Top Three
Some Districts Plan to Continuing to Offer Online Learning: Most big districts will offer virtual learning this fall, a sign of pandemic’s effect, via ChalkBeat.
"Nearly all of the nation’s 20 largest school districts will have a remote option this fall, with at least half offering more full-time virtual schooling than they did before the pandemic, a Chalkbeat review found. The shifts suggest that districts’ expansion of online schooling is poised to be a lasting consequence of the pandemic, despite longstanding questions about its effectiveness."
“Certain students might be dropping out in lieu of remote learning,” said Bree Dusseault, an analyst with the Center on Reinventing Public Education."
K-12 Budgets Should Be in Great Shape. But Inflation Is Taking a Toll: Via EdWeek
"The overall economy has been strong, but is there reason to worry about what happens if the economy heads south again?"
LPI's Michael Griffith: "State funding comes primarily from sales and income taxes. State funding accounts for about 50% of the money that comes in to public education, and sales and income taxes can fluctuate greatly. Any time there’s a downturn in the economy, there’s a concern there."
"The local money coming in from property taxes is more stable and tends not to fluctuate. What you end up seeing, unfortunately, is that the districts that are more reliant on state funding tend to be low-wealth areas and the ones less reliant are high wealth. The places that have the highest percentage of at-risk kids have the lowest property wealth, they are the ones that tend to get hit hardest in downturns."
Districts Have Rushed to Buy Tutoring Programs: EdWeek asks, "Is Their Evidence Base Keeping Up?"
"For companies, building a strong evidence base will be increasingly important to their success in a competitive market. And experts say establishing a research base could also lay the foundation for tutoring to remain a more integral part of the K-12 system, long term."
"As a new company, launched in 2021, Tutored by Teachers hasn’t done a trial or study, and isn’t necessarily rushing to do so. The provider — which offers one-on-one and small group online intervention and uses credentialed teachers exclusively — targets struggling learners and mostly serves students of color or students living in poverty, two groups that typically don’t score as well on standardized tests. “Candidly, test scores are not great, and it is not a great reflection of a school,” Akbar said. “Schools are more than likely not very willing to share how kids in tutoring did versus kids not in tutoring.”
"There’s a balancing act for school districts between prioritizing a product or service being evidence-based and making a solution that is affordable and reaches as many students as needed."
Federal
White House: Can’t decide when to declare pandemic over, reports Politico.
“Biden officials in recent months privately discussed how many daily Covid-19 deaths it would take to declare the virus tamed.”
“The discussions, which took place across the administration, and have not been previously disclosed, involved a scenario in which 200 or fewer Americans die per day, a target kicked around before officials ultimately decided not to incorporate it into pandemic planning.”
Revisiting Build Back Better and ARP: A surprising number of articles over the weekend examining last year's negotiations.
How the White House Lost Joe Manchin, via the Washington Post.
"The statement drafted by White House aides two days later named Manchin as the focus of negotiations. White House aides sent a draft of the statement to Manchin’s office ahead of its release. Manchin’s chief of staff responded by asking the White House legislative director either to remove the senator’s name, or to add Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)."
"Three days later, Manchin declared his opposition to the legislation on Fox News. The negotiations never recovered, and Build Back Better — encompassing years of Democratic policy aspirations to reduce child poverty, transform the nation’s housing system, enact new early education programs, tax the rich, and more — was effectively dead."
"After his Fox News interview, Manchin turned his phone off, which meant he missed a call from Biden, who left a frustrated voice mail. When the pair connected, the conversation was heated and tense. For several weeks, Biden and Manchin did not speak again. In private, the president criticized Manchin to aides, expressing doubt about his intentions."
"The evidence suggests the breakdown was months in the making, driven by ideological and political rifts between Manchin and Biden that mirror deeper fissures in the Democratic Party. Among the unresolved policy disputes was a battle over an expanded tax credit for parents that the White House viewed as a signature antipoverty program — but that Manchin opposed as too generous and expensive."
“The White House did not know this was a red line for Manchin,” said one person in direct communication with both Manchin and senior White House officials, referring to the Dec. 16 statement. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations. “There was a complete misunderstanding of the situation. They really thought they were still all in the sandbox. That’s the tragedy of this.”
"Manchin’s concerns about the administration’s economic stewardship deepened over the summer as inflation looked like more of a threat. He consulted occasionally with Larry Summers, the Democratic former treasury secretary, who has been fiercely critical of the White House’s stimulus plan. At a previously reported July 14 lunch of Democratic senators that Biden attended, Manchin said he was concerned about inflation and that West Virginians were already seeing much higher prices. The next week, Biden publicly downplayed the threat of inflation, telling reporters most of the price increases are “expected to be temporary.”
Yellen Wanted Biden Relief Plan Cut by a Third, via Bloomberg.
“Janet Yellen, worried by the specter of inflation, initially urged Biden administration officials to scale back the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan by a third, according to an advance copy of a biography on the Treasury secretary."
Covid-19 Research
The U.S. Has Wasted Over 82 Million Covid Vaccine Doses: Via NBC News.
"Pharmacies, states, U.S. territories and federal agencies discarded 82.1 million Covid vaccine doses from December 2020 through mid-May — just over 11 percent of the doses the federal government distributed, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared with NBC News. That’s an increase from the 65 million doses the CDC told the Associated Press had been wasted as of late February."
