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The union representing 30,000 education workers reached a tentative deal with the Los Angeles Unified School District Friday, following a three-day strike that had closed hundreds of campuses and canceled classes for 422,000 students last week. The agreement, which still needs to be formally ratified by members, includes multi-year wage increases that add up to about 20% over time; a $1,000 bonus for current employees who worked in 2020; and a $2 per hour raise for all employees effective Jan. 1, 2024. Health care will also be provided to all employees who work at least four hours per day. Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal on Friday at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent. Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent. “I have no doubt that this contract will be seen as a precedent-setting, historic contract that elevates the dignity, the humanity of our work force, respects the needs of our students, but also guarantees the fiscal viability of our district for years to come,” Carvalho said. “Those were indispensable priorities for all of us.”

 

Los Angeles Times

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

New York City’s Panel for Educational Policy approved Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed $30.7bn budget for the education department on Wednesday night. The proposed budget for the nation’s largest school system, first shared in January, is close to $340m, or roughly 1%, less than its operating spending plan this fiscal year. The mayor called for eliminating 390 non-educator vacant positions and diverting $568m in federal funding  originally planned for expanding preschool for three-year-olds. But Adams tried to soften some of the blows by canceling previously planned cuts to school budgets totaling $80m. The vote by the city’s 23-member board, which is largely comprised of mayoral appointees, is not the final step for the agency’s budget. Next, the mayor will release an updated version of his budget proposal, and he will then negotiate with City Council over a final plan for the new fiscal year, which starts July 1.

 

Chalkbeat

Marketing and PR experts outline ways in which public schools can work more effectively to stem enrollment declines. Mellissa Braham, associate director for the National School Public Relations Association, suggests school districts think in terms of “value proposition,” meaning the specific and unique value they bring to students and families, through focus groups and surveys for example. In the absence of employees with marketing knowledge, schools can hire consultants to conduct research and identify strategies, she adds. In the absence of employees with marketing knowledge, schools could also hire consultants to conduct research and identify strategies, while websites should always have easy-to-use mobile versions, since smartphones drive 50% of web traffic, as well as effective search engine optimization that can eliminate the need to invest in pay-per-click ads. Morgan Delack of Finalsite, a company that provides website design and content management for schools, stresses that families who speak languages other than English particularly rely on mobile devices. Derrick Chau, senior executive director for strategy and innovation at Los Angeles USD, champions the collection and analysis of data regarding student retention and matriculation to spot trends and patterns.

 

K12 Dive

The House approved a bill Friday geared toward parental oversight of schools, an issue that has become a mainstay of the Republican policy platform. The legislation, dubbed the Parents Bill of Rights Act, would require schools to make available class curriculums, a list of books in the library and school budgets to parents, while mandating that schools notify parents of violent activity on school grounds. It would also require teachers to inform parents if they begin using different pronouns for a student or allow a child to change their “sex-based accommodations,” like bathrooms. The House approved the measure, which is unlikely to be considered in the Democrat-controlled Senate, 213-208 in a nearly party-line vote.

 

US News and World Report

One in 36 children were identified as autistic between 2018 and 2020, the most recent period data is available. In 2000, just one in 150 children was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The prevalence among four-year olds jumped 26% between 2018 and 2020, increasing even more in girls than boys, though boys are still about four-times more likely to receive a diagnosis than girls. For the first time, white children were less likely to carry the diagnosis than children of color. Andy Shih of the Autism Speaks advocacy group. "This increase is really fueled by us doing a much better job in identifying minority children with autism," he adds. The breakdown of autism diagnoses rates among eight-year-olds reveals that 3.3% of children of Asian or Pacific Island descent were identified, 3.2% of Hispanic descent, 2.9% of Black children and 2.4% of white, non-Hispanic children. The racial disparity also extends to the diagnosis of intellectual disability along with autism. Almost half of Black children with autism were also diagnosed with intellectual disability, compared with about 30% of children with autism who are white. This suggests Black children with autism but not intellectual disability are still being missed. Relatedly, a separate paper published Thursday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that the pandemic disrupted autism diagnoses for four-year-olds. Three years ago, during the early months of COVID, four-year-olds were less likely to be evaluated for or diagnosed with autism than eight-year-olds had been at the same age. It's not clear at present how quickly evaluations rebounded as the pandemic unfolded however.

 

USA Today

Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries set a record in 2022. A new report from the American Library Association (ALA) indicates that 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association last year, almost double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago. Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries - and acknowledges that the numbers might actually be far higher. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”

 

Time