Gov. Glenn Youngkin has made removing so-called “divisive” classes on race, history and identity from classrooms a cornerstone of his administration. Now a group is working to ensure that teachers can still access the material.
the Virginia Education Association (VEA) has launched an online portal for equity and diversity training materials purged from the Ministry of Education website.
James Fedderman, president of the VEA, told a press conference this week that the lessons are vital resources for teachers and students.
“We do this because we believe that educators who can teach all of our students all of our history are in the best interests of all of us,” Fedderman said.
A Pew Research poll last August found that Americans were considerably divided on whether increased attention to the history of racism in the United States was good or bad. Just over half of all survey respondents said they thought the lessons were important, but only 46% of white adults favored a greater focus on the history of racism in the United States.
Earlier this year, Youngkin set up a divisive concept advice line for people if they think a teacher is giving lessons to students. Fedderman noted that the initiative, known to opponents as the “whistleblower line,” has created a culture of fear among Virginia teachers.
“Many educators are aware that whatever they teach will be reported to the tip line,” Fedderman observed.
The General Assembly is due to reconvene for a special session next week to finalize the state’s biennial budget, and Fedderman and other education and social justice advocates are pushing lawmakers to increase funding of public education and to increase teachers’ salaries during the session.
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Education leaders across the state are debating the merits of a bill to change the way schools are funded in California.
Senate Bill 830introduced by state superintendent of schools Tony Thurmond would end the current system of funding schools based on average daily attendance (ADA) and count enrollment instead.
Erin Simon, assistant superintendent of school support services for the Long Beach Unified School District and president-elect of the California Association of School Administrators, said the current system penalizes low-income school districts where attendance is lower. .
“These districts are already receiving less money for a population that has more needs,” Simon said. “I think we have to do better.”
Experts attribute the lower attendance rates to things beyond the districts’ control, in neighborhoods where families face a lack of transportation, or higher rates of asthma and, more recently, COVID. California is one of six states to use an attendance-based formula.
Carrie Hahnel, senior director of policy and strategy at Berkeley’s nonprofit Opportunity Institute, said the debate over how to fund schools ignores the big picture.
“Moving from ADA to enrollment is not a solution to the declining enrollment crisis,” Hahnel argued. “It could provide a short-term band-aid for some school districts that are really feeling the financial pain that comes with losing enrollment.”
The State Department of Finance is planning a 9% drop in registrations by 2031, a drop of half a million students, a phenomenon linked to the high cost of living in the Golden State.
Julien Lafortune, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California, said Los Angeles had been hardest hit.
“(Los Angeles) County, for example, has seen a 12% drop in the last decade and is actually projecting an even bigger drop, around 20%, in the next decade,” he said. observed Lafortune.
He noted that parts of the Central Valley, Bay Area and Sacramento Valley, which have seen growth in recent years, are now forecasting slight declines. The Sierras and North Sacramento Valley districts are forecasting modest increases in enrollment.
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This week, Minneapolis public school students returned to class after a nearly three-week teacher strike, but labor groups say educators and their districts across the state are still feeling the brunt of tight budgets.
The Minneapolis strike has addressed common labor issues such as pay, and other demands have sparked discussions that teachers need broader on-the-job support amid staff burnout.
Denise Specht, president of the statewide teachers’ union Education Minnesota, which represents nearly 90,000 educators, said that with the state’s budget surplus continuing to grow, now is the time to give professionals the help they need.
“Investing in our public schools wouldn’t just help those districts with some of these budget cuts,” Specht pointed out. “But it would actually help solve a lot of the problems that we hear from students and teachers about; things that they need in their schools every day.”
It includes more mental health support. Last year, lawmakers approved the largest increase in school funding in 15 years. But some districts are still projecting deficits and planning cuts, such as the cuts approved this month by Grand Rapids leaders. Democrats and the governor have offered various ways to increase school spending, but GOP lawmakers have argued that the surplus should result in tax relief.
Specht argued that the state needs to get to the point where districts no longer have to rely on local residents to help meet growing operational costs.
“Until we stop these referendums on levies, I think we have to take a serious look at what kind of investments we get from the state,” Specht said.
Other education advocates have noted that while some wealthier districts can afford to continue passing tax increases, lower-income districts often cannot, preventing them from providing some of the services of most basic education.
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Groups are pushing for alternatives to the Massachusetts Testing for Teachers’ License (MTEL), which they say can be a barrier to greater teacher diversity.
As demographics across the Commonwealth change, the teaching workforce continues to be overwhelmingly white, and the MTEL has been identified as discriminatory against educators of color and those for whom English is not their first language.
Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said Bill before the Legislative Assembly discuss alternatives to the licensure test and provide support to districts to build recruitment and retention structures.
“What we owe to our students who are multilingual, from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, is to have schools full of educators from their communities who speak their languages, who understand their culture, who truly represent them. and their communities,” said Najimy.
Najimy pointed out that the bill does not specify an alternative. That leaves it up to the Department of Education, but she noted that there are options, ranging from bachelor’s or master’s courses to work samples or presentations.
Rosa Valentin teaches ESL in Springfield, where public school population is more than 60% Latino or Hispanic and almost 20% black. She did not pass the MTEL, but she is fully certified. She received her certification in 1994, before the test was introduced. She said she had held temporary administrative positions and excelled, but could not get a permanent promotion.
“We are losing educators who resemble the population they have in front of them,” said Valentin. “And I’m a clear example of that. I’m fully certified, but not being able to pass the writing test has prevented me from moving into other positions.”
Najimy added that eliminating the testing requirement goes hand in hand with recruitment and retention. She stressed the importance of connecting with community organizations and historically black colleges and universities in recruitment, and ensuring schools are welcoming environments for educators of all backgrounds.
“Too often, when there are too few educators of color, they are seen as the ones who need to teach everyone about racism,” Najimy observed. “Rather than the district really investing in programs that help the whole school community understand the issues of racism.”
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