You are receiving this email newsletter because you are a subscriber of Education Slice (formerly Principal News) or you signed up for our email newsletter on our site.

More than 100,000 students have already enrolled in Florida's New Worlds Reading Initiative. Nearly 336,000 free books have been shipped to elementary school students, kicking off a program that aims to deliver a new book every month to youngsters who need to boost reading skills. The program mails nine free books a year to public school students in kindergarten to fifth grade with a “substantial reading deficiency.” Children in the initiative get to pick topics that interest them and then books that match those interests and their grade levels are mailed to their homes. Their parents get worksheets with suggested activities to encourage reading. A three-year study done in Florida from 2001 to 2004 found that low-income students allowed to pick a dozen free books at the start of the summer lost fewer reading skills over the break and did better on state tests than similar classmates who did not take part in the program. The state last year earmarked nearly $200m for the program.

 

Orlando Sentinel

Researchers at University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions initiative have warned that students who experience homelessness or come from households that struggle economically are far more likely to face discipline at school. Statewide, 17% of students who have experienced homelessness were suspended or expelled in 2017-18 compared with 8% of all students in Michigan’s district-run public schools. Benton Harbor Area Schools (41%), Atlanta Community Schools (41%) and Flint Community School District (41%) were shown to have the state’s highest discipline rates for students who have been homeless. The percentages are similar in other states. Separate studies have shown that students experiencing homelessness in Texas, Indiana, and Washington, for example, are at least twice as likely to be suspended as their peers, and researchers want administrators to consider the reasons behind student misbehavior before issuing punishment. Senior researcher Jennifer Erb-Downward comments: “If you have a student that doesn’t have a fixed living space, school may be the only stable place they have. To expel them from that place can be devastating. It’s pushing them out of a system we want them to be able to engage with.”

 

Chalkbeat

Mining Gazette

When Escambia County families found themselves facing new financial burdens due by the pandemic, the school district responded by placing "navigators" in its public schools. The navigators have acted like social workers, providing or connecting students and parents to resources such as food, clothing, government assistance and health care. Between August and the end of February, navigators received 16,572 referrals for students or families in need of aid. The program launched two years ago in six schools, but proved so successful that a $2m Family and Educational Rights Act grant has allowed the navigator program to expand to 32 navigators in 34 schools. Lisa Joyner, director of student services for the school district, said the large number of referrals is testament to exactly why the school district chose to put the navigators in the schools. "There is definitely a need," Joyner said.

 

Pensacola News Journal

More than half of all K-12 teachers in the United States earn income from sources other than their base teaching salary, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. teachers with supplemental income made an average of $4,400 beyond their base teaching salary in 2017-18, the most recent time period when this data was collected by NCES. Inadequate pay is a long-standing issue for teachers, says Nick Kauzlarich of the Economic Policy Institute, whose research reveals that public K–12 teachers are paid nearly 20% less than college-educated, non-teaching peers.

 

Education Week

Pinellas County teachers are one step closer to getting raises, including pay retroactive to the start of the school year. With about 57% of 7,250 teachers voting, they approved a contract agreement that would provide average raises of 3.25%, along with covering increased costs of health insurance and pension contributions. Notably, support for the contract was lower than usual for a ratification, with 78% voting in favor of the deal. In 2020, for instance, approval surpassed 90%. Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association president Nancy Velardi attributed the result to dissatisfaction with the outcome, which did not provide educators — especially more veteran ones — with the financial support they had sought.

 

Tampa Bay Times

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has granted a 90-day extension to temporarily waive the "under-the-hood" skills test that is part of a new commercial driver’s license (CDL) application. The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) pushed for the original waiver that was issued January 3 and was set to expire on Thursday, as well as the extension to further support the recruitment of new school bus drivers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional three months, according to the FMCSA, “temporarily removes a potential barrier of entry for the pupil transportation industry in its recruitment of school bus driver candidates, as the waiver aligns the process of obtaining a CDL more closely with the responsibilities of a school bus driver." Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin, had implemented the waiver prior to FMCSA issuing the extension. All other CDL skills testing requirements remain in place.

 

School Transportation News

Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a new law in Florida which restricts the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's youngest pupils. The suit argues that the Parental Rights in Education law, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is "unconstitutionally vague and violates principles of free speech and equal protection." Walt Disney, a large employer in Florida, announced this week that it would support efforts to get the law repealed or struck down. Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, comments: “This calculated, politically motivated, virtue-signaling lawsuit is meritless, and we will defend the legality of parents to protect their young children from sexual content in Florida public schools.”

 

The Miami Herald

Wall Street Journal

Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a bill Thursday that would allow the nation’s schools to serve free meals to all students for another year. Sen. Murkowski (R-Alaska) and fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine are breaking with their party’s leadership in supporting the new bill, dubbed the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act, a reflection of mounting concerns in both red and blue states. The legislation would also require schools to craft plans to transition back to normal meal operations. Underlining the nationwide spike in food prices, supply chain breakdowns and labor shortages impacting schools, Sen. Stablenow said: "We gave them extra financial support to be able to juggle these increased costs. And those costs have not gone away. We are looking at up to 30m children who will see their meals disrupted.” Sen. Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, hopes to include the provision in the additional Covid-19 funding package the Biden administration is requesting from Congress.

 

CNN

Politico