DeVos expected to unveil school choice plans

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to offer details about the Trump administration’s vision for a federal investment in school choice in a major policy speech Monday. She is believed to be preparing to unveil an education tax credit scholarship proposal. Read more>>

A growing number of groups, including the Florida School Boards Association, are calling on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to veto a sweeping education bill that was put together in the waning hours of this year's legislative session. Read more>>

Lawmakers have less than two weeks to hash out significant differences in altering the new A-F grading system for schools, a key priority for educators that the Senate Education Committee debated. When a preliminary look at how schools would fare under the new grades was released earlier, educators had said it stigmatized the poorest neighborhoods with the most challenges. Read more>>

DA Staff

Richard Culatta is the new CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education. Read more>>

Kansas superintendents made the trek to Topeka during the final week of the school year to tell the Senate education finance committee it needs to put more money in its bill in order to have the recommended funding level sufficient enough to accomplish college workforce readiness as established by Kansans Can. Read more>>

Lost in the cacophony of the final week of the legislative session was House and Senate agreement on an omnibus education bill that tweaks the original Act 46 language to help school districts struggling with merger proposals. It provides guidance and support for over 100 school districts statewide that are still considering their options. Read more>>

The Texas House tentatively voted for legislation that would require three-point seat belts be installed on newly-purchased school buses across the state. The bill cleared the lower chamber following a debate among lawmakers over whether the bill would force an unfunded mandate on schools. Read more>>

About $11 billion in state funds is dedicated to elementary and secondary education, but about $4 billion goes toward current and legacy costs of teacher retirement. If districts, and not the state, had to pay pensions, it would free up at least $1 billion annually, which the state can use for the funding of the actual education of students. Read more>>

Report card time. You open the envelope, and see a ‘B’. You have a good sense of how your child is faring in class. Unfortunately Michigan is not nearly as clear about the quality of education in a school. In fact, a new proposal will make our state even less transparent and less honest about school quality. Read more>>

Texas allows schools to carry Epi-Pens, which can help people who don’t know they have food allergies, but providing students with foods officials know they are allergic to has been a problem. Read more>>

The new MathQED website has launched to offer math tutoring and homework help. The resource provides student-teacher interaction via online forums, chat rooms and cooperative problem-solving. Special interest forums and exam preparation help are also available. Read more>>

A consortium composed of leading STEM advocates, educators and service providers has developed a comprehensive program through which teachers can become certified in STEM entrepreneurship. This effort is spearheaded by Pitsco Education, the Jacobson Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship, Startup Genius and zSpace. Read more>>

Discovery Education, USAA and the Texas ASCD signed a new multi-year investment to support STEM career development and financial literacy in San Antonio-area middle and high schools. The regional Texas education initiative offers educators the digital resources and professional development, including STEMinars, Science Techbook, financial literacy interactives and STEMCamp. Read more>>

The board of trustees for the Duneland School Corp. has selected Ginger Bolinger to replace retiring Superintendent David Pruis. Bolinger has been in the Madison Consolidated Schools for five years. Read more>>

Michael Wilson, a longtime administrator in the Ansonia school system, has been selected as the new superintendent of the Seymour public school district. Currently the assistant superintendent of Ansonia schools, Wilson will replace Superintendent Christine Syriac, who is retiring, Read more>>

The superintendent of the Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System has been selected as the next superintendent of Okemos Public Schools. Alena Zachery-Ross remained superintendent of the Muskegon Heights district when it transitioned from a charter school district ran by a private firm to a public charter school district in 2014. Read more>>