Friday Report – April 28, 2017

Join the Public School Forum to honor former North Carolina Senator Howard N. Lee as the recipient of the 2017 Public School Forum of North Carolina Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. Lee will be honored at a gala event on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

The Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award was established by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in 2000 to recognize exemplary leaders who have made outstanding contributions to public education in North Carolina. This year we have the privilege of honoring one of North Carolina’s finest leaders, Howard N. Lee.

Howard Lee has been a trailblazer his entire life. He may be best known as the first African-American to be elected mayor of a predominantly white southern town since reconstruction – Chapel Hill in 1969 – an office he would hold for three terms. He was also the first African-American to be named a cabinet secretary, serving as secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development under Gov. Jim Hunt, and the first to chair the State Board of Education.

In the North Carolina Senate, Lee built his reputation as a fighter for education reform, advocating for higher teacher salaries, increased funding for public and higher education and raising teacher and student standards. Howard Lee has dedicated his life to public service in support of children and education.

Event tickets can be purchased at https://2017jayrobinsonawardgala.eventbrite.com.

To learn more about becoming a sponsor for the 2017 Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award Gala, view the 2017 Jay Robinson Sponsorship Packet.

If you are interested in discussing a sponsorship, contact Keith Poston at kposton@ncforum.org or call 919-781-6833.

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Excerpt from:

Hui, T. “NC may change what is labeled a low-performing school.” The News & Observer. 4/26/17.

Democratic Governor Roy Cooper held his first Education Cabinet meeting yesterday, calling on members to work together and eschew ideology and politics. “We all owe the citizens of this state to put all that political stuff aside … regardless of what happens, we need to be working in the same direction,” he said

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But politics did crop up earlier in the meeting. When asked to introduce his staff, cabinet member Mark Johnson, the state’s Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, made introductions and then pointed out one significant omission.

“And maybe one day I’ll have a chief of staff,” he said.

The comment is a reference to a lawsuit the State Board of Education is engaged in over legislation passed during a special session in December that transferred some of the State Board’s power to the superintendent. Under the law, Johnson would have hiring authority on certain personnel that the State Board currently selects. One of those positions is his own chief of staff. He can make recommendations, but the ultimate decision rests with the State Board. There is a temporary restraining order in place halting the transfer of powers until a court can decide the case. The hearing is scheduled to start on June 29.

Johnson is a party to the lawsuit and has been critical of the State Board’s position with regards to the legislation and lawsuit. State Board Chair Bill Cobey, a Republican, is also a member of the Education Cabinet and attended the meeting yesterday.

The same law transferring powers to the superintendent also limits the power of the governor, but that is the subject of a separate lawsuit.

The bulk of the Education Cabinet meeting, however, was about deciding on the Cabinet’s focus as it meets regularly during Cooper’s tenure. In particular, Cooper was interested in talking about early childhood education, but the group also talked about other subjects such as workforce development, high school diploma integrity, graduation rates, and how to better gather data on what’s happening with the state’s students.

The Education Cabinet will likely meet again in 3 and a half months, Cooper said.

The members of the Education Cabinet are:

• Superintendent Mark Johnson
• UNC System President Margaret Spellings
• State Board of Education Chair Bill Cobey
• NC Community College System President Jimmy Williamson
• NC Independent Colleges & Universities President Hope Williams
• Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen
• Secretary of Commerce Tony Copeland

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Excerpt from:
Granados, A. “Governor kicks off inaugural Education Cabinet meeting.” EducationNC. 4/28/17.

North Carolina lawmakers would look at how to split school districts into smaller ones under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House.

House Bill 704 would create a joint legislative study committee to look into whether legislation should be introduced to allow for the breakup of previously merged school systems. The committee would also consider how to divide school districts and whether a local referendum or petition would be needed before a district could be split.

“This is a bill to create a study on whether or not some large school systems should be broken up,” said Rep. Bill Brawley, a Republican from Mecklenburg County and one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “It is merely a study and is not aimed for any particular school system.”

