State Sen. Scott Wagner, of York County, was the first Republican to announce a gubernatorial bid challenging incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf.(PennLive file photos) By John L. Micek So here’s one you probably didn’t see coming: Republican governor candidate Scott Wagner, who once said Pennsylvania could lay off 10 percent of its public school teachers and they wouldn’t…
Category: Special Education
Parents and taxpayers, you have 6 days to tell state officials what you want out of Washington’s public schools
A screenshot from the Washington State Board of Education’s public feedback survey. The survey, which closes early Monday morning, asks the public to rank the importance of several education issues ranging from language access to universal pre-Kindergarten. It also asks for ways that the state is impeding student success. Dahlia Bazzaz July 24, 2018 What…
Questions surround ruling on New Mexico education funding
Shelby Perea and Dan Boyd Tuesday, July 24th, 2018 A judge’s ruling that New Mexico has not been meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a sufficient education for all students — especially those characterized as at-risk — continued to reverberate Monday, with plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit hailing it as a harbinger of a fairer…
Does Florida Provide ‘High Quality’ Public Education? State Supremes Ready to Wade in
JIM SAUNDERS July 24, 2018 – When Florida voters went to the polls in 1998, more than 70 percent approved a constitutional amendment that required the state to provide an “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality” system of public schools. But two decades later, the Florida Supreme Court is preparing to wade into a…
Missouri’s education policy is failing our children, our future
By State Rep. Doug Beck July 20, 2018 Like me, you want to assume that every child in Missouri gets a strong, equal education no matter what ZIP code he or she lives in. Instead, continued state funding cuts and tricks to the books are leaving students in rural and poorer communities behind. In addition…
Salary disparities are hurting special education students too
Qualified special education teachers are leaving nonprofits at an alarming rate Special education teachers working in certain New York City nonprofits are paid much less than teachers with the DOE. By TOM MCALVANAH JULY 20, 2018 On June 28, New York Nonprofit Media’s piece on a New York City Council Education Committee hearing titled New York City…
State to keep close watch on five ‘turnaround’ schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas
Kristy Moody, principal of Fairmount Park Elementary in St. Petersburg, walks with a kindergarten class in 2016, her first year at the school. Now entering her third year, state officials questioned whether she should continue at the school, given its latest D grade. But Pinellas County school superintendent Mike Grego called Moody “the right person”…
Durham Public Schools to combat suspensions with restorative practices
BY GREG CHILDRESS July 06, 2018 06:38 PM DURHAM About four years ago, Grace Marsh’s presentation to Durham principals touting the benefits of restorative practices in schools landed with a thud. “At the time, the principals didn’t seem too excited,” said Marsh, executive director of the Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center, a community…
School District Pays $1.3 Million To Settle Landmark Special Ed Case
by Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado June 25, 2018 The Douglas County School District outside Denver has paid $1.32 million to settle a long-running special education case brought by a couple who sought reimbursement from the district for their son’s education at a private school for students with autism. The payment, made to the law firm…
Trump Administration Delays Special Ed Rule
by Michelle Diament | July 10, 2018 The Trump administration is officially postponing implementation of an Obama-era rule designed to prevent kids from certain backgrounds from being wrongly placed in special education. In a final rule published July 3 in the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Education halted the so-called “significant disproportionality” rule, which was supposed to…
Standing Strong for Public Education! 