Become a more informed educator in minutes....

President Joe Biden emphasized schools' role in supporting student mental health during his State of the Union address in Washington on February 7. Rising rates of anxiety and depression among children and teens should be a top concern for the nation, he asserted. The president used his speech to call for more funding to support preschool for three- and four-year-olds and provide two years of community college for free for all students, to call on Congress to restore an expansion of the Child Tax Credit that was in effect for a year under the American Rescue Plan and provided support to families struggling to afford childcare during the pandemic with monthly payments of $300 per child younger than six and $250 for each older child, and to champion the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. That law is the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in 30 years and provided $1bn for schools to support student mental health and well-being. The president also called for bipartisan support from Congress to ban online advertising targeted at young people and children and enact strong protections for youth and children's privacy, health, and safety online. In advance of Biden's speech, the White House announced a number of steps to help support children's mental health. The White House directed the U.S. Department of Education to establish a $280m grant program to increase the number of mental health care professionals in high-need districts and strengthen the school-based mental health professional pipeline. The Education Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will issue guidance and propose a rule to “remove red tape” so schools can more easily provide health care to students and bill Medicaid. The health and human services department will also launch a Children and Youth Resilience Prize Challenge, awarding $750,000 to a pilot program that promotes resilience among young people.

 

Education Week News

A Pennsylvania judge Tuesday declared the state's system for funding public education unconstitutional because it doesn't ensure schools are financed equitably, a sweeping win for a group of school districts that have pursued a yearslong legal battle against the state government. The decision, which found “manifest deficiencies” between low-wealth school districts in Pennsylvania and more affluent ones, doesn't lay out how the state can create a more equitable school finance system. Instead, it directs the state legislature to work with Gov. Josh Shapiro and the school districts that sued to come up with a remedy. Notably, the commonwealth provides only about a third of public school funding, potentially underfunding schools by as much as $4.6bn, by one assessment. The majority of a district’s funding comes from local property taxes, which can vary widely based on the wealth of a community.

 

Delaware County Daily Times

Forbes

Penn Capital Star

The United States Attorney’s Office has launched a series of presentations in Vermont high schools aimed at educating students on identifying, reporting, and preventing hate crimes and other civil rights violations. This effort is part of the Department of Justice’s United Against Hate Program, developed by its Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative.

 

Homeland Security Today

A familiar shortage of teachers is shadowing efforts to expand Michigan’s free preschool program. While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer got plenty of applause last week when she announced plans for another expansion of the Great Start Readiness Program, this time opening it to every four-year-old in the state regardless of family income, early educators will be watching closely to see how she plans to draw more teachers into the workforce when she gives a budget presentation next week. Michigan’s preschool pay gap is among the widest of any state-funded program in the nation and it fuels a high rate of teacher vacancies. In 2020-21, centers had 89 unfilled positions for lead teachers, or 4% of the workforce, a vacancy rate that doesn’t include classrooms that never opened because of hiring challenges. Also, because GSRP is funded by the state, closing the pay gap for preschool teachers would require an increase in per pupil funding for the program. Funding for GSRP increased rapidly in recent years to $9,150 per pupil, but that’s still well below the true cost of the program, which state officials peg at $12,700.

 

Chalkbeat

Faced with millions in budget shortfalls and declining enrollment across the district, Seattle Public Schools is tiptoeing around the idea that it may have to close some of its schools. Staff layoffs could be on the table and, at a recent workshop, senior staff discussed the need to “consolidate into a system of well-resourced schools.” Student enrollment has continued to drop since the 2019-20 school year — a nationwide trend driven by declining birth rates and a loss of confidence in public schools during the pandemic. Seattle is projecting a budget shortfall of about $131m in the 2023-24 school year and about $92m the following year. Consolidating some schools in the 2024-25 school year could result in roughly $28m in savings for SPS. SPS’ highest enrollment count in recent years came in 2019-20, when the district taught 53,627 students. This year, it has an enrollment of 50,056. Five years from now, SPS staff projects the district could have as many as 48,515 students, or as few as 45,017. If the worst-case scenario were to happen, that would represent a 16% drop in enrollment from 2019-20.

 

The Columbian

Michelle Wu has announced that Boston will soon be replacing some of its diesel school buses with 20 electric ones. The Boston Mayor announced last April that the city will spend around $7m from COVID relief funds and the city's budget to back plans to convert all BPS buses to electric by 2030 and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper said Monday: “When these buses hit the road, they will operate with zero emissions and significantly lower noise levels than their diesel-fuel counterparts.” Half of the city's school buses currently run on diesel fuel, which has shown to be hazardous for those exposed to it, so the 20-bus new green pilot program aims to make school transportation better for the climate and its riders.

 

Boston Globe

The United States has signed an agreement with the United Kingdom to help children around the world secure a minimum of twelve years of quality education. The initiative will create a coalition of donors and partner countries to champion core education such as basic literacy and numeracy, help education systems deal with emergencies, and provide alternative education spaces where children can continue their education, safe from violence. The new Memorandum of Understanding will particularly support girls, who are disproportionately affected by marginalization, conflict and crisis, and extreme weather events. Current estimates show that 70% of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text by age ten, while it's estimated that three-quarters of primary age children who may never set foot in school are girls.

 

Gov.uk