Oregon lawmakers eye cutting 'double' health coverage

State lawmakers have found an additional way to trim government costs: eliminate double health plan coverage for public school workers and state employees. The change could save $94 million in the state general fund over the next two years, according legislative budget documents. Read more>>

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the Douglas County School District didn’t violate state campaign finance laws when it commissioned and distributed a report promoting a reform agenda endorsed by a number of conservative school board candidates. Read more>>

Mississippi education leaders are restarting a search for a leader to take charge of faltering local schools and districts. A 24-member panel helping to plan the state achievement school district decided after an early round of interviews that none of the 75 applicants had the qualifications needed. Read more>>

The state's public school students will be required to learn cursive writing this coming school year as a bill passed last year went into effect on July 1. The law requires students to be taught cursive writing by the third grade, but it does not outline how long teachers should spend on the matter. Read more>>

The 7,000 delegates to the National Education Association Annual Meeting approved a fundamental shift in policy by passing a new policy statement on charter schools. The statement will boost NEA’s support of state and local efforts to limit charter growth and increase charter accountability, among other changes. Read more>>

School districts are rethinking how they cope with unpaid lunch debts amid a wave of outrage over practices that single out children. The U.S. Agriculture Department is requiring districts to adopt policies this month for addressing meal debts and to inform parents at the start of the academic year. Read more>>

A renovated auto repair garage now houses Maryville High School’s growing culinary arts program as well as Café Le Rêve. Read more>>

Public schools have added personnel at a rate almost four times that of student enrollment growth from 1950 to 2015. However, these additional hires were disproportionately non-teachers. So instead of increasing teacher salaries above the cost of living, our public education system dramatically expanded the number of non-teachers it hired. Read more>>

The Washington Legislature barely averted a calamitous government shutdown while enacting sweeping education finance reforms. But at what cost? Many lawmakers conceded they voted on the last-minute $43.7 billion budget deal without knowing exactly what was in it. Educators and advocates had no chance to vet the backroom deal to inform their representatives on its pitfalls. Read more>>

Each of Indiana's new laws represents a step in the right direction, and most experts are encouraged that the state legislature took steps to address the well-documented social and emotional needs of children. But the proposed federal budget includes severe cuts to many of those programs that benefit the kids. Read more>>

Educators and students in all pre-K through 8th grade students at public schools in Kansas will continue to have free and unlimited access to Istation Reading for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. Read more>>

New additions to zSpace's CTE applications include automotive training courses from Shenzhen GTA Education Tech Ltd. With the GTA Virtual Automotive Training, students can look at these complex mechanical systems from all angles, learning how they work and practice making repairs in mixed reality. Read more>>

Cricket Media launched CricketTogether, an online mentoring platform that helps teachers create independent learners by combining writing tools, compelling content and access to role models. Students get guidance from their "e-mentors", learn from content that interests them, and receive coaching from their teachers along their learning paths. Read more>>

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