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President Joe Biden hosted a conference on hunger, nutrition and health on Wednesday, at which he pushed to expand access to free school meals for 9m more children by 2032. “In every country in the world, in every state in this country, no matter what else divides us, if a parent cannot feed a child, there’s nothing else that matters to that parent,” Biden said during the event Wednesday. “If you look at your child and you can’t feed your child, what the hell else matters?” In July, a group of Congressional Democrats introduced the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act. In addition to reauthorizing the expired USDA waivers that allowed all students to eat meals for free regardless of income status, the bill would expand access to free school meals by lowering the threshold for what’s known as the Community Eligibility Provision for those programs. That allows schools or clusters of schools to offer free meals if 40% or more of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price meals. Under the bill, that threshold would be lowered to 25%. Through the USDA, the administration also plans to expand student access to meals in the summer, provide more resources to school meal programs serving Native American students, and advance a new initiative to support schools’ efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals. Nonprofit group FoodCorps is working with the administration on this, and is committing $250m to its Nourishing Food Initiative. Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school time programs at the Food Research & Action Center, said she is excited about the plan, calling it "a key strategy to ending hunger and supporting health, but then also to really support educational achievement and all the positives that are linked to participation in school breakfast and school lunch." “A healthy school meal is integral to the school day, and no child should go without due to inability to pay,” said Lori Adkins, president of the School Nutrition Association. “Research shows school meals support academic achievement and are the healthiest meals children eat.”

 

The Hill

Education Week

K12 Dive

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Department of Education has announced Stronger Connections grants totaling nearly $1bn, to help schools provide all students with safe and supportive learning opportunities and environments that are critical for their success. State education agencies (SEAS) must award these funds competitively to high-need local educational agencies (LEAs), as determined by the state, to fund activities allowable under section 4108 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As part of the announcement, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona sent chief state school officers a Dear Colleague Letter outlining three principles that SEAs are strongly encouraged to consider when designing a competitive grant competition and providing LEAs with direction for how they use these funds: to implement comprehensive, evidence-based strategies to to create positive, inclusive and supportive school environments; to engage with students, families, educators and staff on the deployment of these strategies; and to ensure that they are responsive to underserved students, protect student rights, and demonstrate respect for student dignity and potential.

 

US Department of Education

Accelerate Language, Accelerate Literacy

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Public institutions in California will have to opt for American-made food products starting Jan. 1, 2024 under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Senate Bill 490 states that public institutions, including schools, need to budget for and purchase American-made foods unless they are more than 25% of the cost of imported ones. Bill author, state Sen. Anna Caballero, previously said the state had allocated $611.8m to help school districts cover that extra cost. However, Troy Flint, spokesperson for the California School Boards Association, said the association fought for the $611.8m to cover the already increasing prices schools are facing to comply with the state’s Universal Meals Program, not Caballero’s bill. “Because California is now serving meals to all students, school districts are hiring more staff for the nutrition program and converting part-time staff to full-time and incurring significant additional costs in terms of salaries and benefits." Mr. Newsom recognized the bill will result in additional costs for schools and public institutions, and said that “Any requests for additional resources to implement SB 490 will need to be reviewed and included in the annual budget process.”

 

The Tribune

Los Angeles USD has changed its plan  to create four optional “acceleration days” to boost student learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of taking place on Wednesdays at what the district had described as strategic points of the school year, the days will fall at the beginning of winter break and spring break under a tentative agreement, United Teachers of Los Angeles announced. Under the original schedule, the first of these days was set to take place in three weeks, on Wednesday October 19th, but the potential value of that particular day had become increasingly uncertain. Under the announced agreement, the original four acceleration days will revert to regular school days and the school year will end four days earlier as a result. Under the new plan, the acceleration days will fall on Monday, December 19th; Tuesday, December 20th; Monday, April 3rd, and Tuesday, April 4th. The teachers union had characterized the acceleration days as a waste of time and money, but accepted the revised schedule as offering a better continuation of learning and “fidelity to the contractual work year. “

 

EdSource

Los Angeles Times

Six adults were injured Wednesday at a school surrounded by three others in Oakland, according to local officials. "Today's gun violence at Sojourner Truth school shocks the soul - our schools are sanctuaries for our children," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) wrote on Twitter. The victims are being treated at local hospitals, and children are being reunited with their families, according to the mayor. Officials did not specify whether any of the victims are students ages 18 or above. The incident occurred at a campus cluster of four schools: the Rudsdale Continuation and Newcomer high schools, BayTech Charter School and Sojourner Truth Independent Study, according to local media. It was also near the Oakland Academy of Knowledge, an elementary school.

 

EdSource

NBC Bay Area

The Tribune

A new report issued by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), entitled “The Effectiveness of Charter School Programs in Increasing the Number of Charter Schools,” claims that states, charter management organizations, and charter developers often make exaggerated claims regarding the number of charter schools they will open or expand to secure large grants. The OIG, an independent watchdog of the U.S. Department of Education, found that for grants issued between 2013 and 2016, just half (51%) of the schools promised by Charter School Programs (CSP) recipients opened or expanded. The audit also alleges poor record keeping and weak oversight. Since 2006, the department has paid private firm WestEd to compile, check and update CSP records, yet a significant number of grant records could not be found when requested by auditors. The OIG said more work needs to be done to clean up and reform the CSP.

 

Washington Post

Most adults (88%) in the United States believe that their state should mandate a financial education course for high school students to graduate, according to a new survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) and AmeriSpeak. Some 80% said they wish such a requirement existed when they were in school. “Some states already require students to take a financial education course, and some states are in the process of instituting this curriculum. Americans overwhelmingly agree that learning money skills at an early age is important,” says NEFE president Billy Hensley. Separately, Birmingham City Council in Alabama on Tuesday approved a $1m financial literacy program that will be offered to students at Birmingham City Schools. The city has partnered with IMC Financial Consulting, which will teach financial workshops.

 

The Hill

Al.com

Charles Russo, a research professor of law at the University of Dayton in Ohio, outlines several best practices for school leaders to consider when crafting policies to determine the use of technology in education. Speaking at the Association of School Business Officials International’s Annual Conference & Expo in Portland, Oregon, Russo, also director of the Ph.D. program in educational leadership at the University of Dayton, suggested that acceptable use policies should restrict school-issued computer use to only academic, instructional or administrative purposes, and students, parents and teachers should all sign agreements at the start of each school year. Policies that explain when students can use cellphones in school, he added, should be considered on a district-by-district basis. If a school community is likely to support such a policy for example, a committee of stakeholders, including school board members, teachers, lawyers, administrators, parents and students, should be created to craft guidelines.

 

K12 Dive

Two more baccalaureate programs have been approved at California community colleges. Bachelor’s degrees in respiratory care at El Camino College and automotive technology management at De Anza College recently received full approval. Additionally, seven other programs have received provisional approval but still must receive approval from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The expansion of baccalaureate programs at California’s community colleges stems from Assembly Bill 927, a law signed in 2021 expanding a 2014 pilot program creating bachelor’s degrees at 15 community colleges. The new law allows the community college system to add up to 30 baccalaureate programs each year. The seven programs that have received provisional approval include: research laboratory technology at Bakersfield College; respiratory care programs at Crafton Hills and Foothill Colleges; histotechnology at Mt. San Antonio College; ecosystem restoration at Feather River College; cyber defense and analysis at San Diego City College; and biomanufacturing at Moorpark College. In addition to needing approval from the accrediting commission, the latter three programs also must still be approved by the University of California and California State University, which sign off on the degree

 

EdSource