Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday! Time for the News Roundup.

Exclusive: 12 Education Chiefs Ask McMahon for More Control over Federal Funds (The 74)

The 74 reported late last week that,

“Some state education chiefs aren’t wasting any time letting the new administration know what they want.”

“A dozen state leaders, all from Republican-led states, wrote to Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee, last week asking her to push for greater state control over federal education funds and to avoid issuing guidance they say is ‘not anchored in law.’”

…

“The 12 leaders who penned the letter, both elected and appointed, are from Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.”

Whenever they are given an option, state and local education leaders are always going to want control over the money and programming decisions. But, as we’ve discussed before, with money and programming authority comes responsibility – responsibility to take care of poor kids, kids with special needs, and kids whose civil rights are violated. The U.S. Department of Education was formed at a time when all three of these groups (kids who were poor, special needs, or had their civil rights violated) were taken advantage of by state and local decision-makers.

Why should we think today is any different than 50 years ago?

With Vouchers Fast-Tracked, Other Texas Public Education Issues to Watch This Session (The Texas Tribune)

It’s safe to say education savings accounts, or vouchers, will be approved by the Texas Legislature this session. But what else is on the Lone Star state’s agenda when it comes to public education?

According to The Texas Tribune:

“Here’s what lawmakers are prioritizing:

Teacher pay and school funding;

Teacher preparation;

Special education;

Banning diversity, equity and inclusion;

Career training”

With the exception of banning diversity, equity and inclusion programming from K-12 schools, all other items on the Texas legislative agenda is so 20^th century.

Why should Texas legislators expect different student learning results when they insist on working on the same priorities they have failed at implementing over the last 50 years?

It’s mind-boggling.

Democrats Throw Cold Water on Governor Phil Scott’s School Choice Proposal (Vermont Public)

Vermont’s educational reforms, led by Governor Phil Scott and his K-12 leaders, seems to be in trouble. And the trouble seems to be led by the Vermont Democrats.

Vermont Public reported this week that,

“Since returning to the Statehouse in early January, top Democrats in the Legislature have let Governor Phil Scott lead the way on education reform and carefully refrained from criticizing his ideas.”

“But as key details emerged, so to have notes of skepticism. And this week, Democrats drew a line in the sand.”

“A proposal, unveiled last week by Education Secretary Zoie Saunders, that would allow every student in the state to enter a lottery to attend a ‘school choice school,’ was a non-starter, Senate leader Phil Baruth wrote in a statement Tuesday.”

Why are so many elected leaders (in Vermont and elsewhere) against “choice” when it comes to making young learners smarter and stronger?

We now have the technology to build individual learning plans for every kid in our K-12 system. Why do we continue to insist on forcing young learners to learn what a state thinks important without any type of negotiation rights to build their own personalized learning plan?

It doesn’t make sense.

“I’m Sick of It”: Iowa Lawmakers Eye K-12 Ban on Teaching About Gender and Sexual Identity (Des Moines Register)

Iowa is becoming more and more conservative, and some kids are suffering because of it.

The Des Moines Register reported this week that,

“Iowa’s K-12 schools would be banned from offering instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation at all grade levels under a bill expanding what critics have described as the state’s ‘don’t say gay’ law.”

“Iowa’s law currently bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade. Governor Kim Reynolds signed that law in 2023 as part of wide-ranging education legislation that also ordered schools to remove books that depict sex acts.”

“A three-person House subcommittee voted 2-1 Wednesday to advance House Study Bill 84, which would extend the prohibition on LGBTQ-related teaching through high school.”

It seems Iowa (and other states) have decided that if they ignore LGBTQ-related issues, then hopefully they might just go away. So what’s next? Let’s ignore poor kids and their needs? Let’s ignore African-American kids and their needs? Let’s ignore undocumented kids and their needs?

It’s unfair to kids to ask them to leave themselves at the schoolhouse door and not allow “who they are” to enter what is supposed to be a “public” space.

Have a great weekend. Til Monday. SVB