"The overall amount of waste is in line with World Health Organization estimates for large vaccination campaigns."
"The millions of wasted vaccine doses include some that expired on pharmacy shelves before they could be used, others that were spoiled by the thousands when power went out or freezers broke, and still others that were tossed at the end of the day when no one wanted the last few doses in an opened vial."
“We often have to open a multidose vial at the end of the day for a single walk-in,” CVS said in a statement. “Those vials have a very limited shelf life, which unfortunately means unused vaccine will be disposed of. The same challenge is faced by others administering vaccinations.”
Covid Deadly for Working Class: "Working-class Americans died of COVID-19 at five times the rate of those in higher socioeconomic positions during the first year of the pandemic, according to a study."
"Working-class employees faced “elevated infection risks,” according to a USF summary of the study, compared to higher-paid workers who were “more likely to have fewer exposure risks, options to work remotely, paid sick leave and better access to quality health care.”
BA.4 and BA.5: Potentially the most transmissible Omicron subvariants yet.
Kids With Long Covid: Via NYT.
State
California: Legislature disagrees with Gov. Newsom on how to spend additional billions for education.
"School districts and charter schools would get $4.5 billion more than Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing for the Local Control Funding Formula, under a draft 2022-23 state budget that the Legislature released this week."
"But to do it, lawmakers would cut into some of Newsom’s favored proposals like his early literacy proposal for $500 million over five years to train and hire literacy coaches and reading specialists in elementary schools and $200 million to create or expand multilingual school or classroom libraries with “culturally relevant texts” to support reading. The Legislature also wants to cut an additional $1.5 billion to establish community schools in schools with concentrations of low-income families; the 2021-22 budget included $3 billion to launch the program. "
Indiana: IPS teachers may miss out on bonuses after quarantining for COVID.
Maryland: Prince William County Schools has partnered with Paper to provide K-12 students with unlimited tutoring, seven days a week and at no cost to families.
Tennessee: "Higher education officials, like their counterparts across the country, are grappling with declining enrollment at colleges throughout the state. But a precipitous drop in high school graduates enrolling in college—the lowest numbers seen in a decade—has raised alarm bells and prompted state officials to double down on efforts to slow the decline and attract more students."
"According to a new report by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) released May 23, “College Going and the Class of 2021,” the percentage of Tennessee public high school graduates attending college in the fall semester following their graduation fell from 56.8 percent to 52.8 percent. It was the lowest college enrollment rate since the commission began tracking the numbers in 2011."
International
China: Beijing to reopen schools, workplaces.
Economic Recovery
Americans Are Deeply Pessimistic About the Economy: WSJ-NORC Poll:
“Some 83% of respondents described the state of the economy as poor or not so good. More than one-third, or 35%, said they aren’t satisfied at all with their financial situation. That was the highest level of dissatisfaction since NORC began asking the question every few years starting in 1972."
“Just over one quarter of respondents, 27%, said they have a good chance of improving their standard of living—a 20-point drop from last year—while just under half of respondents, 46%, said they don’t.”
“The share of respondents who said their financial situation had gotten worse in the past few years was 38%. That marked the only time other than in the aftermath of the 2007-09 recession that more than three in 10 respondents said their pocketbooks were worse off.”
Supply Chain Shock: Via Citi:
"Bottom line, we find that supply chain pressures have proved to be more persistent, and apparently deep rooted, than we had expected even a few months ago," strategists led by Global Chief Economist of Citi Research Nathan Sheets wrote in a comprehensive note. "And the Russia-Ukraine conflict seems to be further amplifying the stresses."
"Given these realities, any hopes of near-term improvement in supply chain conditions have been shattered. The challenges in the months ahead look to be as acute as at any time over the past two years."
Remote Work Backlash: Via Axios.
"A growing number of corporate executives want to put an end to the work-from-home revolution. But workers have gotten used to the flexibility — and have the leverage to demand it, writes Javier E. David, Axios managing editor for business."
"A University of Chicago study found remote workers put in longer hours but were less productive — effects that were especially pronounced among parents. Workers spent more time in meetings, the study found, but lost out on important face time with their managers."
Where The Jobs Moved: Good visual from Axios.
"The private sector has recovered 99% of jobs lost, but the public sector has regained just 58%. Businesses can adjust compensation and policies quickly. Governments were slower."
Resources
Whole Child Policy Toolkit: Via LPI.
Remembering D-Day:
"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's message to the troops before the invasion, 1944 (Audio)
Chinese D-Day Ranger who fought on Omaha Beach set to receive second Congressional Gold Medal.
Across the Pond:
We have this hysterical story from Former Royal protection officer Richard Griffin about a picnic he went on with the Queen at Balmoral and an encounter they had with two American tourists who did not realize they were in the company of the monarch.
And the Gloucester cheese rolling returns after pandemic.
"Competitors chased a 7lb (3kg) Double Gloucester cheese down the almost vertical Coopers Hill in Brockworth."
Women’s cheese-roll champ Abby Lampe, 21, is a North Carolina native and recent graduate of NC State University.
Video. I'm worried about the "catchers" at the bottom of the hill.