Weekend To-Do List

8/18 - 8/20

and

Aug 18, 2023

1. Schools Add “Homebuilder” To Resume

READ: A starting teacher’s salary could not affordably cover a one-bedroom rental in 15 of 69 U.S. cities last year. As schools seek new solutions to address the estimated 36,500 teaching vacancies nationwide, some have piloted partnerships with nonprofits and development companies to build affordable housing within their districts. Educator Elizabeth Sharkey moved into a complex built by the Los Gatos Union School District last year and called it a game-changer:

"It's a mile-and-a-half from where I work, from my school, so I can walk to school," [Sharkey] said. It makes it possible for kids to see their teachers "taking interest in their lives outside of the classroom."

Though many have celebrated these developments, some experts argue that addressing teacher housing just puts a bandaid on the larger issue of chronic under-compensation. Read more from Emma Hurt at Axios here.

2. Democrats Can Still Embrace a School Choice Agenda

READ: Jorge Elorza penned an op-ed for USA Today arguing that the Democratic Party’s decision to avoid public school choice hurts the party in the short-term, will cost future generations for years to come, and has allowed Republicans to “fill the vacuum” with an inequitable education agenda. Elorza, who joined Democrats for Education Reform as CEO this winter and is the former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, says Democrats can still change course:

Democrats have an opportunity to sell their vision on education to voters across party lines. A vision that includes investments in good-quality public school options that are free, nonsectarian and accountable to federal standards and federal civil rights protections. It’s an opportunity to promote equality and education equity backed by evidence-based research.

73% of Democratic voters recently reported a favorable opinion of public charter schools. Read more here.

3. AP African American Studies in Limbo in Arkansas

READ: Joseph De Avila reported for the Wall Street Journal on the Arkansas Department of Education’s recent decision that AP African American Studies will not count towards graduation requirements or AP credits. Florida banned the same course in January, and the College Board responded in April by releasing a revised curriculum. While the DOE has declined to clarify its specific concerns about the content, the department did release a statement:

In a statement, the Arkansas education department said it “encourages the teaching of all American history and supports rigorous courses not based on opinions or indoctrination.”

De Avila noted that Arkansas is one of more than a dozen states to pass laws limiting discussion of race in public schools. Read more here.

4. Houston Closes Libraries to Prioritize Student Discipline

READ: 28 school libraries in Houston will be shut down and repurposed as computer rooms and discipline centers this fall as superintendent Mike Miles seeks to improve reading and math scores across the district. The move is one of the most controversial since the state of Texas took over the Houston Independent School District this spring and replaced its elected school board and superintendent with Miles. In part, the former libraries will be used as a space to send students who disrupt class so they can watch their lesson on a laptop. Houston mayor Sylvester Turner cautioned that Miles’ decisions risk replicating a tale of two cities in the Bayou City:

“He’s gone too far, and he’s dismantling the largest educational district in the state of Texas,” Mr. Turner said of Mr. Miles during a City Council hearing last month. “You cannot have a situation where you are closing libraries for some schools in certain neighborhoods, and there are other neighborhoods where there are libraries, fully equipped. What the hell are you doing?”

Read more from J. David Goodman at the New York Times here.

5. Alabama or Harvard? Both Cater to the Rich

READ: Kevin Carey took a closer look at the data from Harvard’s Opportunity Insights project, which sparked new outrage over Ivy League admissions practices, to argue that the reality at many public universities is no better than their so-called elite peers. Many public institutions are increasingly admitting more wealthy applicants and providing fewer resources for those that cannot afford skyrocketing tuition, creating gaps in graduation rates, participation in campus life, and future job prospects. Carey notes that determining the “character” of public universities is partly location-based:

Some public universities in the South serve the same function as private colleges and universities in the Northeast: destinations for the children of political leaders and wealthy businessmen, and a mechanism for transmitting that status to the next generation.