Good day, CharterFolk.
I hope your long weekend was a good one. I want to highlight ten strong signals amid the noise, developments that could have seismic impact on our work.
Before I turn to those, I want to provide an updated link to the CharterFolk Chat with Brenda Cora.
My weekend post had a link back to Derrell’s from last month (which is worth checking out if you haven’t had a chance) rather than to Brenda’s. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I’ll start with a great feel-good story about a $50M facility being built to house a new charter school in Des Moines.
I don’t know the specifics of how this facility was financed, but the vast majority of multi-million-dollar remodels and new constructions are financed with tax-exempt bond financing — which is now on the chopping block. Advocates from the industry are ramping up efforts to protect this critical funding mechanism.
How much will the charter school voice need to be heard on this?
Stay tuned, CharterFolk.
I’m in DC this week. This article about grant funding being cut off to teacher and principal development programs—including a major one at Friendship Public Charter Schools — highlights an issue that is being felt across the nation.
Late last year, some of you may have seen that the Wisconsin law banning teacher collective bargaining was found unconstitutional because it banned some public employee groups from engaging in it, but not all employee groups.
Last week, Utah banned all state employees from collectively bargaining …
… joining only the Carolinas as states that have created such bans.
Years ago, when Wisconsin pushed through its collective bargaining ban, it dominated national press coverage for months.
This year in Utah?
It hardly even registers.
Such is the volume of noise and signal coming at us these days.
In terms of discerning signal and noise on electoral matters, EdNext conducted a deep dive on why voucher ballot measures went down so decisively this fall.
Definitely recommended reading.
It highlights the challenges that could arise in both red states and blue if the Supreme Court mandates changes that would require state constitutions to be amended in order to keep charter schools funded.
This is definitely something to stay keyed into, CharterFolk.
This article gets to the heart of the matter.
The volume of potential revenue loss at universities engaged in research is staggering — almost impossible to fathom.
My son is attending a university experiencing one of the highest levels of impact. The university chancellor wasn’t shy about addressing the issue, speaking directly to parents about how the funding cuts could affect their kids’ education.
At the same time, higher ed grapples with the implications of AI on the way it does its work.
Ultimately, most of these same conversations with be happening amongst K-12 providers as well.
We live through monumental time, CharterFolk.
Each of the changes I’ve outlined above would have been considered seismic just a few years ago.
Today, they’re seen as just par for the course.
I’ll do what I can to keep bringing the most important matters to the top of our inboxes.