Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday! Time for the News Roundup.

Administration Officials Unveil Education Plan with Just 5 School Districts Statewide (Vermont Digger)

Vermont has long prided itself on small public school districts that responded to the needs of the townspeople they served. But recently Vermont’s schools have run into budgetary challenges that have caused many to ask the question whether the state might be spending too much money on its educational system.

Recently, Vermont Digger reported that,

“State officials unveiled the broad strokes of Governor Phil Scott’s education proposal…, a plan that includes sweeping changes like consolidating Vermont’s dozens of school districts to just five and adopting a foundation formula.”

…

“Scott, a Republican, first hinted at the proposal during his inaugural address earlier this month, including a shift to a foundation formula and a change in school governance structures. In a foundation formula, districts are provided a base amount of money per student.”

…

“Vermont’s current system lacks ‘incentives’ for districts to save money, and is ‘too complicated for people to understand,’ said Craig Bolio, Vermont’s tax commissioner…”

If you started with an individual educational plan for every Vermont kid and then applied a formula to those plans, you would probably save money and have a better path forward to make Vermont’s kids smarter and stronger when it comes to the skills needed to be successful in the 21^st century economy.

Vermont Schools Wonder: What If ICE Comes Knocking? (Vermont Public)

Vermont Public reported this week that,

“President-elect Donald Trump’s return to power…is prompting schools across Vermont to review their policies around student privacy and immigration – particularly since advocates fear that potential changes in federal rules could pave the way for schoolhouse raids.”

“Federal policy created during Barack Obama’s presidency, which Trump kept in place during his first administration, currently prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at so-called ‘sensitive location,’ including schools, churches and hospitals. But Trump now plans to rescind that policy, according to reporting…”

Vermont isn’t the only state that the feds will have problems with if the Trump administration decides to go after young children to get to their parents for deportation. This could be the beginnings of a small civil war across America.

Trump Administration Lifts Ban on Immigration Arrests at Schools (EducationWeek)

And now it’s happened.

EducationWeek reported this week that,

“Immigration agents can now  more easily make arrests and carry out raids on school property, after the Trump administration overturned a 13-year-old policy aimed at preventing immigration enforcement from getting in the way of people accessing essential services.”

“Under a directive announced…, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol agents no longer have to honor ‘sensitive locations’ when conducting enforcement activities.”

You think school districts had attendance challenges before, wait until undocumented families find out their kids could be detained if they show up to school. And, school districts should prepare themselves to lost money when kids stop showing up to school, since most school funding formulas depend on whether kids attend school or not.

Public Schools Added 121,000 Employees Last year, Even as They Served 110,000 Fewer Students (The 74)

This is a problem.

The 74 reported this week that,

“According to new data released in December from the National Center of Education Statistics, public schools added 121,000 employees last year even as they served 110,000 fewer students.”

“On a per-student basis, that means public school staffing levels once again climbed to new all-time highs.”

The problem with our traditional K-12 system is that it can’t figure out how to be more efficient and effective at the same time. They spend more money and receive similar results as in the past.

If we went to a new learning system, it would save money and make kids smarter and stronger at the same time.

Poll of High Schoolers Shows Many Are Taught That America Is ‘Inherently Racist’ (The 74)

The 74 reported this week that,

“As Donald Trump’s return to the White House threatens to reignite public debates about how schools teach subjects like civics and American history, newly released polling shows that many students are exposed to critical messages about the country and its government on a near-daily basis.”

“Published by the journal Education Next, the survey of 850 high schoolers reported that 36 percent say their teachers either ‘often’ or ‘almost daily’ argue that America is a fundamentally racist nation. No less striking, roughly the same proportion of respondents said they frequently heard claims that African Americans are victims of discrimination by racist police officers and an unjust economic system, while whites contribute the most to racism in society.”

“At the same time, large numbers of adolescents also absorb comparatively positive views about the United States, with 56 percent saying their teachers regularly discussed the progress made toward racial equality since the 1970’s.”

As a trained historian, it’s difficult for me to understand how race cannot be discussed in this country’s classrooms. And, even though there have been attempts to arrive at racial equality in our past history, the fact is we have fallen seriously short of that goal. Admitting this is a necessary step in improvement.

Have a great weekend! Til Monday. SVB