Trends in the News Archive - Page 20 of 53

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Education Next, 9/24/18

How does charter expansion affect school district finances and student achievement? New evidence from Massachusetts

To quantify charter expansion’s effects on school district finances and student achievement under reimbursement schemes, a reform that led to a large expansion of the charter sector in Massachusetts was studied. This new report provides the first causal evidence of charter expansion’s fiscal and academic spillover effects in a state that temporarily compensates districts for the revenue they lose when students move to charter schools. The study found that, contrary to some prior work and popularly held opinions, charter expansion’s medium-term fiscal and educational impact on school districts was either positive, for per-pupil expenditures, or negligible, in terms of student achievement. The results reveal that higher charter attendance increased per-pupil expenditures in district schools and shifted school district expenditures towards instruction and away from support services (which encompasses things like student counseling and teacher training) and school administration.

Charter Schools School Money and Performance

Washington Post, 9/21/18

How the Great Recession changed higher education forever

The scars of the financial crisis remain with higher education in three significant ways. First, the recovery changed the financial underpinning of many colleges. The increase in the discount rate-the share of tuition revenue schools give to students in the form of scholarships-has been the result of an all-out pricing war among a broad selection of public and private schools, leading some to simply cut their tuition to the price students are essentially paying after the discount anyway. The second long-term impact… is that it led to a big swing in the majors that students choose in college. A long-running annual survey of college freshmen has found that since 2008, the No. 1 reason students go to college is to secure a better job; before that, it was to learn something that interested them. The third lingering issue…is that it led college presidents and their board to focus on short-term issues rather than the long-term sustainability of their institutions.

Higher Ed

The 74 Million, 9/17/18

Emanuel confident that Chicago’s universal pre-K program will live on after his exit, but will next mayor balk at the price tag?

The abrupt announcement that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel isn’t seeking re-election has raised questions about whether his sprawling initiative to implement free, universal pre-K will survive once he’s left office. While it’s unlikely a successor would oppose free pre-K outright, some education pundits said that at a time of fiscal strain, a post-Rahm mayor may question the expansion’s $175 million annual price tag. The city’s behemoth school district, Chicago Public Schools, is already spread thin, shouldering hefty debt, educator shortages, and a half-empty teacher pension fund.

Pre-K

Education Dive, 9/17/18

Report: California schools have improved, but major funding challenges remain

California’s redesigned school funding formula, as well as updated standards and assessments, are pushing the state’s education system in the right direction, according to a comprehensive package of studies released Monday. But Getting Down to Facts II — a follow-up to an influential policy report released more than 10 years ago — also concludes that large achievement gaps remain, young children are already behind when they enter kindergarten, and changes to the finance system have failed to address funding issues such as employee pensions, special education and school facilities. While the state’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) — the result of a ballot initiative in 2012 — helped districts recover from the recession, per-pupil funding is still below the national average at just more than $12,000 per student, compared to $13,701 nationally.

State Education Funding

Seattle Times, 9/13/18

Bezos targets homeless families, under-served preschoolers with $2 billion fund, but details are few

The Amazon founder said Thursday that he and his wife, MacKenzie, would commit $2 billion to fund existing nonprofits working with homeless families and to create a network of nonprofit preschools in low-income communities. The Day 1 Families Fund will make annual awards to organizations “doing compassionate, needle moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families,” while the Day 1 Academies Fund will start and operate a network of “full-scholarship, Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities,” Bezos said on Twitter.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms Pre-K

Education Week, 9/17/18

How to build a better teacher contract

A district of over 13,000 students in Illinois ratified and approved a collectively bargained teacher contract months ahead of schedule. The contract fell within district budget projections, eliminated the traditional salary schedule, and rewarded teacher performance. In a post-Janus era, this type of collaboration could be increasingly valuable. Those involved noted that there were many factors that contributed to their success, but outlined seven essential steps that can now serve as guideposts for other districts interested in thinking about compensation differently.

Pension Costs

Education Week, 9/16/18

Winners and losers from Capitol Hill’s school spending agreement

After months of wrangling, top lawmakers for the education budget struck a deal to fund the U.S. Department of Education for the upcoming fiscal year. It’s not a done deal, because it still needs to pass the House and Senate, and President Donald Trump then has to sign it. Is there any general theme for how various programs and their constituencies made out in the deal? We’ve identified a few of them below. Spending deal winners: Title IV Part A block grant, Title II aid for educator preparation, and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (programs Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wanted to cut), and Career and Technical Education. Spending deal losers: Lawmakers completely ignored the administration’s signature school choice proposal for next year, a $1 billion “opportunity grants” program to promote choice. The deal also rescinds $600 million that Congress previously appropriated for Pell Grants but which hasn’t been spent yet.

Federal Education Funding

Education Week, 9/10/18

New Preschool Development Grants emphasize support of existing programs

The federal Preschool Development Grants are back, but they offer substantive differences from the legacy program created during the Obama administration. The grant application…allows states the opportunity to apply for a share of $250 million to bolster their preschool programs. But while the original program set aside some funds for states that were basically starting from scratch, this new program wants to see “collaboration and coordination” among existing programs. The administration expects to make around 40 awards of $500,000 to $15 million. Applications are due by November, and awards are expected to be announced by December.

Pre-K

The 74 Million, 9/10/18

Study shows boosting funds to poor school districts lifts student achievement but fails to narrow racial & socioeconomic achievement gaps

An article published earlier this year in the American Economic Journal…finds that districts provided with increased revenues by school finance reforms see improvements in standardized test scores, though the extra money hasn’t helped close persistent gaps between various racial and socioeconomic groups. Not everyone is convinced of the study’s findings, however. Eric Hanushek, an education economist and fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution, said that, “The difficult analytical issue is how you separate out spending from all kinds of other things, like changing the requirements for teacher certification, or changing the accountability rules, or the variety of things that state legislatures do over time.”

Funding Equity School Money and Performance

Chalkbeat, 9/6/18

Lifting the veil on education’s newest big donor: Inside Chan Zuckerberg’s $300 million push to reshape schools

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has given away millions to groups working to “personalize” learning, reshape teacher training, and diversify the ranks of education leaders. But the full scope of that giving hasn’t been clear. The organization has given $308 million in education grants since January 2016, when CZI took its current form. As a limited liability company, CZI is not required to list donations on its tax forms, unlike private foundations. Still, the organization says its approach is changing. “We have begun sharing our learnings to date with the education community and news media as part of our commitment to transparency,” spokesperson Dakarai Aarons said in a statement. “As we continue to build our strategy and systems, we plan to share more information about our grants in the future in a way that respects our grantees and community partners.”

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms