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NJ Spotlight--Five Opportunities to Get Involved with the Fiscal 2018 Budget Review
New Jersey lawmakers have scheduled five public hearings for residents who want to sound off or speak in favor of Christie’s final budget plan
State lawmakers are planning to hold five public hearings at venues across the state over the next several weeks as they launch the formal process of scrutinizing Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
The hearings will give New Jersey residents, public-policy advocates, and interest groups an in-person opportunity to share with lawmakers what they like and don’t like about the $35.5 billion spending plan that Christie put forward last week.
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee will host the first public hearing on Tuesday at Rowan College at Gloucester County in Sewell at 11 a.m. The Senate panel will also hold a hearing later this month in Newark, while the Assembly Budget Committee will hold public hearings this month in Trenton, Glassboro, and Lodi.
John Reitmeyer | March 9, 2017
Trenton Times--Educators should be given the skills to help all students | Editorial
Studies increasingly show that children with disabilities who are integrated into general education classrooms fare better than their peers in non-inclusive classrooms.
Not only to do these students get more instructional time, but they also are absent less frequently, and have proven more successful in post-secondary settings.
Students without disabilities also benefit from inclusionary classrooms: The interactions help build positive relations and friendships, and the normally-abled youngsters learn to be more at ease with people of all kinds.
Times of Trenton Editorial Board| March 9, 2017 at 7:23 AM
Washington Post--Trump’s education adviser promotes private schools
WASHINGTON — A senior presidential aide said Wednesday that American families should have various school options for their children, including private schools.
Jason Botel, Donald Trump’s education adviser, told a National PTA conference that some children may not thrive in traditional public or charter schools and should have an opportunity to attend private schools.
“We need an education landscape that offers high quality options to all students and parents,” Botel told the conference.
Botel, who has worked in both traditional public and charter schools, told the story of some of his students who were only able to succeed academically after going to private schools. “We are committed to ensuring that students and parents of all backgrounds for whom public school may not be the best option have access to high quality private schools,” he added.
By Maria Danilova | AP March 8 at 5:44 PM
Education Week—For Young People, News Is Mobile, Social, and Hard to Trust, Studies Find
Tweens, teens, and young adults consume a wide range of news, often as a byproduct of their frequent use of the mobile devices and social media applications they carry around in their pockets.
But they view much of the news they encounter as biased and unreflective of their own experiences. They struggle to identify "fake" news. And what they see and read often makes them feel afraid, angry, and depressed.
It all contributes to a profound sense of mistrust, as well as a growing need for new strategies to help youth navigate a shifting media landscape, according to two recently released research studies on children and the news.
"Young people don't follow the news as much as it follows them," concluded the New York-based research institute Data & Society in a report released last month.
Benjamin Herold on March 8, 2017 7:07 AM
The Atlantic--A Tale of Two Betsy DeVoses
The generous Grand Rapids resident and the tone-deaf Trump official
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Residents of this western Michigan town are having trouble reconciling the Betsy DeVos they know with the Betsy DeVos who serves as President Donald Trump’s controversial education secretary.
The former is widely seen as pragmatic and generous, even by those who dislike her political leanings and devotion to charter schools. The latter? “Unprepared,” “tone deaf,” and “insulated” were phrases that came up more than once during interviews with people who either know DeVos or her family or are familiar with her dealings in this part of the state.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/a-tale-of-two-betsy-devoses/518952/
Emily DeRuy| Mar 8, 2017
