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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Senators debating legislation to replace No Child Left Behind defeated a GOP proposal Tuesday that allows poor families to take federal dollars and use them to pay private school tuition. (The Washington Post)
In its first vote affecting gay people since the U.S. Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, the Senate Tuesday rejected a federal prohibition against discrimination and bullying in K-12 public schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (The Washington Post)
Black children were almost four times as likely as white children to be living in poverty in 2013, a new report has found, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is leaving behind some of the United States’ most vulnerable citizens. (The New York Times)
A few weeks before the school year ends, Taree Porter leads word drills with her second graders and reads a Judy Blume classic amid the din of giggles. (wbez.org)
Congress is working on renewing the No Child Left Behind education law. The GOP-controlled Congress is hoping to enact a six-year renewal of the measure that would include changes to education policy. (USA Today)
Millions of America’s young people are really struggling financially. Around 30 percent are living with their parents, and many others are coping with stagnant wages, underemployment, and sky-high rent. (The Atlantic)
In her economic speech today, Hillary Clinton spoke extensively about policies where her party agrees: inequality, social opportunity, public investment, and family-friendly workplace policy. Clinton’s remarks about primary education were almost literally a placeholder. (Those comments, in their entirety: “And in the coming weeks and months, I’ll lay out specific steps to improve our schools.”) Clinton’s position on primary education is the most significant outstanding domestic-policy question of the Democratic primary campaign, precisely because it is something upon which her party disagrees, often bitterly. (nymag.com)
The state’s six innovative school districts will be able to hire unlicensed teachers for hard-to-fill positions under a proposal approved Tuesday by the Kansas Board of Education. (The Wichita Eagle)