Montana education plan calls for improvement in test scores

The Office of Public Instruction will ask schools to raise test scores significantly, especially for Native American and special education students, in a new education road map that will be submitted to the federal government later this year. Read more>>

The Orleans Parish school district has started to use a system of warning letters similar to those sent by the state Department of Education to hold charter schools accountable for breaking education law and their charter contracts. Read more>>

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is defending his decision to ease rules about school lunches. Speaking to nearly 7,000 school nutritionists, he said critics shouldn't blame childhood obesity on school lunchrooms. Under Perdue’s directive, schools can ask for an exemption from the whole grain requirement and can serve milk with 1 percent fat. Read more>>

Parents at an Anaheim elementary school who have fought their district to convert their campus to a charter school won their battle when the California Supreme Court refused to hear the district’s appeal. Families can now move forward to convert their school into a public charter, independently run from the Anaheim Elementary School District. Read more>>

A group opposed to a major private school voucher expansion bill signed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey says it is on track to collect enough signatures to place the law on hold. If the effort succeeds, the voucher expansion will be put on hold until voters can weigh in during the November 2018 election. Read more>>

Portland’s school district, which had anticipated a decrease of $2.5 million in its state allocation, will instead receive an increase of nearly $3 million in state funding for the upcoming year. Eight districts will get an extra $1 million or more each under the state budget deal that dedicated an extra $162 million to education. Read more>>

In March, Netflix premiered 13 Reasons Why. The dramatic depictions and riveting subject matter quickly resulted in Netflix declaring the program its most-viewed show. Read more>>

A new law took effect on July 1 that corrects a glaring oversight by allowing employees of charter schools and the Florida Virtual School to qualify for a state-funded adoption incentive. The program, if anything, is underutilized, and so further expansion—to include county and municipal workers perhaps—ought to be strongly considered. Read more>>

Thanks to a compromise bill recently signed by Gov. Jay Inslee, communities finally will have the much-needed flexibility to build new schools outside urban growth areas when there is no other option. It is a relief lawmakers and the governor were able to work out their differences before the extended legislative session ended. Read more>>

School districts don't have the expertise to be creating gun policy, controls and oversight. At a minimum, they should be required to coordinate any policy and oversight requirements with the Pennsylvania State Police, local police and other organizations with expertise in firearms and practicing gun safety for institutional settings. Read more>>

Illinois districts that have implemented the Performance Matters Calibration tool include Bloomington Public Schools District 87, Crete-Monee School District 201-U, Galesburg CUSD 205, Moline School District 40, Round Lake Area School District 116, Summit Hill School District 161 and West Aurora School District 129. Read more>>

The Metro Nashville Public Schools has selected Discovery Education to provide all of its middle school teachers and students access to the Discovery Education Science Techbook's digital content and Discovery Education Streaming Plus's job-embedded professional development beginning this fall. Read more>>

OnTrajectory has released a financial planning platform allowing educators and students to collaboratively model complex financial strategies and techniques, including compound savings, taxes and expense management. Read more>>

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Planning efforts to upgrade or replace the Indiana school district's three major high schools continue. With many of the buildings' problems relating to infrastructure, the schools aren’t equipped to meet today’s technology demands or security needs. With so much on horizon, can the district generate support for major projects? Read more>>

The Nebo School District Board of Education voted on a resolution expressing an intent for a bond election in 2018. Projects that will be included on the bond have yet to be decided, but $90 million of the $150 million bond likely will be used to build and convert middle schools. Read more>>