Weekly News Round-Up for January 25th

posted by: Melissa | January 25, 2019, 04:41 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, school choice, teacher strikes, funding, and more!

School Choice Week: This week is National School Choice Week. The week seeks to raise awareness about different educational opportunities that are available to students, including public district schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, online schools, private schools, and home schooling. Many believe that increasing school choice is one way to increase student achievement. In celebration of the week, schools and other groups are holding events across the country.

Strike Update: A little over a week after it began, the L.A. Teacher’s strike came to an end after a deal was reached between the district and the union. The deal put a cap on class sizes, hired additional support staff, and cut the number of standardized tests. It also forced the school board to call for a statewide cap on charter schools. While the public district schools have gone back to class, the teachers from the three charter schools who also went on strike are continuing their protest. Meanwhile in Denver, DPS teachers also voted to go on strike. However, the district has asked the state to intervene in the dispute, putting the strike on hold for the moment.

MA Governor Proposes Revamped School Funding: Gov. Charlie Baker proposed a new school funding formula for the state of Massachusetts this week. Twenty-five years earlier, Massachusetts took aggressive steps to increase equity between school districts by implementing an innovative and unique school funding formula. In recent years, the formula had been criticized for not meeting the needs of modern schools. This proposal aims to fix some of the original funding formula’s weaknesses, however some believe it doesn’t go far enough.

Happening Elsewhere:

Shutdown day 32: School districts step up to help students and families

W.Va. ‘omnibus education bill’ gets a warning from educators’ associations

Minnesota Court of Appeals dismisses teacher-tenure lawsuit

NY Lawmakers pass teacher evaluation reform

School superintendent charged after using her insurance to get sick student medical care

Microsoft built a stylus for students as it goes aggressively after education market

Democrats seek more oversight of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

Key part of Kansas governor’s budget plan appears doomed

Speaker Lucas’ humble background influences his push for education reform in SC

New Mexico pressed to devise education plan

Board that oversees Idaho education makes budget request