EduClips: Denver’s Boasberg Steps Down After Nearly 10 Years as Schools Chief; Florida Remains Only State Without Fed-Approved ESSA Plan — and More Must-Reads From America’s 15 Biggest School Districts

EduClips is a roundup of the day’s top education headlines from America’s largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across eight states attend class every day. Read previous EduClips installments here. Get the day’s top school and policy news delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the TopSheet Education Newsletter.

Top Story

EDUCATION FUNDING —The share of federal spending that goes to programs and other benefits for children, including education funding, is expected to decline by more than 25 percent over the next decade, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Urban Institute.

“Kids’ Share” projects that Washington’s budget for health, nutrition, tax provisions, and education spending on children will drop from 9.4 percent of the fiscal 2017 budget to 6.9 percent after 10 years, a decline of 27 percent from 2017 levels. The Urban Institute expects spending on elementary and secondary education to dip to $37 billion from $42 billion, and for early-childhood education to drop to $14 billion from $15 billion, after adjusting for inflation. However, the organization also predicts that spending on children’s health and income security is expected to rise somewhat in the coming years.

And the report says the recent decline in discretionary spending on education can be pinned at least in part on the Budget Control Act of 2011, which brought sequestration and new caps on federal spending. From 2008 to 2017, federal education spending dipped by 9 percent, the Urban Institute says. (Read at Politics K-12)

National News

DENVER — Denver superintendent Tom Boasberg is stepping down after nearly 10 years (Read at Chalkbeat)

PRE-K — As Universal Pre-K Struggles to Secure a Nationwide Platform, It Finds Hope in Cities Like Chicago (Read at The74Million.org)

ELECTION — With Successful Strikes Behind Them, Teachers Are Now Running for Office (Read at Education Week)

ONLINE USE — Is your teen online a lot? Study finds mild link between ADHD and digital media use (Read at USA Today)

SUMMER SLIDE — Summer Learning Gaps Worsen in Higher Grades, Just Not the Way You Think (Read at Education Week)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION — Senate Confirms Reform Advocate Jim Blew in Narrow Vote, Rounding Out Ed Dept’s K-12 Team (Read at The74Million.org)

DRINKING WATER — Fewer Than Half of Schools Report Testing Drinking Water for Lead (Read at Education Week)

District and State News

FLORIDA — Florida stands alone as sole state without federally approved accountability plan (Read at the Tampa Bay Times)

NEW YORK — City should offer sex ed to elementary students, Mayor de Blasio’s task force says (Read at the New York Daily News)

ILLINOIS — Lawmakers found more money for schools this year, but what about down the road? (Read at the Chicago Sun Times)

NEVADA — Where CCSD’s extra money went (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CALIFORNIA — Auditors call for criminal investigation of Montebello school system (Read at the Los Angeles Times)

NEW YORK — To integrate specialized high schools, are gifted programs part of the problem or the solution? (Read at Chalkbeat)

CALIFORNIA — Oakland charter school approved amid concerns over fiscal impact on district (Read at EdSource)

TEXAS — Texas teachers’ health care explained: State program was created to save districts money, but a few want out (Read at the Texas Tribune)

Think Pieces

NEW ORLEANS — In the Aftermath of Katrina-Inspired School Reforms, Report Shows New Orleans Students Are Now More Likely to Attend — and Graduate From — College (Read at The74Million.org)

IMMIGRANTS — A free sandwich can make the difference for some migrant worker children in college (Read at The Hechinger Report)

‘EDUCATION DESERTS’ — Who Lives in Education Deserts? (Read at The Chronicle of Higher Education)

CHILDREN — Empowering Kids in An Anxious World (Read at NPR)

RELIGION — Public Schooling Must Discriminate Against Religion; American Education Must Not (Read at Forbes)

Quote of the Day

“The anger and resentment that led to the strike, those feelings have been here for a long, long time. A lot of teachers had been dissatisfied with people who have no experience in education, no real vested interest in education, dictating laws and dictating policy.” —Cody Thompson, a high school social studies and civics teacher in Elkins, West Virginia, who filed to run for the state house this year. (Read at Education Week)

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