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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
National
These School Districts Will Cancel Classes on the ‘Day Without a Woman’
At least two school districts are planning to cancel classes on Wednesday for the Day Without a Woman, after officials learned that hundreds of staff members planned to stay home from work. The Day Without a Woman, on March 8, is the latest political action organized by the group of activists behind January’s Women’s March. The organizers are asking participants to refrain from paid and unpaid work, shop only at small businesses owned by a woman or a person of color and wear red in solidarity. (Time)
Study: Healthy school lunches good for grades, but don’t decrease obesity
A new study says healthy school lunches lead to better academics in K-12 schools, but the lunches fail to improve the main problem they’re supposed to address: childhood obesity. The working paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at all public schools in California over a five-year period. It found that schools that contracted with a “healthy school lunch vendor” showed higher test scores on state standardized tests, especially for students in low-income families that qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. (Washington Examiner)
What Happens to Education Spending if the Budget Stays in a Holding Pattern
Right now, the federal budget is flying in circles. It’s operating on a “continuing resolution” through April 28 that essentially holds fiscal year 2017 spending levels at their fiscal 2016 amounts. Trump recently released a very broad outline of his spending priorities for fiscal 2018 that includes a $54 billion cut from domestic agencies—fiscal 2018 starts in October—although we still don’t know how that 10 percent cut in non-defense discretionary spending would specifically impact the U.S. Department of Education. (Education Week)
Exclusive Data: City Schools vs. Suburban Schools, See Where Security Officers Outnumber the Counselors
In suburban districts surrounding four major cities, counselors and social workers outnumber security. In the Chicago Public Schools, where Dexter Leggins works and sends his children, students are more likely to encounter a security officer than a counselor or a social worker. But according to data obtained by The 74, that’s not the case in districts like Naperville and New Trier Township that ring a city struggling with the highest number of shootings and homicides it’s seen in 20 years. (The 74)
State
Georgia
Disagreement over who should control Georgia’s school turnaround work
Georgia’s elected school superintendent argues that he should be in the middle of any major school turnaround effort as lawmakers consider a bill that focuses on struggling schools. House Bill 338 by Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville, passed the House last week and is now up for debate in the Senate. It creates the position of “Chief Turnaround Officer,” overseeing state intervention in the lowest-performing schools. (AJC)