Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday! Time for the News Roundup.

Lawmakers Want to Expand Texas’ Teacher Pay Raise Program. Many Educators Will Still Be Left Out (The Texas Tribune)

According to The Texas Tribune earlier this month,

“The Teacher Incentive Allotment gives raises to teachers base on performance. But it leaves out many educators and school staff who contribute to students’ success.”

…

“The Teacher Incentive Allotment program’s merit-based structure means not everyone benefits. Only about 25,000 teachers – out of nearly 400,000 in Texas – currently receive pay raises under the initiative. Less than half of more than 1,200 districts participate.”

“Many educators warn that focusing too much on testing and performance leaves out teachers doing their best to educate children with varying needs and capabilities. Others raise concerns about the program’s exclusive focus on classroom teachers, which excludes essential school support staff who contribute to children’s instruction and learning.”

This has been a struggle for schools to figure out since pay-for-performance appeared on the public education landscape in the 1990’s. Here’s how we should approach it moving forward:

Performance pay stays. The most valuable employees should receive greater compensation than others.

Performance pay shouldn’t be determined solely by test scores. There are other contributions adult learning leaders make in addition to solid test scores.

Like the corporate world, pay-for-performance decisions should be made by supervisors and peers, possibly using a committee for the decision-making process.

“A True Game Changer” Unprecedented School Choice Tax Credit Part of GOP Bill (The 74)

The 74 reports that,

“A historic bill creating a first-of-its-kind, nationwide tax credit scholarship program to expand private school choice is part of a sweeping Republican tax bill [approved by the House this week].”

…

“The Educational Choice for Children Act would provide money to families in all 50 states making less than three times their area’s median income. The recipients, including families who homeschool, could spend it on a large range of education-related expenses., including private and parochial school tuition, books and other instructional material, online classes, private tutoring, fees for dual enrollment and educational therapies.”

The best part of this bill is it gives families in poverty to middle class families the opportunity to leave low-performing schools in order to provide better options for their kids. Now, what is needed are adult learning coaches trained in correct methodology to help these families and their kids build quality learning plans moving forward.

How Trump’s Policies Are Already Upending Special Education (EducationWeek)

This week EducationWeek reported that,

…

“Since March, the Education Department has rejected applications from Parents Reaching Out [a New Mexico-based nonprofit organization committed to parent training and special education information center] and its counterparts in other states; demanded every center fill out new applications with slightly adjusted questions; threatened to withhold funds for programs emphasizing diversity, inclusion, and equity; and hasn’t said when it will approve or reject proposals, weeks after the approvals typically have come through in previous years.”

What a mess. If you weren’t in favor of closing the U.S. Education Department before Trump took office, the current chaos evident in the department (and other departments for that matter) would make you wonder.

Classroom Violence Went Up in Texas After the Pandemic. Is More Discipline the Answer? (The Texas Tribune)

According to The Texas Tribune this week,

“…More than 3,300 Texas district employees were the target of a student assault in the 2023-24 school year, about a 15% increase from the year before. In one of the most severe incidents, an assistant principal in the Corsicana [TX] school district was permanently blinded after an assault.”

“The classroom tensions are pushing overworked and underpaid educators over the edge, who were already leaving the profession in droves.”

“Lawmakers are trying to fix the problem with a sweeping package that would give school districts more latitude to discipline disruptive students. They’re also considering other legislation they say would give teachers more tools to manage their classrooms: a ban on cellphones in schools, a ban on minors creating social media and a mandate to get more teachers on the path to certification, which legislators say would give them better classroom management skills.”

…

When I was a first-year teacher I learned a valuable lesson:

If you had a creative, engaging lesson, the need for classroom discipline went way down. If your lesson was boring, get ready to fill out discipline cards for the assistant principal.

I’m not saying all of this trouble is caused by boredom, but let’s at least take a look at how engaging classroom lessons are for our young learners.

The Trump Administration Is Reviving This School Choice Option You’ve Never Heard Of (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek reported this week that,

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“In a May 7 letter, Acting Assistant Education Secretary Hayley B. Sanon urged states to ease their criteria for labeling schools as ‘persistently dangerous’ – a designation that legally comes with an obligation to offer families an option to transfer to another public school.”

…

I worked in the Houston Independent School District when this law first passed. Here was the problem we dealt with:

There were no where near the number of good schools we needed so that we could offer families options if their child was caught inside a “persistently dangerous” campus.

And I’m guessing this problem still exists.

Prayer Period in Schools Backed by Texas Legislature (The Texas Tribune)

Yesterday The Texas Tribune reported that,

“Despite constitutional concerns from opponents, the Texas Legislature passed a bill Friday to allow a period for prayer or religious study – part of a larger national movement to infuse more Christianity into schools.”

Does anyone pay attention to the U.S. Constitution anymore? Specifically the First Amendment?

Judge Tells Trump Administration to Reverse Education Department Layoffs (EducationWeek)

Yesterday, according to EducationWeek,

“A federal judge…ordered the U.S. Department of Education to reinstate the hundreds of employees it has terminated in recent months as part of a Trump administration effort to downsize the federal agency. In his order, the judge also halted enforcement of the president’s March 20 executive order seeking to abolish the department altogether.”

Of course, today the Trump administration said they would appeal Judge Myong Joun’s decision.

The chaos this stop and start again environment this Trump administration has invited across Washington and the nation is mind boggling. One day you are fired as a government employee. The next day you are re-hired.

Is the next 3 ½ years going to be like this?

That’s the News Roundup for Friday, May 23^rd. Til Monday. SVB