Friday Report – May 25, 2018

The Friday Report

May 25, 2018

A Conference Report for Senate Bill 99 appears to be the vehicle for the 2018 Budget bill. Many legislative leaders are expressing an intent to pass the budget by or around Friday, June 1 – a full month before the State’s fiscal year begins on July 1. Budget writers in both the House and Senate have been working past midnight and into 2 or 3 am almost every day this week (and much of last week) to crank out and negotiate the changes they want to the biennial budget that they passed in 2017. Between Thursday and Memorial Day, the majority of the House and Senate will be “caucusing” – that is, meeting behind closed doors and slogging through the budget provisions determining if they have the votes to pass the budget beginning, conceivably, as soon as Wednesday of next week. Procedurally, because Senate Bill 99 will be presented as a Conference Report, there will be no amendments allowed to the Budget bill, unless current plans change, unprecedented in modern state history.

Additionally, the word on Jones Street is that the General Assembly is not likely to be in Session much longer after the budget is passed. This means that other free-standing, non-budget, bills have a lesser chance of passing both Chambers and becoming law. This could be a good thing, depending on your perspective (and depending on the bill).

Regardless, some of the most pressing threshold questions about this year’s Budget bill are as follows:

1. How much will overall spending for K-12 public schools increase? 
2. Will the base pay for principals get increased? Will the hold harmless provision (that expires June 30, 2018) for the 2017 Principal Pay Plan be extended so that principals are, at minimum, guaranteed not to lose money in the 2018-19 school year?
3. Will there be a new raise for veteran teachers?
4. Will there be an increase in funding for students’ textbooks, digital resources and instructional supplies?
5. How will the increases in School Safety funding affect other important elements of education spending?
6. Will the new Teaching Fellows scholarship be expanded to more students and more colleges/universities? Including HBCUs.
7. Will the School Bond bill (House Bill 866) be wrapped into the Budget bill or will it be some lesser quick-fix to the school construction problems facing school systems in the state?
8. Will the extension of the two Virtual Charter School pilots be included in the budget?
9. Will the $5.1 million cut to DPI be sustained or delayed or otherwise?
10. What other new education policies will be hemmed into the budget?

The answers to these questions should be revealed on Tuesday, May 29, at the Joint Appropriations Meeting at 10 a.m. Please tune in to the General Assembly’s live audio feed (scroll down to the icon at 643 LOB) or otherwise check the website should the Committee time/location change. 

Support the NC School Bond Bill

For new buildings, repairs, and renovations, North Carolina’s public schools need $8.1 billion to adequately address the reality that our children are being taught in overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings and mobile units. The NC School Bond (HB 866/SB 542) would invest $1.9 billion to begin addressing these critical needs without increasing taxes.

Show your support for a statewide school construction bond in North Carolina by signing up online to join the effort. Please visit https://www.ncschoolbond.com/ to learn more and lend your voice.

State News

For the First Time in Modern NC History, Lawmakers Won’t Allow Changes to Budget

Photo Credit: Robert Willett, The News & Observer.

Democrats are upset that Republican legislators are mostly excluding them from state budget talks, as it’s unlikely any proposed changes will be adopted once the budget is revealed.

Republican leaders plan to gut an old bill and amend it as a “conference report” to include their budget plans, meaning state lawmakers will have no method for amending the legislation.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Specht, P. and Doran, W. “For the first time in modern NC history, lawmakers won’t allow changes to budget.” The News & Observer. 5/22/18.

Gov. Cooper: Republican $35M School Safety Plan Not Enough

 Photo Credit: Kyo Azuma, Unsplash.

Republicans at the General Assembly said Thursday that a $35 million school safety package next year in the upcoming North Carolina state budget is a good start that will address critical needs, but Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper thinks it comes up short.

The budget adjustment bill, negotiated privately by House and Senate GOP leaders, contains safety and violence prevention improvements debated publicly by a House study committee following the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Robertson, G. “Gov. Cooper: Republican $35M School Safety Plan Not Enough .” Associated Press. 5/24/18.

GOP School Safety Idea: Give Raises to Teachers Who Get Police Training

Thousands marched from City Plaza to Halifax Mall in Raleigh to speak up in the national conversation around gun violence. Photo Credit: Julia Wall, The News & Observer.

North Carolinians are calling on state leaders to make schools safer and pay teachers more. State legislators have proposed a bill that may do both — if the teacher agrees to get police training.

A trio of Republican legislators want to set aside $9 million for the “School Security Act of 2018,” which would offer a 5 percent salary boost to up to 3,000 teachers who complete the state’s training programs and become school resource officers.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Specht, P. “GOP school safety idea: Give raises to teachers who get police training.” The News & Observer. 5/24/18.

Education Funding Looms Large in Budget Negotiations

Photo Credit: Brian Batista, WUNC.

More than 15,000 North Carolina teachers traveled to Raleigh last week for a teacher rally. The event brought national attention to the state’s education budget and teachers’ demands for more resources and support staff to increase student safety.

Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly are at odds over how much of a raise teachers should get in the next fiscal year. Another big issue in education: school vouchers. School voucher eligibility and funding are expanding. As lawmakers start budget negotiations, questions about education loom large. 

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Magnus, A and Stasio, F. “Education Funding Looms Large In Budget Negotiations.” WUNC. 5/22/18.

NC’s ‘Alarming’ Disparity of Black Student Arrests Among Worst in Country

Photo Credit: WRAL.

In North Carolina, black students are nearly six times more likely to be arrested at school and school activities than white students, according to recently released federal data analyzed by WRAL News. That disparity is among the worst in the country.

Law enforcement arrested more than 600 North Carolina students on public school grounds, during off-campus school activities or on school transportation during the 2015-16 school year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Hinchcliffe, K and Dukes, T. “NC’s ‘alarming’ disparity of black student arrests among worst in country.” WRAL. 5/24/18.

