EduClips: Philadelphia Principal Offers Students $100 If They Make It to Graduation Without Fighting; Trump’s Education Budget — 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

TRUMP’S EDUCATION BUDGET — The administration is hoping to cut about 5 percent of funding — $3.6 billion — from the federal Department of Education. Keep in mind that federal dollars account for only about 10 percent of the money that public schools receive, though that money disproportionately goes to high-poverty schools. The proposal would hold steady the funding for students with disabilities through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But the request would take the axe to Title II, funding that goes toward teacher training and class-size reductions, and an after-school program known as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. The administration has argued that both initiatives have proven ineffective.

In a similar proposal to last year, the Trump administration said Monday that it wants to spend more federal dollars on a school choice program — which includes private school vouchers — and less on after-school initiatives and teacher training. Last year, the administration’s budget proposal was largely ignored, and many see this year’s as likely to suffer a similar fate. (Read at Chalkbeat)

National News

INFRASTRUCTURE — No Targeted Funding for School Construction in Trump’s Infrastructure Proposal (Read at Politics K-12)

TRANSGENDER STUDENTS — The Education Department Officially Won’t Deal With Transgender Students Experiencing Bathroom Discrimination (Read at HuffPost)

HIGHER EDUCATION ACT — Lamar Alexander’s White Whale: Will 2018 Be the Year the Education Veteran Finally Gets His Chance to Rewrite the Higher Ed Act? (Read at The74Million.org)

RUSSIAN MONEY — Russian Billionaires Are Building Megaschools to Rival Eton and Exeter (Read at Bloomberg)

SOUTHERN VOTERS — Poll finds Southern voters want more education spending (Read at The Hechinger Report)

OLYMPICS — Learning From Olympians: How Classroom Champions Is Pairing Athletes With Schools to Offer Unique Lessons on Grit, Goals, and Perseverance (Read at The74Million.org)

District and State News

PENNSYLVANIA — Why one Philly elementary school is paying kids not to fight (Read at The Philadelphia Inquirer)

TEXAS — Some Texas schools still face busing challenges after Harvey (Read at the Houston Chronicle)

ILLINOIS — Illinois school choice program sees “historic” rush, crashes servers (Read at Illinois News Network)

PUERTO RICO — Tensions Rise Over Path Forward for Puerto Rico Schools (Read at Education Week)

NEW YORK — With changes coming to New York’s teacher evaluations, union and state officials prepare to clash (Read at Chalkbeat)

CALIFORNIA — Creating a ‘test kitchen’ to come up with a better school accountability plan in California (Read at EdSource)

HAWAII — DOE could be sued over lack of female locker rooms — a violation of federal law (Read at Hawaii News Now)

ILLINOIS — Opinion: More Dollars Add Up to Less Trust (Read at NPR Illinois)

NEW YORK — Protesters demand removal of principal over black history scandal (Read at the New York Daily News)

CALIFORNIA — Brown appoints 15 to new K-12 science panel (Read at EdSource)

NEVADA — Las Vegas students get lesson in pre-integrated military (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Think Pieces

DEVOS — In Her Words: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Assesses a Year on the Job (Read at The New York Times)

ONLINE SCHOOLS — As Online Schools Expand, So Do Questions About Their Performance (Read at The Wall Street Journal)

CIVICS — For students from Oklahoma, a look under the fractured hood of democracy (Read at The Washington Post)

CHARTER SCHOOLS — Lessons in flexibility from the nation’s largest charter school network (Read at The Washington Post)

MICHIGAN STATE SCANDAL — Where was the board at Michigan State? (Read at The Washington Post)

Quote of the Day

“I wanted to challenge them to be what their families see in them, what we know they are. They have a choice — to become the violence they see in their day-to-day lives, or to be peaceful models for our school and our community.” —Stephanie Andrewlevich, principal of Philadelphia’s Mitchell Elementary School, who is offering students $100 if they can make it to graduation without fighting. (Read at The Philadelphia Inquirer)

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