EduClips: CA Legislators Offer Teachers Unions More Protections as Supreme Court Ruling Looms; Charter School Founded by Southwest Key Wants to Educate Immigrant Kids at Nonprofit’s Shelters — 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 DEPARTMENT — Last week, President Donald Trump proposed combining the U.S. Department of Education and the Labor Department into a single new agency — to be called the Department of Education and the Workforce — aimed at preparing children and workers for a rapidly changing economy. More on the nuts and bolts of how this would work here.

So do educators and their advocates think this is a good idea or a bad idea? Do they think it would it actually impact what goes on in districts and classrooms? Or would it just be a bureaucratic reshuffle inside the Beltway to them?

We asked for their feedback, and here’s what they told us. (Spoiler alert: Educators, by and large, don’t seem to be fans of this idea.) (Read at Politics K-12)

National News

TEACHERS UNIONS — Understanding Janus: 14 Ways the Pivotal Supreme Court Case Could Change the Finances, Membership & Politics of Teachers Unions (Read at The74Million.org)

CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION — Senate Bill to Revamp Career-Tech Education Law Gives States More Power Over Goals (Read at Politics K-12)

District and State News

CALIFORNIA — Lawmakers give California unions new protections as Supreme Court ruling looms (Read at EdSource)

TEXAS — Charter school founded by Southwest Key wants to educate immigrant kids housed at the nonprofit’s shelters (Read at Dallas News)

NEW YORK — Editorial: It’s Time to Integrate New York’s Best Schools (Read at The New York Times)

CALIFORNIA — High pay, low test scores: Is California’s largest school district too big to fail? (Read at the Sacramento Bee)

TEXAS — How many Dallas ISD schools failed to meet state accountability? DISD leader reveals an amazing number (Read at Dallas News)

NEVADA — New Clark County schools chief halts central office hiring (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

ILLINOIS — Editorial: Another whack at Illinois pension spiking. Good. (Read at the Chicago Tribune)

NEW YORK — New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on segregation, national politics, and being Mexican-American (Read at Chalkbeat)

ILLINOIS — Will Illinois raise the minimum salary for teachers? (Read at the State Journal-Register)

VIRGINIA — In Fairfax, a lesson on why words matter, especially in sexual health class (Read at The Washington Post)

FLORIDA — No challengers, so these two Miami School Board members are automatically re-elected (Read at the Miami Herald)

NEVADA — Groups pursue increase to education funding in Nevada (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Think Pieces

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ­— Barone: Trump’s Bid to Merge Education & Labor Departments Is a Bad, Old Idea With Little Chance of Happening. But It’s the Perfect Shiny Thing to Distract the Media (Read at The74Million.org)

SCHOOL SAFETY ­— Making Schools Safer: Harsh Consequences, Or Second Chances? (Read at NPR)

IMMIGRATION — The importance of difficult conversations in U.S. classrooms: Teaching about the migrant crisis (Read at The Hechinger Report)

RACE — Teaching more black or Hispanic students can hurt observation scores, study finds (Read at Chalkbeat)

AP EXAM — A.P. World History Tries to Trim Thousands of Years, and Educators Revolt (Read at The New York Times)

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT — Donald Trump’s plan to (sort of) eliminate the Department of Education, briefly explained (Read at Vox)

PARENTS — OPINION: When wealthy parents hold sway in public schools (Read at The Hechinger Report)

Quote of the Day

“Board members may talk about future calamity, but they just approved a raise for 30,000 bus drivers, cafeteria workers and classroom aides. And as Los Angeles teachers watch their peers across the state win pay hikes, they feel increasingly sure that they’ll get one too.” —CALmatters.org writer Jessica Calefati on LAUD’s spending practices. (Read at the Sacramento Bee)

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