked beyond existing state policies and explored new pathways to guide future practice, research and policy work to support access to STEAM education for all students.
The establishment of new school districts in predominantly White municipalities in the South is restructuring school and housing segregation in impacted countywide school systems. This article compares the contribution of school district boundaries to school and residential segregation in the Southern counties that experienced secession since 2000.
Policy roundup produced by Matt Barusch of NAfME.