Illinois bill could end new school scholarship plan

A little more than a month after its passage, a private school scholarship program created in the sweeping education funding reform overhaul signed into law in August and touted as a win by Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republicans is the target of a new bill that seeks to remove it. Read more>>

The Kansas Supreme Court found the state’s school finance system unconstitutional this week. Lawmakers are scrambling to figure out how much additional funding may be needed – and how much more the state could even afford. Read more>>

After nearly five months, negotiations between School District 2 and the local teachers union bounded forward as the two sides struck a tentative deal that included a raise and the elimination of a health insurance provision. Read more>>

The Indiana Department of Education has released the 2016-17 school accountability grades. Statewide, nearly 25 percent of schools improved one or more letter grades, with close to 6 percent improving their letter grade to an A. Overall, 62 percent of schools received an A or B. Read more>>

The Salem-Keizer School District is suing a student and his parents for more than $19,000 in property damages. Parents are liable for the student's actions in the state. However, the statute only allows the district to sue the parents up to $7,500, possibly leaving the student responsible for the remainder. Read more>>

Dozens of paid parent advocates in schools across the New York district are out of a job. The school district is discontinuing its “parent facilitator” program after an Internal Revenue Service audit concluded the facilitators could no longer be considered as paid "consultants" but as employees. Read more>>

Graduates of Chicago Public Schools are returning to class—as tech experts who help teachers and staff with computer glitches. Read more>>

The school “accountability movement” led to classrooms dominated by test prep and a narrowing of the curriculum to a primary focus on subjects being tested: reading and math. It eventually sparked a grass-roots resistance in which parents opted their children out of tests. Even some supporters came to realize that the movement had gone too far. Read more>>

Children’s health has not been a partisan issue in recent decades. For that reason, it is puzzling and disturbing that funding was allowed to expire for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost health insurance to 9 million children. Read more>>

Advocates of high school sports share a common concern for the safety of student athletes. Many states are re-examining ways to limit risk, as reports show an increase in concussions and catastrophic events in high schools. California, however, is the only state that does not regulate athletic trainers. Read more>>

A new e-learning platform includes video lessons simulating in-person tutoring for ACT, SAT, math and college preparation courses with over 5,000 practice questions, a personalized "mistake bank" and handouts that accompany each video lesson. Read more>>

Aperture Education has launched a new “parent portal” that provides information, resources and free activities on social-emotional learning to help parents practice and teach these skills at home. The activities are geared toward K8 students. Read more>>

GoZen! has unveiled an animated, online educational program that teaches kids how to manage and understand obsessive compulsive disorder. The program offers coping techniques and life skill how-tos created based upon psychology and neuroscience studies. Read more>>

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Thomas Palmer was approved by the Peru Central School District's school board. He has been the superintendent of schools for Tri-Valley CSD in Sullivan County since 2008. Read more>>

Then Central Texas educator was chosen to to lead the 7,000-student Hutto district. Celina Estrada Thomas has served since 2015 as an assistant superintendent in the Fredericksburg school district. She will replace Doug Killian, who left Hutto to become superintendent of the Pflugerville school district. Read more>>