EduClips: Special Ed Scandal in Texas, Fighting Over DACA — and More Must-Reads From America’s 10 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

DACA & GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN — President Trump’s controversial words about immigration have dampened the prospects that a broad spending and immigration deal can be reached by the end of the week, raising the possibility of a government shutdown. There have been angry recriminations from allegations that Trump called African nations “shithole countries” during a White House meeting last week with lawmakers. Meanwhile, both parties are trying to avoid blame for a shutdown, which may occur if Senate Democrats effectively block a spending plan that does not extend the immigrant protections of an Obama-era program known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. (Read at The New York Times)

National News

TRUMP — Year One Check-In: What’s Trump Done on K-12 Compared to Other Presidents? (Read at Politics K-12)

PHIL MURPHY — Analysis: If Phil Murphy Doesn’t Succeed Where Seven Former Governors Failed on Pension Costs, Is New Jersey Headed for Fiscal Catastrophe? (Read at The74Million.org)

District and State News

TEXAS — Special education caps were the Texas legislature’s idea, educators say (Read at The Texas Tribune)

NEW YORK — The short list for NYC’s next schools chief (Read at the New York Post)

ILLINOIS — New Chicago Schools CEO Will Have to Repair District’s Reputation, Fight Decreasing Enrollment (Read at The74Million.org)

PENNSYLVANIA — An 8-year-old was allegedly roughed up by a school cop. Do Philly schools even need police officers? (Read at The Philadelphia Inquirer)

FLORIDA — Florida Supreme Court asked to review education ‘adequacy’ ruling (Read at the Orlando Sentinel)

ILLINOIS — Illinois Judge Allows 11-Year-Old Girl to Use Medical Marijuana at School (Read at NPR)

CALIFORNIA — Opinion: California needs to ensure that money aimed at low-income students actually gets to them (Read at the Los Angeles Times)

TEXAS — State offers millions to boost eight Austin schools. But there’s a catch. (Read at the Austin American-Statesmen)

ILLINOIS — Illinois high schools test different, often controversial, approach to education (Read at the Chicago Tribune)

NEVADA — Teacher evaluation process evolving in Nevada (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Think Pieces

RECONSTRUCTION — Forgotten in the classroom: The Reconstruction era (Read at The Washington Post)

EVOLUTION — Natural selection making ‘education genes’ rarer, says Icelandic study (Read at The Guardian)

PARENTING — Frightening the children (Read at Flypaper)

Quote of the Day

“To believe that you can successfully blame Democrats for a shutdown over the DACA debate is naive.”— Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. (Read at The New York Times)

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