This is going to be a confusing year because Congress still hasn’t finalized last year’s spending plan, for fiscal year 2018, which started on Oct. 1 and generally impacts the 2018-19 school year. Congress recently passed legislation extending funding for all programs at fiscal year 2017 levels.
Trump’s newest proposal, though, will lay out his administration’s asks for fiscal year 2019, or the 2019-20 school year for most programs.
Here we go again: President Donald Trump and Congress were unable to reach agreement on temporary spending plan to keep the government open. So the U.S. Department of Education and other government agencies are on a partial shutdown, as of midnight Friday night. This is the first time this has happened in four years.
Lawmakers will keep trying to hammer out a deal. But in the meantime, the department’s headquarters at 400 Maryland Ave. will be a much quieter place than usual, but most school districts aren’t going to be immediately affected if this turns out to be a short-term shutdown. A longer-term shutdown, however, could cause more headaches. Head Start, the federal preschool program, and Impact Aid to districts with a federal presence in their backyard will likely feel the pinch first. (See below for more).
Below are the answers to some frequently asked questions about what happens now:
How many people will still report to work at the Education Department? A lot fewer than usual. More than 90 percent of the department’s nearly 4,000 employees will be furloughed for the first week of the shutdown. Of course, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her top aides still come in. If the shutdown goes on for more than a week, more employees could return on a temporary basis, but it would not be more than 6 percent of the department’s staff.
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Associate Editor Christina Samuels contributed to this post.
A group of lawmakers has told President Donald Trump that new funding for improving school facilities is “essential for advancing student achievement” and should be a part of any broader infrastructure spending plan.
In a Wednesday letter to Trump, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., along with 23 other senators, all Democrats, highlighted a 2014 federal study that said it would take $197 billion to pay for repairs, modernizations, and renovations needed by U.S. schools, or about $4.5 million per school (53 percent of schools reported in the study’s survey that such actions were necessary). They also cite a separate 2016 report which reported that the nation underfunds school construction by $38 billion every year.
Democratic lawmakers want to know how Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will work to stop bullying, harassment, and discrimination in public schools.
In a Wednesday letter, nine senators, including Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, asked the secretary what resources the U.S. Department of Education was providing schools in order to counter “the recent increase in hateful and discriminatory speech and conduct.” They also asked for the number of ongoing investigations by the department into student-on-student harrassment based on things like race, religion, and sexual orientation, as well as whether the federal task force on bullying prevention initiated by President Barack Obama in 2010 would continue on DeVos’ watch.
The senators also took a potshot at DeVos’ boss, President Donald Trump, arguing that his remarks on Twitter have “normalized” homophobia, misogyny, and other forms of discrimination, and that his words have negatively impacted students. And they cite recent incidents in schools, from swastikas drawn in schools to Latino students blocked from entering class by a human chain of other students, to buttress their concerns.
Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.
Keeping the Dream Alive
As we celebrate MLK Day this year we are also on the verge of the 50th Anniversary of his assassination, and while the dreamer died, this drum major for justice mission lives on as today we see progress in so many areas of Black life in America.
Things we would have never dreamed possible have come to pass where African-Americans occupy positions thought unobtainable 50 years ago. A culmination of this moment happened in 2008, when a nation with a history of racial exclusion elected the nation’s first African-American President Barack Obama. At this time there was talk in the U.S. as the world celebrated that King’s Dream of a Colorblind America had become a reality. There was even talk that the nation was moving in a direction of being post-racial.
King’s Dream in Trump’s America
Fast forward eight years and while there continues to be significant progress on the racial front; there’s been a backlash among a segment of the White population who feels that inclusion, equality and justice for those who were once considered vulnerable is a problem. So as some felt anxiety about social change in response as 2016 Donald Trump won the Electoral College and became the President of the United States.
Donald Trump, whose political ascendance began with him fanning the flames of racial resentment by attaching himself to the racist myth that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. as part of the birther movement, that attempted to delegitimize the country’s first African-American President. And in his first year as president he and his coterie of Whites in his top cabinet positions are seeking to dismantle Barack Obama’s legacy and his “Make America Great Again” slogan may as well be “Take us back to a White America again.”
This is evidenced in how in this administration they are reshaping the courts by appointing conservative justices to lifetime appointments in the federal judiciary; something that can overturn decisions and have an adverse impact on Civil Rights gains. These include issues around environmental and criminal justice, housing, employment, affirmative action, voter rights and other things centering on the pursuit of justice and equality.
Re-Investing in the Dream
Today it is important that citizens become reinvested in fighting to keep the spirit of the dream alive. Today is a time to re-engage as not only Trump on a national level but on a state level some are trying to turn back the hands of time on the gains that’s given citizens access to equal rights. It is time for those today to fight in the spirit of those who came before them who have persevered the slights, the dogs attacking innocent children, the unfulfilled dreams and in spite of that they found a way to keep their eyes on the prize. Today this spirit must be renewed in this fight to continue to move America in the right direction.
King’s words of a colorblind society still ring true today as it did in 1963 at the March on Washington, even if today it is a far cry from a reality. But the struggle must continue as this nation’s problems with race continues, in addition to turning itself inward threatens America’s position not only nationally but its place as a beacon of hope and freedom across the globe.
And while many know King’s words as idyllic as they are, within his words he speaks of an imperfect nation trying to correct itself. This is what the dream is about people working together correcting our society so that all citizens can share in the dream. That all people regardless of their background can have a seat at the table of power and this is a day many Americans felt had arrived when it elected Barack Obama President in 2008.