NC Needs School Nurses, State Board of Education May Set Standard for How Many

In this May 12, 2017, photo, registered nurse Samantha Marz checks a student at Rundle elementary school in Las Vegas. Photo Credit: John Locher, AP.

North Carolina could get new standards for staffing school nurses, if a new proposal goes forward.

A legislative committee Monday approved a draft bill that would require the State Board of Education to recommend how many nurses are needed in public schools, and to make a plan to put that standard in to effect by 2020. The legislation would also require the Department of Health and Human Services to examine the Medicaid rates for services delivered by school nurses.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Schlemmer, L. “NC Needs School Nurses, State Board of Education May Set Standard For How Many.” WUNC. 5/22/18.

‘Our Kids Aren’t Poker Chips’: Davidson Bucks the Town Charter School Trend

A kindergarten class at Community School of Davidson, a charter school in the north Mecklenburg suburbs.

Photo Credit: Observer file photo [email protected]

The town of Davidson broke with its neighbors Tuesday and voted unanimously not to take part in a push to let suburban towns outside Charlotte create their own charter schools.

Four other suburban towns — Matthews and Mint Hill in southern Mecklenburg County and Huntersville and Cornelius in the north — have expressed support for House Bill 514, introduced by state Rep. Bill Brawley last year. It could go before the state Senate for a vote in the coming weeks.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Wake County Turns to an Insider to Be its First Female Schools Superintendent

Cathy Moore, left, is announced as the new Superintendent during a meeting at the Wake County School board headquarters in Cary on May 23, 2018. Photo Credit: Chris Seward, The News & Observer.

Wake County’s new school superintendent is a familiar face who has spent the past 30 years educating local students.

The Wake County school board turned Wednesday to Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore to be the new leader of the largest school district in North Carolina and the 15th largest district in the nation. Moore, who has worked in Wake since 1988 and overseen academics for the past seven years, will become the district’s first permanent female superintendent and first Hispanic superintendent.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Hui, K. “Wake County turns to an insider to be its first female schools superintendent.” The News & Observer.  5/23/18.

National News

For Troubled Kids, Some Schools Take Time Out for Group Therapy

Image Credit: Nathalie Dieterle, NPR.

Sometimes 11-year-old B. comes home from school in tears. Maybe she was taunted about her weight that day, called “ugly.” Or her so-called friends blocked her on their phones. Some nights she is too anxious to sleep alone and climbs into her mother’s bed. It’s just the two of them at home, ever since her father was deported back to West Africa when she was a toddler.

B.’s mood has improved lately, though, thanks to a new set of skills she is learning at school. (We’re using only first initials to protect students’ privacy.) Cresthaven Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., is one of growing number of schools offering kids training in how to manage emotions, handle stress and improve interpersonal relationships.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Simmons-Duffin, S. “For Troubled Kids, Some Schools Take Time Out For Group Therapy.” NPR. 5/23/18.

What Can NAEP Tell Us About How Much US Children Are Learning?

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Photo Credit: Element5 Digital, Unsplash.

Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), dubbed the “nation’s report card,” are often used to compare student achievement across states. An important limitation of NAEP is that it does not track the performance of individual students over time, so inferences about how much students are learning must be made by comparing scores from tests given to different groups of students every two years.

This report presents the results of different exploratory analyses that take advantage of the fact that the same birth cohorts are tested four years apart on the 4th– and 8th-grade NAEP exams. For example, I compare 8th-grade scores from the 2017 NAEP to 4th-grade scores from the 2013 NAEP. I then contrast these measures of change over time to demographically adjusted 8th-grade scores published by the Urban Institute.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Chingos, M. “What can NAEP tell us about how much US children are learning?” Brookings. 5/24/18.

Opportunities

Applications Open for 2018-19 NC Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP)

The Public School Forum is accepting applications for the 2018-19 cohort of the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

The North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program is the only statewide program of its kind that focuses on leadership and professional development in the context of education policy. Fellows come from public schools, higher education, community colleges, 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. Fellows will 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.

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, 2018. Contact Lauren Bock, Public School Forum Director of Policy & Programs, at [email protected] with questions.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards for Science and Mathematics Teachers

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Science and Math Teachers (CASMT) application is now available online. The Career Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers is a five-year award available to outstanding science and/or mathematics teachers in the North Carolina public primary and secondary schools. The purpose of this award is to recognize teachers who have demonstrated solid knowledge of science and/or mathematics content and have outstanding performance records in educating children. The deadline for submission is September 24th, 2018.

For more information or to access the application, visit https://www.bwfund.org/grant-programs/science-education/career-awards-science-and-mathematics-teachers.

NCSSM Seeking Teacher Development Specialist

The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) invites applications for the Teacher Development Specialist position. Inclusiveness and diversity are integral to NCSSM’s commitment to excellence in teaching, engagement, and education. We are particularly interested in candidates who have demonstrated experience engaging with diversity through activities such as fostering an inclusive environment, working with students and teachers from diverse backgrounds, or incorporating diverse perspectives in teaching.

For more information, and to apply visit:
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/northcarolina/jobs/2071846/teacher-development-specialist

Women in Educational Leadership Symposium

Registration is open for the third annual Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS). The purpose of WIELS is to bring women together to share, learn, and grow in leadership. This conference aims to provide personalized learning and mentoring opportunities for those who aspire to become or currently serve as educational leaders.

The symposium will be held October 5 through October 6, 2018.  at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. This year’s conference theme is Advancing the Leader Within: Building Capacity.

Registration for the conference is online at https://wiels.appstate.edu/about-us/registration. Additional information can be found at https://wiels.appstate.edu/.

The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.

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