Education Week - March 22, 2017 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
Federal Lawmakers Block
Teacher-Preparation Rules
The Senate has voted to overturn
regulations governing teacherpreparation programs that were approved by the Obama administration late last year.
The House voted last month to
block the rules, and President Donald
Trump is expected to back the move.
After a lengthy process, the U.S.
Department of Education finalized
the rules and changed how colleges
and universities must judge the effectiveness of their programs that
prepare teachers for classrooms.
Among other provisions, the rules
would require programs to include
data on how many of their graduates get jobs in high-needs schools,
how long their graduates stay in the
teaching profession, and their impact on student-learning outcomes.
-ANDREW UJIFUSA

The American Society of Civil Engineers has given public schools a
D-plus in its report card on the nation's infrastructure.
Among the findings, released this
month: Nearly a quarter of permanent public school buildings were in
fair or poor condition; in more than
30 percent of public school facilities,
windows, plumbing, and HVAC systems were in fair or poor condition;
and 53 percent of public schools
need to make repairs, renovations,
or upgrades to be in good condition.
The report estimates that spending on public school facilities falls
short by about $38 billion annually.
-DENISA R. SUPERVILLE

Fla. Court Says 3rd Graders
Must Take State Test

Carlos Osorio/AP

Civil Engineers Give Schools
D-Plus Infrastructure Grade

PI FACE
Students smash a pie
in 3rd grade teacher
Jonathan Segerstron's
face last week at the
Hamtramck Academy.
In recognition of Pi Day,
March 14, students at the
Hamtramck, Mich., school
recited the mathematical
calculation and celebrated
by throwing a pie in the
face of their favorite
teacher. The day also
coincides with Albert
Einstein's birthday.

In a blow to parents seeking to
have their children "opt out" of Florida's high-stakes tests, an appeals
court has ruled that school districts
have a right to hold 3rd graders
back when they score badly on a
state reading test.
The court threw out a ruling by a
lower-court judge who said a hand-

ful of districts must consider options
other than students' performances on
the Florida Standards Assessment
when deciding whether to promote a
student. The three-judge panel concluded that the state had a "compelling interest" to make sure students
do not have a reading deficiency.
Last year, the parents of more
than a dozen children sued so that
their children would not have to
repeat the 3rd grade. The lawsuit
maintained that the children should
have been promoted because they
got good grades and demonstrated
they could read at grade level.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ky. Lawmakers Approve
'Religious Expression' Bill
A bill that has been sent to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin designed to
protect "religious expressions" in
public schools has LGBT advocates
worried it will give student groups a
license to discriminate.
The measure would prohibit school

U.S. Supreme Court Returns 'Restroom Case' to Appeals Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has returned the major
case on transgender rights in schools to a lower court
for fresh consideration of the Trump administration's
withdrawal of Obama-era guidance that federal antidiscrimination law protects gender identity.
In a one-sentence order without recorded dissent
in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., the justices this month vacated the ruling of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., that
had deferred to the Obama administration's interpretation of Title IX.
The action is a defeat in the short term for Gavin
Grimm, the transgender boy who was barred by a
Gloucester County, Va., school district policy from
using the restroom that aligns with his gender
identity.
The court's action also means the justices won't

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 22, 2017 | www.edweek.org

be resolving in the near term a debate over transgender rights that has roiled the nation's schools.
But the issue could return to the high court within
a year or two as other cases address whether Title
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which
bars sex discrimination in federally funded schools,
may be interpreted today to cover gender identity.
After the Trump administration last month
withdrew the Obama-era guidance on transgender
rights, both parties urged the court to proceed with
the case and decide the underlying question of
whether Title IX covers gender identity, although
the school board urged a delay to allow the Trump
administration to fully formulate its position and
express its views in the case.
The court opted instead to send the case back to
the 4th Circuit.
-MARK WALSH

officials from punishing students for
wearing religious messages on their
clothes and expressing religious or
political beliefs in homework, artwork, and speeches. It would also
prevent school officials from hindering student organizations, including
the selection of members, its mission,
and "its determination that only persons committed to its mission should
conduct these activities."
Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign,
said the bill would undermine "all
comers" policies at public schools
that do not let student organizations
discriminate based on race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or gender
identity.
-AP

N.M. Senate Overrides
Teacher Sick-Leave Veto
The New Mexico Senate voted decisively last week to override Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's veto of
a teacher sick-leave bill.
The 34-7 vote easily cleared the
two-thirds threshold needed to override the veto and marked the first
time either the House or Senate has
voted to override a Martinez veto. It
was less likely that the House has
the votes for an override.
Martinez this month vetoed the
measure, which would have allowed
teachers to take all their contractual free time-10 days annually
in most school districts-without
facing a deduction on their evaluations. Under the current system,
educators can be absent from the
classroom for three days without
penalty but lose points thereafter.
-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

FAFSA Tool Shut Off
For Security Reasons
The Internal Revenue Service intentionally shut off a tool for helping students and parents apply for
federal student aid, and the tool

will continue to be unavailable for
"several weeks," government officials say.
In a joint release, the IRS and
the U.S. Department of Education
cited security concerns as the reason for suspending the Data Retrieval Tool, which allows students
and parents to import tax information directly into their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or
FAFSA. Families can still file their
FAFSAs, but they'll need to input
their tax information on their own.
The tool was shut off "as a precautionary step following concerns
that information from the tool could
potentially be misused by identity
thieves," according to the government agencies.
-LIANA LOEWUS

Research Group Names
Top Districts for Teachers
The National Council on Teacher
Quality has, for the first time,
named what it considers to be the
best districts for recruiting, supporting, and training great teachers.
Boston; Broward County, Fla.; Denver; the District of Columbia; Gwinnett County, Ga.; New York City;
Pinellas County, Fla.; and Pittsburgh
districts earned the honor.
According to the NCTQ, the districts shone in five major criteria:
compensation, professional support,
management and operations, career
and leadership opportunities, and
student services.
-D.R.S.

Catholic High School Reaps
$24 Million From IPO
A California high school has
made millions of dollars from
the initial public offering of shares
in Snap Inc., the company behind
the Snapchat photo-messaging
application.
The board of Saint Francis High
School in Mountain View agreed
to invest $15,000 in seed money in
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Education Week - March 22, 2017

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