The bill was approved 104-16 and now goes to the Senate. If approved, the committee made up of state lawmakers would make a final report by May 1, 2018.

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Excerpt from:

Hui, T. “Bill to study breaking up school districts passes NC House.” The News & Observer. 4/26/17.

Some folks can’t get enough of summer. Others see it as a problem that needs fixing.

For more than a dozen years, North Carolina has mandated the beginning and end of summer vacation for public schools. The law was designed to support tourism at the state’s beaches and mountain getaways, and appease parents who were unhappy as some districts kept moving up the first day of school.

But as studies show flexible school calendars could improve student performance, the law faces its strongest challenge yet. Close to 60 bills have been filed in the General Assembly this year that would exempt local districts, move up the first day of school, or do away with state mandates altogether.

“We know that summer learning loss is one of the biggest issues,” said Leanne Winner with the North Carolina School Boards Association. “The easiest way to deal with that would be to not have as long as break — you wouldn’t have as much loss.”

Lining up in favor of a longer summer are the same associations representing hotels, restaurants and real estate agents that joined many parents in supporting the original 2004 law. They say a traditional summer break helps schools, with tourism generating almost $1.8 billion in revenues in 2015, according to the state’s economic development organization.

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Excerpt from:

Robertson, G. “North Carolina’s long summer vacations are being challenged.” Associated Press. 4/23/17.

President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that requires Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to study whether and how the federal government has overstepped its legal authority in K-12 schools, a move he framed as part of a broader effort to shift power from Washington to states and local communities.

“Previous administrations have wrongfully forced states and schools to comply with federal whims and dictate what our kids are taught,” Trump said at the White House. “But we know that local communities do it best and know it best.”

The order does not invest DeVos with any new authority. She already has broad powers to revise or withdraw policies that her predecessors promulgated.

Rob Goad, a department official, said the order gives DeVos 300 days to conduct a review to identify any regulations or guidance related to K-12 schools that is inconsistent with federal law. The review will be led by a task force headed by Robert Eitel, a senior counselor to DeVos who previously worked for a for-profit college company.

The GOP has long been home to lawmakers who say that the federal government should not be involved in public education. But complaints of federal overreach intensified during President Barack Obama’s administration as the department wielded billions of dollars in stimulus funds — and promises of relief from the No Child Left Behind law — to push states toward adopting new teacher evaluations and Common Core academic standards.

The bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 transferred much authority over public schools from the federal government to the states. Many on the right are looking for signs that Trump will do more to unwind the federal role in education.

The Public School Forum is now accepting applications for the 2017-18 cohort of the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

The Public School Forum has led the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program since 1992, and it has continued to be the only statewide program of its kind that focuses on leadership and professional development in the context of education policy. Each new class continues the trend of high caliber participants and is rich in its members’ range of experiences, both professionally and personally. Fellows come from public schools, higher education, community colleges, state agencies, and a diverse array of education organizations across North Carolina. Each class includes a cohort of Fellows who focus on education policy issues and the wide range of factors that influence education in North Carolina. The program is designed for Fellows to learn about issues and perspectives in education that they don’t always encounter in their daily work so that they can be more informed, rounded contributors to the critical education debates that shape the quality and focus of schools. Fellows increase their awareness of how public policy is made, learn whom the key players are in the formation of this policy, and become more confident and involved in the policy-making process. Leadership development is a key focus of the Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Application information for both EPFP Central and EPFP West can be found online at https://www.ncforum.org/education-policy-fellowship-program/.

The second conference of the Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS) will be held at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina on September 22 through September 24, 2017. The purpose of WIELS is to bring women together to share, learn, and grow in leadership. Women who are interested in learning from others and those who are willing to share skills and expertise are urged to attend. This conference aims to provide personalized learning and mentoring opportunities for those who aspire to become or currently serve as educational leaders. The conference theme is Advancing the Leader Within: Building Capacity. Attendees are urged to submit proposals on salient issues, skills, and experiences affecting women leaders.

Conference proposals are due by May 31, 2017. Visit https://wiels.appstate.edu/about-us/call-proposals to submit a proposal.