Friday Report – June 16, 2017

North Carolina might change the way families pay for driver’s education, a revision that could save some parents money but cost others hundreds of dollars more.

Families now pay up to $65 for their teens to take driver’s education, and the state gives school systems money to cover the rest of the cost. But the state Senate’s budget proposal would change the program so parents pay up front the full cost of driver’s education with the option to get reimbursed up to $275 – if the student passes the state test to get a learner’s permit on the first try.

Supporters say the proposed Driver Safety Incentive Program would encourage students to try harder to pass the test to get their permit. Critics say the change would make the roads less safe because more teens, particularly those who can’t afford the higher fee, might skip driver’s ed before they get their license.

The Senate has made multiple attempts over the years to change the driver’s ed program.

“We’ve said for years that the current model for driver’s education simply isn’t delivering the best results for our young people,” Amy Auth, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Phil Berger, said in a written statement. “Past studies have found that 46 percent of students that complete the state driver education course subsequently fail the DMV test, even after multiple attempts.

“By tying reimbursement to passing the DMV exam on the first try, we are creating an incentive for parents to ensure their students actually study and take the test seriously.” Opponents are lobbying lawmakers to back the driver’s ed version in the House budget that would continue the program in its current form.

“If the Senate’s version of the budget prevails, driver’s education will no longer be offered as we have known in the past,” said Connie Sessoms, executive director of the North Carolina Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association. “It will fail to meet the needs of most of our students. At the end of the day, the bottom line is we’re talking life and death.”

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Excerpt from:

Hui, T. “Parents could pay more for their kids to take driver’s education.” The News & Observer. 6/10/17.

Much of the Charter School Advisory Board meeting earlier this week was taken up by a discussion of Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy, a Bertie County charter school that has come before the board previously due to academic, financial, and governance issues.

Following a presentation and questioning of school representatives, members of the board were so dismayed at the state of the school that they considered revoking the school’s license on the spot. A motion to do that failed 6-to-4.

Finally, the board voted 9-to-1 to allow the school to keep operating into next year with a set of stipulations which, if not met, would lead to initiation of revocation of the school’s charter next December.

The school’s problems were discussed extensively by the board. The school opened in 2014 and was labeled as low performing by the state in 2015 and 2016. On at least three occasions, the school missed deadlines to submit a required audit to the state.

Alexis Schauss, the Department of Public Instruction director of school business, described the finances of the school as very lean, noting that at the end of 2016, their fund balance was a little over $5,000. “They are very much on the edge of significant deficits,” she said.

Schauss also said that the ratio of teachers at the school versus other personnel seemed out of balance in comparison to other similar schools. Heritage has about 65 people on its payroll.

“For a school of 300 students, it did seem like they had a large number of non-certified personnel,” she said, adding that the money for salaries could be better spent in the classroom.

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Excerpt from:

Granados, A. “Charter advisory board tackles problem school.” EducationNC. 6/14/17.

The law school’s total annual budget this fiscal year was $31 million. About 70 percent of the school’s budget is personnel cost, according to Brinkley. He said he had not devised a specific plan for how the school would deal with the size cut the Senate proposed. Instead, he said, he’s focused on keeping the cut from happening.

A small group of well-connected UNC law graduates has met every couple of days to talk about strategy, said 1986 law graduate Walter Fisher, managing partner of the Raleigh and Charlotte offices of Troutman Sanders, an international law firm.

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Excerpt from:

Stancill, J. “UNC law school rallies as legislators consider big budget cut.” The News & Observer. 6/9/17.

In the Casa de Luna apartment complex in northeast Raleigh, those kids can come every Tuesday and receive a free, nutritious lunch — part of a coordinated effort across Wake County to feed tens of thousands of kids at risk of going hungry this summer.

Wake County’s summer food program, which started Monday, is working with local organizations in the hopes of distributing more than 300,000 meals to low-income children in the county this summer.

There are over 150 meal distribution sites across the county, said Regina Petteway, director of the Human Services department. “These sites will provide a nutritious meal, they will provide free activities, and also education about building healthy habits that will last a lifetime,” she said.

The Casa de Luna site, which is run by the faith-based organization the Dream Center, fed 26 kids Tuesday. The children are preschool-to-middle school aged; almost all are Latino. They filled the small room with bilingual chatter as volunteers and a few parents helped distribute chocolate milk, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce.

