TOP NEWS Syracuse.com New York lawmakers passed a package of 20 bills to address guns and school safety this week, moving forward with some of the most sweeping reforms aimed at reducing gun violence since the enactment of the SAFE Act in 2013. Read more>> Sponsored Sponsored by Thomas Built Buses Engine replacements can impact your fleet efficiency and your budget. Learn more about how to choose an engine that will last. Read more>> Sun Sentinel The bill funds mental health, school safety and school security programs at about $300 million, plus another $67 million for a program that would allow some school employees to carry firearms. Another $26 million would go toward tearing down and replacing the building where the shooting occurred and building a memorial on the site. Read more>> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel GOP senators are considering offering state money to help schools pay for safety upgrades in order to make improvements to school buildings more affordable for districts. Read more>> Minnesota Public Radio Gov. Mark Dayton proposed a $20.9 million spending package intended to boost school safety; it also includes $5 million in grants for schools to provide mental health services to students who need help. Read more>> The State Journal-Register Illinois House members approved a follow-up bill to the school funding reform law that state officials said is necessary to ensure money is properly distributed under the new plan. The new school aid formula directs the most state money to school districts most in need of state aid. Read more>> The Baltimore Sun In an unintended consequence, the Baltimore public school district's move to join a universal free lunch program has cost some of the city’s high-poverty schools hundreds of thousands of dollars in other federal funding. Read more>> District Administration Survey District Administration Educators know that students who reach reading benchmarks in the early grades are set up for success throughout their school years. DA wants to interview administrators about how their early literacy initiatives get hands in the books of all youngsters, and also help close achievement gaps. Contact us>> OPINION The Sacramento Bee School dropouts are commonly discussed, but too often, school systems effectively push students out of school. This “pushout” is costly and produces terrible outcomes for students and school systems. A proposed bill will reduce school pushout by curbing the overuse of suspensions and expulsions. Read more>> The Hechinger Report Just like athletes become stronger under the guidance of a good coach, so do teachers. But a new analysis of 60 studies on teacher coaching finds that benefits dissipate as coaching programs attempt to reach more teachers. Read more>> PBS We no longer have the luxury of delegating the care of our most marginalized students to community mental health. Nor can we siphon off all responsibility to providers in our schools. Teachers might fear exploring mental health. However, apart from parents, who knows kids better than teachers? Read more>> Sponsored Sponsored by Exceptional Child Two years ago, Elizabeth Rincon was seeking to end the last-minute scramble to cull professional development for approximately 125 special education paraprofessionals on days when teachers had preplanned PD. Read more>> INDUSTRY NEWS Education Associates Additions to the Adapted Career Education Series, a curriculum designed for students who have moderate to severe cognitive disabilities, include video modeling of all activities, social communication tools, behavior supports and more. Read more>> Lumos Networks Lumos Networks Corp., a fiber-based service provider in the Mid-Atlantic region, signed a multi-year agreement to construct new fiber routes and provide broadband internet services to several King William County Schools. Read more>> Pitsco Education/KUBO Robotics KUBO is a simple, intuitive, plug-and-learn robot that includes basic coding concepts for for K2 classrooms. Each pack includes the robots, TagTile Coding sets, activity maps and blank maps for students to create their own challenges. Read more>> ✭ Visit the District Administration's PR Portal ✭ CONSTRUCTION WATCH Richmond Times-Dispatch The majority of the proposed $187.3 million general fund capital budget for Richmond is earmarked for city schools construction and renovation projects. The $151.6 million figure includes long-deferred maintenance for the division’s 44 school buildings. Read more>> Denton Record-Chronicle With a new $750 million bond proposal on the May ballot, several ongoing construction projects in the Texas district are finishing. The upcoming bond referendum is asking for a 25th elementary school, a ninth middle school, replacement campuses of existing schools, CTE education, safety measures and upgraded extracurricular facilities. Read more>> The Advocate If the Louisiana district's voters renew the 1-cent sales tax in April, they will greenlight an estimated $362 million worth of school construction projects to be completed between 2019 and 2029. The most expensive of the 22 named projects, estimated to cost about $80 million, includes plans to build up to three new schools. Read more>> |