EduClips: How DeVos’s Civil Rights Policy Affected Shutdown of Texas Schools’ Probe; AZ Teacher Walkout Scheduled for Thursday — 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
ARIZONA STRIKE — Arizona teachers voted last week to go on strike this Thursday, making the state the fourth this year to host teacher protests in support of increased pay. The state’s union, and organizers of a Facebook group where rank-and-file teachers have been posting, announced the results of a vote at a joint press conference in Phoenix. Seventy-eight percent of teachers who cast ballots supported the protest, they said.
The teachers are asking for 20 percent pay raises and increases in state education funding, which hasn’t returned to pre-recession levels. (Read at The Wall Street Journal)
National News
NATIONAL WALKOUT — Delaying College, Getting Out the Vote: As They Stage Another National Walkout Over Gun Violence, Students Look to Movement’s Sustainability (Read at The74Million.org)
TEACHER DEBT — Teachers Share Anger, Frustration Over Grants Turned Into Loans (Read at NPR)
MILITARY FAMILIES — How Congress Could Give School Choice to Military Kids Without an Impact Aid Uproar (Read at Politics K-12)
TEACHER OF THE YEAR — 2018 Teacher of the Year Wants Her Refugee Students to Know They Are Wanted and Loved, to Give All Students and Teachers the Chance to Connect (Read at The74Million.org)
ALABAMA — Alabama Board Taps Superintendents’ Group Leader as Next State Chief (Read at Education Week)
District and State News
TEXAS — Shutdown of Texas Schools Probe Shows Trump Administration Pullback on Civil Rights (Read at ProPublica)
NEW YORK — Students attacked, threatened thousands of school employees last year (Read at the New York Post)
TEXAS — Texas school apologizes for asking students to list ‘positive aspects’ of slavery (Read at USA Today)
FLORDIA — After months, no action on Hillsborough’s substitute teacher problem (Read at the Tampa Bay Times)
NEW YORK — City Council wants $100M to put security cameras in all schools (Read at the New York Post)
NEVADA — North Las Vegas school asks special education students to stay home (Read at WTKR)
CALIFORNIA — Why deep-pocketed charter school advocates are pouring money into the governor’s race (Read at the Santa Cruz Sentinel)
NEVADA — Opinion: State must look within to solve its education problem (Read at the Las Vegas Sun)
CALIFORNIA — LA School Report to Partner With California Children’s Organizations for May 15 Gubernatorial Forum on Education, Equity, Juvenile Justice (Read at The74Million.org)
Think Pieces
CHARTER SCHOOLS — Do charter schools suspend students more? It depends on how you look at the data. (Read at Chalkbeat)
OKLAHOMA TEACHER STRIKE — Oklahoma’s Teacher Walkout: How Did Something That Started So Right End So Wrong? (Read at The74Million.org)
4-DAY SCHOOL WEEK — The 4-Day School Week Gets Introduced to Cities and Suburbs (Read at Governing)
TEACHER RETIREMENT — Why More Than a Million Teachers Can’t Use Social Security (Read at NPR)
SCHOOL SAFETY — STUDENT VOICE: ‘The youth movement extends beyond gun violence’ (Read at The Hechinger Report)
Quote of the Day
“For the kids who are being ticketed, arrested, suspended or expelled — who are predominantly black — it tells them that they don’t belong in our public schools, which is a travesty. For the students that remain in the classroom and see their peers treated this way, they internalize unhealthy and harmful messages about what that means. That’s the way that implicit bias is formed and gets reinforced.” —Deborah Fowler, executive director of Texas Appleseed, a social justice advocacy group. (Read at ProPublica)
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