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Excerpt from:

Killenberg, S. “Summer food program provides meals to kids in need.” The News & Observer. 6/13/17.

The new edition of Why Rural Matters, from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rural School and Community Trust, provides an overall “priority” ranking of the 50 states, showing the greatest needs in rural education. The report also ranks the states and includes state-by-state data on demographics and poverty, student achievement, state resources, and college and career readiness.

“While some rural schools thrive, far too many rural students face nothing less than a national emergency. Many rural schools and districts face vastly inequitable funding and simply cannot provide the opportunities that many suburban and urban schools do,” said Robert Mahaffey, the executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust, based in Washington, D.C.

The Public School Forum is now accepting applications for the 2017-18 cohort of the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

The Public School Forum has led the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program since 1992, and it has continued to be the only statewide program of its kind that focuses on leadership and professional development in the context of education policy. Each new class continues the trend of high caliber participants and is rich in its members’ range of experiences, both professionally and personally. Fellows come from public schools, higher education, community colleges, state agencies, and a diverse array of education organizations across North Carolina. Each class includes a cohort of Fellows who focus on education policy issues and the wide range of factors that influence education in North Carolina. The program is designed for Fellows to learn about issues and perspectives in education that they don’t always encounter in their daily work so that they can be more informed, rounded contributors to the critical education debates that shape the quality and focus of schools. Fellows increase their awareness of how public policy is made, learn whom the key players are in the formation of this policy, and become more confident and involved in the policy-making process. Leadership development is a key focus of the Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Application information for both EPFP Central and EPFP West can be found online at https://www.ncforum.org/education-policy-fellowship-program/. Applications are due by June 30. 2017.

Want to learn how to inspire your students to conduct independent research? Interested in learning how to assist students in topic selection, time management, and presentation of science and engineering research projects? Planning your school’s science and engineering research competition? New to the process or looking for a more organized approach?

Plan to attend a NC Science & Engineering Fair Workshop

for the 2017-2018 Academic Year!

Workshops will be offered at the locations below. All workshops run from 9:00am to 3:30pm and include coffee, snacks and lunch.

• July 19 – NC Center for Engineering Technology, Hickory
• July 27 – Biogen, Research Triangle Park
• July 28 – Triad Math and Science Academy, Greensboro
• August 2 – UNC-Wilmington

Register online at https://ncsciencefair.org/index.php/teachers/workshops.

There is a $15 registration fee but all attendees will receive a $65 stipend for participation and 0.5 CEU for completion of the workshop.

ONLY Teachers & Administrators in grades 3 – 12 are eligible to participate. Participants will be asked to implement a science and engineering fair for your class, grade-level or school during the 2017-2018 academic year andcomplete a survey spring 2018.

The following topics will be discussed during the workshop

• Learn how to foster and guide scientific and engineering research in the classroom.
• Learn how to initiate, manage, and evaluate student science and engineering research projects.
• You will be guided through the steps in planning a school or district science & engineering fair.

Workshops are sponsored by the Biogen Foundation.

The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership is pleased to announce its inaugural North Carolina Teacher Leadership Symposium on Tuesday, Aug. 1 in Greenville. As Lead Champion, the Biogen Foundation has made it possible for the Kenan Fellows Program to provide this Symposium at no cost to attendees. The event includes a plated lunch, a networking reception, concurrent professional development sessions, and keynote speakers.

This one-day immersive event will feature concurrent sessions on project-based learning, technology integration, interdisciplinary instruction, building leadership capacity, inquiry-based instruction, developing successful grant proposals, and more!

Educators in the Kenan Fellows Alumni Network will lead the one-day Symposium. These talented Fellows have developed expertise across a wide variety of innovative and effective educational practices that are particularly pertinent to teachers who seek to grow professionally and have a powerful impact in and beyond the classroom.

Registration is open to K-12 educators from 27 Eastern North Carolina school districts:
Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Pitt, Tyrrell, Washington, and Wilson.

WHEN

Tuesday, August 1, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

WHERE

Hilton Greenville

207 Greenville Boulevard Southwest, Greenville, NC 27834

SPONSOR

Biogen Foundation, Lead Champion

REGISTER BY JULY 21!

https://nc-teacherleader-symposium.eventbrite.com