Virginia transgender case sent back to lower court

The Supreme Court put off a major decision on transgender rights, a result of the Trump administration’s decision last month to withdraw federal support of the Virginia high schooler who has waged a legal fight to use the boys’ restroom. Read more>>

After Republican leaders reached an agreement on a bill to allow charter schools in Kentucky for the first time, the state House of Representatives approved the legislation. The legislation now goes to the state Senate. Read more>>

Public school districts in Wisconsin are in the midst of a building boom, financed by a surge in new debt not seen since the 1990s, a new analysis found. Voters approved through referendums borrowing $1.35 billion last year, 10 times more than in 2011. Borrowing has more than tripled from $2,313 per pupil in 2010 to $9,733 last year. Read more>>

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Is a school in your district achieving technology excellence in Math Instruction or Makerspaces? Ask them to apply for recognition as a School of TechXcellence. Deadline March 15. Read more>>

The new House Public Education Committee chairman plans to increase per-student funding to public schools in an effort to fix the state's school funding program derided by the Texas Supreme Court as riddled with problems. His bill will also reduce the $77 million in recapture payments the Houston ISD is supposed to pay the state. Read more>>

The Kansas Supreme Court ruling that schools are constitutionally underfunded could turn into a fight at the Statehouse over private-school vouchers. The governor took the first shot with his written response to the decision, in which the court gave the Legislature until June 30 to craft a constitutional formula for funding public education or face a possible shutdown of the school system. Read more>>

More than a year after a law was signed requiring them, child-detection sensors are still not installed on most new school buses because regulations on how to implement it have not been approved by the state Board of Education. Read more>>

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It’s never too early to start STEM learning. At Barrington 220 School District, fifth-graders are tackling the subjects. “Fresh INC Marketplace” is a new innovative eight-week program that launched last fall. And it could be the nation’s first elementary school entrepreneurship curriculum. Barrington 220 was recognized as a 2016 District Administration District of Distinction. Read their story and apply now for the 2017 awards. Read more>>

A strong internal compass can help teens develop true autonomy. Parents and teachers can support teens by providing them with scaffolded autonomy, giving them opportunities to try (and fail) to solve problems, talking through their choices and potential outcomes, offering them authentic choices and resisting the impulse to rush in to save the day. Read more>>

As conscientiously as they have gone about their job, state education experts simply haven’t brought forth a useful tool for parents. California's new “dashboard” has a welcome goal: ending the over-reliance on test scores as a way to measure a school’s quality. But, unfortunately, the dashboard has morphed into a tough-to-understand jumble of pie charts, ratings and text. Read more>>

The future is about thinking: developing new ideas; finding innovative answers to dilemmas; and thinking through problematic opportunities. Gaining creative problem-solving skills could offer multiple benefits to adolescents. Imagine if it were required in high schools as either a separate class or a complement to creativity-related work in other classes or extracurricular activities. Read more>>

To help educators better personalize instruction and monitor student progress, Renaissance has moved nearly 20 million students to the new Renaissance Growth Platform. The platform will incorporate Renaissance Star 360, Renaissance Accelerated Reader 360 and Renaissance Accelerated Math. Read more>>

The myON News Powered by News-O-Matic offers an interactive introduction to daily news and current events for K8 students. Articles are available at three personalized reading levels and in English and Spanish. Educators can assign articles, monitor student activity, and leverage real-time reporting and usage reports to guide students’ progress. Read more>>

The CL4510 smart lock offers a more compact model also utilizing Codelocks Inc.’s NetCode technology. It allows administrators to generate and send time-sensitive codes to authorized individuals and can also be accessed using smart cards, as well as allowing permanent access using the stylish push-button keypad. Read more>>

Pennsylvania's Greencastle-Antrim School District picked Kendra Trail as its new superintendent, replacing longtime Superintendent C. Gregory Hoover when he retires at the end of June. Trail is currently the executive director in the Tuscarora Intermediate Unit. Read more>>

Gainesville R-V School Superintendent Joe Donley resigned, effective at the end of this school year. He also signed a contract to become superintendent at Mark Twain R-VIII School, where current Superintendent Don Yarger is retiring on July 1. Read more>>

The Oklahoma district's school board turned to one of its own, selecting Nick Migliorino to succeed Joe Siano, who is retiring after leading Norman Public Schools since 2000. Migliorino is currently the district's assistant superintendent for administrative services, a position he has held since 2014. He also serves as chief technology officer. Read more>>