Good morning, CharterFolk.
I hope you’re all headed into a great week.
Let’s get to 10 news items affecting our world. We start with loss of voice and conclude with an inspiring example of finding it.
Hope you make it to the end.
10. Last week, we saw a little continued interest on NAEP, with some highlighting how reading scores have never been lower than they are right now.
9. The bigger story, remains how little of a story it is.
Four days after publishing the story above, the Times released this one which shows what voters care about most.
The words “education” and “schooling” are nowhere to be found in the article.
The accompanying poll doesn’t find education in the top 10 concerns across any part of the political spectrum.
It’s like we’ve lost our societal voice on education altogether.
8. Meanwhile, as it relates to charter schools, people paid a lot of attention to Trump’s executive order on school choice and other education policies …
… but (7) not so much on the department rescinding and preparing to reissue CSP regulations …
… which, as I wrote yesterday, could have a significant impact on charter schools, arguably one much larger than the executive order.
6. From a substance standpoint, we saw Texas Governor Greg Abbot include additional funding for charter school facilities among his “emergency items” in his State of the State address yesterday.
5. While new Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe didn’t declare it an emergency, he similarly proposed more money for charter school facilities in his State of the State.
4. Elsewhere in the Missouri capitol, continued dysfunction in St. Louis Public Schools has some legislators talking about a state takeover.
3. Zooming out, the Economist is declaring that a global revolution is underway against red tape.
2. One wonders whether it will translate into red tape reduction in the education realm, where arguably it is needed as much as anywhere else..
The question, it seems to me, is how we collectively find our voice on our issues amid all the broader commotion.
1. In Denver, the ABC affiliate ran this great story about Rocky Mountain Prep helping students find their voices.
It’s a great reminder.
In helping students find their voices, the entire charter school movement finds its own.