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Congress on Friday passed a bill to extend a pandemic-era program through the summer that provided free meals to students regardless of income. The $3bn Keep Kids Fed Act, passed 376-42 by the House on Thursday, was amended and approved by the Senate, and passed in the House by a voice vote the following day. The measure also provides schools with a higher reimbursement rate per meal for the next school year and offers more flexible guidelines for school nutrition programs coping with supply chain problems and short staffing. However, it also reinstates a requirement, suspended during the pandemic, that low-income students above the poverty line pay a reduced price for their meals, rather than getting them free. The provision was added to the bill at the request of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). In addition to extending waivers for the 2022 summer meal program, the bill increases federal reimbursements for every school lunch by 40 cents and every school breakfast by 15 cents, above the annual inflationary adjustment. It extends waivers for schools unable to meet nutrition standards due to supply chain disruptions and to reduce administrative and reporting burdens.

 

CNN

Politico PRO

Washington Post

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has said that the federal government has a responsibility to Native American tribes, Alaska Native villages and Native Hawaiian communities to fully support and revitalize education, language and cultural practices that prior boarding school policies sought to destroy. Haaland testified before a U.S. Senate committee that is considering legislation to establish a national commission on truth and healing to address intergenerational trauma stemming from the legacy of Native American boarding schools in the United States. As the first and only Native American Cabinet secretary, Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, noted she herself was a product of those policies as her grandparents were removed from their families and sent to boarding schools.

 

U.S. News

Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa will resign from the district earlier than initially planned. The district’s trustees originally approved a voluntary resignation agreement that laid out conditions for Mr. Hinojosa to remain employed with the district through December 31st. Once the new schools chief began, the agreement stipulated, Hinojosa would switch over to a “superintendent emeritus” role, in which he would help with the leadership transition and serve as an adviser to the new district leader and to the board. Now, under a revised agreement approved Thursday, Mr. Hinojosa’s final day will be July 5th. He will be succeeded by Stephanie Elizalde, who worked closely under him in Dallas before she took the top schools job in Austin ISD two years ago. In other Dallas ISD news, staff will earn a $15 minimum wage under the budget approved by trustees on Thursday. 

 

Dallas Morning News

Dallas Morning News

WFAA

Work is underway to preserve the façade of the old Webster High School, which predates Clear Creek ISD's existence, and part of the old building is slated to house district offices for counseling and student services. The school at 400 S. Walnut opened in 1939 and when the district was formed in 1948, the building served as its high school until 1956, when Clear Creek High School opened. Since then, the building has served a couple of purposes. After Clear Creek High opened, the building became Webster Intermediate School and then it served as Clear View High School, which is an alternate campus for students considered at risk to graduate. With the construction of a new Clear View High building nearby, the original plan was to demolish the old art deco-styled school building, but that drew some pushback. Consequently, a 7,500 sq ft portion of the old school has been preserved, and will be used to bring counseling and student services, currently split between locations, under one roof. 

 

Houston Chronicle

David R. Canales has been appointed as United ISD's new Associate Superintendent of Human Resources, and will take over the role from David Garcia on July 1st. In 2000, he became the Dean of the Engineering and Technology Magnet at USHS, serving in that role for seven years before accepting the position of Principal at United Middle School. Two years later, he returned to USHS to serve as Principal. In 2013, he moved up to become Executive Director of High School Education for one year before moving over to Executive Director of Middle Schools. He remained in that position until last year when he became Executive Director of Human Resources. 

 

Laredo Morning Times

Global supply chain issues mean that Arlington ISD's new Webb Elementary School, scheduled to open by August, will not now open until later this year.  Delays in various construction materials — including wood doors, aluminum for window frames, roofing materials, audio and visual equipment and kitchen equipment — have slowed progress, the district said. Webb’s new building is part of a $966m bond package approved by Arlington voters in 2019. In addition to Webb, Thornton and Berry elementary schools and Carter Junior High will also get new buildings. The current Webb opened in 1960 as the original Nichols Junior High School. According to the district, it will cost less to replace the buildings than it would have to renovate them to meet today’s needs. Webb will cost an estimated $25m to build.

 

Dallas Morning News

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, removing the constitutional right to abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years and setting off a chain of effects that could have wide-reaching consequences for schools, educators, and the children they serve. The 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will effectively ban abortions in 13 states that have passed so-called “trigger laws,” which were written to enact abortion restrictions upon the overruling of Roe. Several other states are expected to reintroduce bills that would do the same, while others move to firm up their own laws protecting abortion. On Friday, many education groups condemned the court’s decision, suggesting the opinion may be a precursor to future decisions related to LGBTQ marriage, gender equality, and birth control. The order is “another example of how, over the last few years, we have seen the same faction of politicians working overtime to reverse decades of progress on racial justice, on women’s rights, on worker’s rights, on LGBTQ+ rights, on voting rights, on our right to privacy, and on our students’ freedom to learn in our public schools,” National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a statement. “These attacks on our freedoms are designed to do one thing—consolidate unfettered power into the hands of a few,” Pringle said. “We must stand up for all of our rights.” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten linked the Dobbs ruling to other recent Supreme Court decisions last week, including those on states’ firearm laws and public funding for students to attend religious schools. “In the span of 24 hours, this court ruled that states can’t regulate gun owners but can regulate the bodies of anyone who can reproduce,” she said. Other groups celebrated the decision. Students for Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group, said in a statement that the ruling represented a “historic moment that will determine the fate of millions of precious children,” noting plans to push for legislation that would restrict abortion at the state level. Pro-abortion rights student activists also pledged to lobby state lawmakers. In a statement, the anti-gun-violence organization March for Our Lives called the ruling a “racist,” “classist,” attack. “We have organized before and won, and we will organize again to protect our right to be free of gun violence and choose what we do with our bodies,” it said.

 

Education Week

Mirroring wider trends, Catholic schools are serving fewer students than they were before the pandemic. Catholic schools have lost 2.8% of enrollment overall since the pandemic began, the same share as public schools, suggesting those leaving public schools are going elsewhere. Catholic school enrollment dropped especially sharply in a number of large states — New York, California, Illinois — that also lost significant numbers from their public schools.

 

Chalkbeat

The federal Head Start program has contributed to multi-generational positive outcomes, according to a study from the University of Notre Dame and Texas A&M University published this month in the Journal of Political Economy, including increases in education attainment and wages and decreases in teen pregnancy and criminal involvement. A 122-page study of the 57-year-old Head Start program, created to improve the school readiness of preschool children from low-income families, shows higher education attainment for children of Head Start participants resulted in an estimated 6% to 11% increase in wages for those second-generation children through age 50. Although this and previous research has highlighted the benefits of Head Start and other quality preschool programs, early childhood programs do however often lack racial and socioeconomic diversity in workforce, curriculum and students, agreed panelists in a webinar hosted by The Hunt Institute last week.

 

K12 Dive