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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
On the first day of spring semester at Berkeley City College in Berkeley, Calif., hundreds of students rush to print out their schedules and find their next class. But some have to stand in line at the financial aid office. That’s where I run into Dominique Bell and Tyfanni Edwards, both 19. (NPR)
President Barack Obama may not have many allies left in the newly GOP-dominated Congress—but he’s still planning to ask lawmakers for a sizable increase for the U.S. Department of Education in his fiscal year 2016 budget request, sources say. (Education Week)
Jeb Bush has major problems in Iowa. His vocal support for immigration reform and the national education standards known as Common Core bother many in the state’s Republican base. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Department of Education has pumped more than $5 billion into a supercharged version of the School Improvement Grant program that gave grants of up $2 million to the lowest-performing schools in the country to try out dramatic turnaround strategies (like turning themselves into charters, or getting rid of half their staff). (Education Week)
New York
Updated — The city’s biggest charter-school network is on a collision course with the city teachers union. (Chalkbeat)