Kansas House backs increase in K12 education funding

Members of the Kansas House settled on a funding package adding $180 million in state aid in the first year and another $100 million in the subsequent year. The House rejected a proposal that would have obligated state government to appropriation increases of $200 million in each of the next three years. Read more>>

Chicago has become the center of a shake-up in the still-evolving charter school movement. The freedom that came with setting up charter schools is increasingly under fire, spawning union drives, potential strikes and pushback over pay and working conditions. A pro-labor town, Chicago has become the epicenter of charter union organizing in the country. Read more>>

An effort to overhaul the state’s beleaguered school finance system has been declared dead after the Texas Senate Education Committee’s chairman said that he would not appoint conferees to negotiate with the House. Read more>>

How do effective CIOs model the leadership skills necessitated by rapidly advancing technologies? DA would like to interview CIOs about modeling day-to-day work habits, use of technology and collaborative tactics that they hope to see adopted by IT staff and district educators. Please follow the link to connect with us. Read more>>

Washington state's top education leader outlined a new long-term plan to redesign K12 education in the state. The three-phase plan, spanning between 2017 and 2023, will focus on defining what basic education is, deciding how it will fund educators, research and policy transition, and early childhood dual language instruction. Read more>>

The San Francisco school board expanded its support for students who are in the country without legal permission, emphasizing that the district will resist federal immigration enforcement efforts to the extent legally possible. The new policy was authored primarily by students from several high schools who lack legal permission to be in the U.S. Read more>>

Connecticut school lunches are taking a road trip this summer. The New Britain school system and its food contractor will be bringing free breakfasts and lunches to neighborhoods around the city throughout the summer. A retired lunch truck will operate similar to a commercial food truck, except it will serve only school-age customers and won't collect money. Read more>>

Shawna De La Rosa

A large gap between the number of computer science graduates and available jobs has led an increasing number of districts to boost instruction in computational thinking. Read more>>

Teachers are hit, kicked, spat on and sworn at, and threatened by parents. This is the reality of being a teacher in today's society. Until we address issues like poverty, affordable housing, parenting, pollution, and nutrition and have effective mental health work happening in our schools, these problems will persist, if not get worse. Read more>>

Languid summer days are near at hand. For students finishing the traditional academic year, free time beckons. But something else accrues alongside rest and refreshment: a skills drop-off that erodes learning gains. How can students forestall the summer slide? Read. Repeat. Read more>>

We must reform the school pension system to save our schools from a massive financial hole and provide our new teachers with a better, more competitive and modern plan. Twenty years ago, the state made a mistake and left our local teachers behind. Twenty years from now, what will people say about the decisions we make today? Read more>>

Schoology announced major enhancements to its integration with Microsoft Office 365. The updates will allow students and educators to more easily use Office 365 while working inside of Schoology to manage grades, assignments and student submissions. Read more>>

Developed with Scholastic, the Timex Time Machines Mobile App empowers kids to have fun through learning by seamlessly blending digital free-play with a variety of interactive lessons tailored for kids ages 5 through 9. Read more>>

The Dilly’s Tree House Family Engagement Program is a preschool learning series that includes adventure stories and character posters to build language and literacy skills, while fostering critical thinking and social-emotional development. The activities encourage hands-on and outdoor learning experiences in science, math, art and music. Read more>>

A Pennsylvania court order that stopped school districts outside Pittsburgh from conducting background checks of all applicants and employees on school roofing projects while the legality of the checks could be decided has been overturned by a Pennsylvania appellate court. Read more>>

Voters will have the final say this fall, whether to build two new schools and re-build two others, under a proposed $408 million capital construction bond approved by the Hillsboro School Board. The bond also calls for seismic upgrades and construction of several new gymnasiums. Read more>>

Homebuyers have returned to the housing market in full force, but the lack of new construction over the last decade has contributed to an inventory shortage that’s pushed home prices out of reach for many. Now, the same young homebuyers who must cope with bidding wars to buy a first home may face a shortage in another key resource: schools for their kids. Read more>>