Weekly News Round-Up for October 27th

posted by: Melissa | October 27, 2017, 05:56 PM

Each week, KANAAE brings its members a round-up of what’s happening in education. From big, eye-catching headlines to the stories most papers overlook, we find the news our members really want to see. This week changes in regulations for special education students, new science standards in New Mexico, pension reform, and more!

Trump Administration Rolls Back Regulations for Students with Disabilities: Last Friday, the Education Department announced that it had rescinded 72 guidance documents concerning students with disabilities as part of an effort by the Trump administration to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. The administration said that the regulations it chose to withdraw dated as far back as the 1980’s and were “outdated, unnecessary or ineffective.” In many cases, the programs they were connected with are now nonexistent or there is a newer regulation in place. A spokesperson said, “There are no policy implications to these rescissions.” Critics accuse the department of not understanding the viewpoint of families who have students with disabilities.

New Mexico Adopts New Science Standards: New Mexico’s state Public Education Department announced this week that it has decided to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards in whole after a previous attempt to rewrite the standards that was criticized for omitting evolution, information on the age of the earth, and the causes of climate change. By adopting NGSS, the state hopes to diffuse some of the criticism.

Battle Brews in Kentucky over Pension Reform: Republican lawmakers in Kentucky are planning to revamp the state’s public pension plan. The plan, which has been underfunded in the past, has seen $1.5 billion in losses over the past six years. Republicans say that reform is necessary to save the system, however Democrats accuse them of attempting to dismantle public education.

Fired Chicago Teachers Now Barred from Charters: Over 163 workers fired from Chicago Public Schools for misconduct were able to find jobs at Chicago charter schools. A report found that there was no system in place allowing charters to discover that misconduct existed on the teachers’ records. The district quickly put a new regulation in place for background checks to be done through the district.

Happening Elsewhere:

Seven charter high schools beat Georgia and district graduation rates

Education Department warns of new hacker threat

Idaho’s teacher shortage is widespread – ad it isn’t going away

Education program will give thousands of Utah students chance to see “Hamilton”

My Future NC will set statewide education plan

Georgia schools police chief resigns following car crash

Private school vouchers up in Wisconsin, program boosting enrollment at some schools

Some Puerto Rico schools reopen, making do without power

Charter schools in California could face more oversight under next governor

Mississippi schools back down on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ ban

Florida Gov Scott: Blame system for teacher pay