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NJ Spotlight--Fine Print: NJ Revises Accountability Plan for Federal Approval
Seven years after Race to the Top fiasco, Christie administration goes through federal review of its latest accountability plan
What it is: New Jersey State Plan, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Amended July 14, 2017
What it means: The revised plan submitted this week to U.S Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is part of the review process that every state is going through on their accountability plans to meet the new federal education law, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act. The process is painstaking — and potentially heartbreaking, as New Jersey learned seven years ago — and has involved pointed questions from the Trump administration. The eventual plan is critical to all schools; it lays out how the state will monitor students, schools, and districts.
John Mooney | July 21, 2017
Star Ledger--Why some N.J. districts could lower tax rates at 'the 11th hour'
TRENTON -- In 19 years as a school superintendent, Brian Zychowski can't recall a summer quite like this, he said.
Zychowski's district, North Brunswick Township, finalized its 2017-18 budget in April. But, now, three months later and just seven weeks before the start of school, Zychowski has been presented a rare opportunity thanks to a state budget compromise that increased K-12 school aid by $100 million.
Adam Clark| Updated on July 20, 2017 at 5:27 PM Posted on July 20, 2017 at 11:00 AM
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Associated Press (via Philadelphia Inquirer--Teachers union chief: School choice rooted in segregation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of one of the country's leading teachers' unions charged Thursday that school choice, a key policy agenda of the Trump administration, is rooted in segregation and racism.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second largest teachers' group, said that decades ago school choice was used by officials in the South to resist desegregation.
Weingarten has been a fierce opponent of President Donald Trump's efforts to expand charter and private school voucher programs around the country. In her speech, she called Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a "public school denier."
"Make no mistake: This use of privatization, coupled with disinvestment, are only slightly more polite cousins of segregation," Weingarten said.
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/features/20170720_ap_89cbd90b79a148239e455463d2f250f2.html
MARIA DANILOVA, The Associated Press| Updated: July 20, 2017 — 5:00 PM EDT
Education Week-- Bill With More Than $2 Billion in Teacher-Training Cuts Advances in House
Lawmakers in charge of the U.S. Department of Education's budget voted Wednesday to advance a funding bill that cuts $2.4 billion from the agency's budget, with most of that reduction coming through the elimination of a major program focused on teachers.
The GOP-backed bill approved by the House appropriations committee on Wednesday by a 28-22 vote cuts the department's budget to $66 billion. That's a less-severe cut than the spending blueprint floated by President Donald Trump in May that includes a $9.2 billion reduction. House Republicans followed the Trump budget's lead and cut the $2 billion Title II program that covers teacher training, as well as class-size reductions.
"We invest in programs that ensure that all students have access to a quality education," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., the chairman of the House appropriations committee. The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.
But Republicans in charge of the bill declined to include two big budget initiatives from Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: a $1 billiion public school choice program under Title I, and a $250 million private school choice program.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/07/budget_bill_cut_teacher_training_advances_house.html
By Andrew Ujifusa on July 19, 2017 8:37 PM