But today on MLK Day in 2018, we are seeing a president who is trying to erase Obama’s legacy and a history of progress of all the great freedom fighters. This backlash of Trump and the Republicans who were obstructionist for 8 years must be met with force. Today this does not mean simply marching and protesting, it means being informed, it means voting in high numbers, it means getting an education, it means being better parents to our children, it means holding elected official accountable for how they vote on legislation. It is this that will continue to move the dream forward and make it a reality in the age of Trump.
With the 2018-19 school year in full swing, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has finished approving nearly every state’s plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. But in some ways, the federal government’s work on ESSA is just beginning.
The federal K-12 law’s hallmark may be state and local control, yet the Education Department still has the responsibility to oversee the more than $21 billion in federal funding pumped out to states and districts under ESSA. That will often take the form of monitoring—in which federal officials take a deep look at state and local implementation of the law.
And the department has other oversight powers, including issuing guidance on the law’s implementation, writing reports on ESSA, and deciding when and how states can revise their plans.
Even though ESSA includes a host of prohibitions on the education secretary’s role, DeVos and her team have broad leeway to decide what those processes should look like, said Reg Leichty, a co-founder of Foresight Law + Policy, a law firm in Washington.
Given the Trump team’s emphasis on local control, “I think they’ll try for a lighter touch” than past administrations, Leichty said. But there are still requirements in the law the department must fill, he added.
“States and districts shouldn’t expect the system to be fundamentally different [from under previous versions of the law.] They are still going to have to file a lot of data,” Leitchy said.
But advocates for traditionally overlooked groups of students aren’t holding their breath for a robust monitoring process, in part because they think the department has already approved state plans that skirt ESSA’s requirements…
Read full article click here, may require ED Week Subscription
This year featured a new president, a new education secretary, and the first year schools began shifting to the Every Student Succeeds Act. It’s been a busy year for us, and to cap it off, we’re highlighting the 10 blog posts we wrote that got the most readership in 2017. Here we go, from the post with the 10th-most views to the post with the most views:
President Donald Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail in 2016 that he wanted to end the Common Core State Standards. So when U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said this to a TV news anchor in April, she was channeling Trump’s stated desire. But DeVos’ statement wasn’t accurate, since more than three dozen states still use the content standards. The Every Student Succeeds Act also prohibits DeVos from getting involved in states’ decisions about standards.
Along with promoting school choice, one of DeVos’ big goals this year has been to restrain the federal government’s role in education when it comes to regulations, as well as the size and scope of the U.S. Department of Education. It doesn’t look like her push to significantly slash the department’s budget has the support of Congress, but DeVos has been trying to trim the department’s staffing levels recently.
Democrats on the Senate education committee had some tough questions Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s picks to head up civil rights and special education policy at the U.S. Department of Education.
Kenneth Marcus, who is currently the head of a Jewish civil rights organization and has been tapped to lead the department’s office for civil rights, and Johnny Collett, the program director for special education at the Council of Chief State School Officers, are likely to be confirmed. But Democrats used the confirmation hearing to air deep concerns about the Trump administration’s record on both civil rights and disabilities issues.
“One of the most appalling ways that President Trump has damaged our country is when it comes to civil rights, and undermining the rights and safety of women, people of color, and people with disabilities,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel.
Murray said Marcus appears to “share the goal of halting discrimination on the basis of race ethnicity or religion” particularly on college campuses. But she worries about his ability to stand up to Trump and to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
And she expressed qualms about Collett’s record as head of special education in Kentucky. She noted that the state was criticized for allowing frequent use of seclusion and restraint in schools, which are used to a disproportionate degree on students with disabilities.
“Only after public outcry and work from the [state’s] protection and advocacy agency did Kentucky take steps to address this,” Murray said. “Additionally, you told my staff you support Secretary DeVos’ privatization agenda, which includes $20 billion school voucher proposal. Voucher programs do not support all of the needs of students with disabilities.”
But Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the committee, defended both nominees. He said Marcus “has a deep understanding of civil rights issues having founded the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and having served as staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for four years.” He said he had letters from 10 individuals and organizations supporting Marcus’ nomination. And he said that Collett is “widely supported by the special education community…”
Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.
Since taking office last February, the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has eliminated dozens of education directives to school officials. Now the Education Department is reconsidering a rule intended to hold states to a higher standard when determining if districts have overenrolled minority students in special education. It has also signaled an intention to pull back on considering “systemic” causes of discrimination during civil rights investigations at schools.
The unprecedented cleansing and revisions of Department of Education guidance to states, school districts, and private schools is passed off largely as a response to President Donald Trump’s simplistic Jan. 30 executive order that agencies remove two regulatory documents for every one issued. Even if, as has been reported, large swaths of the documents the department has eliminated so far have been out-of-date or superfluous, other guidance revisions have grave implications for marginalized students. The department’s headline-making withdrawal of Obama-era policy guidance permitting transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities is just one such example.LLL
Read the full article here: May require an Education Week subscription.
David C. Bloomfield is a professor of educational leadership, law, and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. He is the author of American Public Education Law, 3rd Edition. Alan A. Aja is an associate professor in the department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College.
Washington Post — Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide.
“D.C. students who used vouchers had significantly lower math scores a year after joining the program, on average, than students who applied for a voucher through a citywide lottery but did not receive one. For voucher students in kindergarten through fifth grade, reading scores were also significantly lower. For older voucher students, there was no significant difference in reading scores.
“For voucher recipients coming from a low-performing public school — the population that the voucher program primarily aims to reach — attending a private school had no effect on achievement. But for voucher recipients coming from higher-performing public schools, the negative effect was particularly large.”
President Donald Trump is expected to release his latest federal spending wish list on Monday. And the U.S. Department of Education may not fare well.
By Edwin Buggage
With the 2018-19 school year in full swing, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has finished approving nearly every state’s plan to implement the 
