Education Week - January 29, 2014 - 17

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WISCONSIN: Gov. Scott
Walker acknowledges
high school students
during his State of the
State address at the
capitol in Madison. The
Republican governor
touted his education
record in his Jan. 22
speech, which focused
heavily on the state
economy and fiscal
issues.
New York Governor Spars
The Preschool Open Doors program
will provide financial assistance to
1,200 4-year-olds who are no longer
eligible to begin kindergarten this year
because of an age-requirement change
that moved the cutoff date for incoming
kindergartners, who must be 5 by July 31
instead of Dec. 31.
But that assistance isn't enough to cover
the nearly 5,000 children who will be affected
by the change, said Gov. Abercrombie, who
proposed partnering with 32 classrooms for
direct preschool services and has requested
$8 million in extra resources to support an
additional 1,040 families "who otherwise
have little or no options," he said.
IOWA
GOV. TERRY BRANSTAD (R) * JAN. 14
Gov. Branstad urged lawmakers in his
Condition of the State address to pass
legislation that would require schools to
inform parents if their child is involved
in a bullying incident and allow school
personnel to intervene in any bullying that
takes place off school grounds. He said such
a move would help mitigate the impact of
cyberbullying and other forms of harassment.
"Imagine being unable to escape, as the
bully relentlessly pursues them online, in a
form accessible 24/7. Imagine how bleak it
must be. Imagine how lonely it must feel," he
said in his address.
On the higher education front, Mr.
Branstad is planning to triple funding-to
$1 million this year-for the Hawkeye
State's apprenticeship program, which
allows students to earn a paycheck at a job
site in their field while working toward a
degree. He's also hoping to freeze tuition at
the state's regent universities, continuing a
policy Iowa put in place last year.
Separately, he would like to provide tax
incentives to repurpose old school buildings
and turn them into local centers for economic
development.
MICHIGAN
GOV. RICK SNYDER (R) * FEB. 16
A year after making a $65 million
investment in early education and
creating nearly 19,000 full- and part-time
preschool seats, Gov. Snyder used his
budget address to call for an additional
$65 million investment in early education
in order to make Michigan what he called
a "no-wait state" for pre-K. The state
-KATIE ASH
estimates that before last year's funding
increase, 29,000 4-year-olds from lowincome
families were eligible for state-run
preschools but could not get in because
there were not enough slots.
The governor has also said the
legislature should consider a pilot program
for year-round schools. Other state
lawmakers have backed the creation of
a $10 million fund that at-risk schools
could tap to help pay for the infrastructure
improvements needed for year-round
schools, such as air conditioning. Gov.
Snyder did not refer to that specific plan in
his speech, but said that summer learning
loss is a concern. "There's evidence out
there to show that [students] can lose
much of what they learn because they're
not actively in learning mode," he said.
-CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS
MISSOURI
GOV. JAY NIXON (D) * JAN. 21
The governor used his speech to call for
a large boost in education spending, much
of it intended to place the state on a path
to fully fund its public school foundation
formula.
"On the campaign trail, I'll bet almost all of
us made a promise to invest in our students
and our schools. Well, you know what? It's
time to put our budgets where our campaign
brochures are," Gov. Nixon told state
lawmakers. His proposed fiscal 2015 budget
would fund public K-12 education at $3.5
billion, which would represent a $273 million
increase over the previous fiscal year.
The governor also proposed spending
more on early-childhood education. For
example, the Missouri Preschool Project, a
competitive-grant program that provides
startup funds for districts wanting to expand
preschool classrooms, would see an increase
from $11.7 million to $31.7 million under his
budget plan.
-ALYSON KLEIN
SOUTH DAKOTA
GOV. DENNIS M. DAUGAARD (R) * JAN. 14
Gov. Daugaard highlighted the importance
of career and technical education in
his annual speech to state lawmakers,
promising $5 million in grants to help the
state's CTE high schools strengthen their
offerings, vowing to use state funds to help
bring down the cost of dual-credit courses
for students, and to provide $1.5 million over
the next three years for technical institutes
to offer scholarships in high-needs career
fields.
"CTE is at the intersection of education
and economic development," Mr. Daugaard
said in his fourth State of the State address.
The governor's focus on education was
closely tied to his praise for the state's
economy, which currently features
one of the lowest unemployment
rates in the country, at 3.6 percent.
Efforts such as providing students
and parents with an online portal to
research college and career options, new
remediation programs in high schools
and postsecondary institutions, and
"career camps" in high-needs fields like
engineering have helped, he said.
Gov. Daugaard also made mention of the
Common Core State Standards, saying
he supports the goals of the initiative, but
shares the concerns of some about federal
interference in education and the privacy
of individual student data.
"I hope we will all work together this
year to protect our students without
undermining the important goals
of rigorous and competitive content
standards," he said.
WISCONSIN
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R) * JAN. 22
In a speech to lawmakers that was
-C.A.S.
heavy on economic themes, Gov. Walker
also touted his record on education
issues during his first term, especially
an expansion of vouchers and his
controversial push to curb collectivebargaining
powers for public workers,
including school employees.
The collective-bargaining measure
provoked massive protests, opposition from
teachers' unions, and a failed attempt in
2012 to recall Mr. Walker from office. But
the governor, in his address, argued that the
law is now saving school districts money and
giving them more freedom to base personnel
decisions on performance.
The governor, who is up for re-election this
year and has been mentioned as a possible
GOP presidential contender in 2016, used
the speech to draw a connection between
his policies and recent, positive economic
signs. He inherited a two-year, $3.6 billion
budget deficit upon taking office. The state
recently projected a surplus, based mostly on
improved tax collections. The governor, in his
speech, proposed using some of that money
to pay for tax cuts for state residents.
-SEAN CAVANAGH
With N.Y.C. Mayor on Pre-K
| STATE EDWATCH | What's the best way to
pay for full-day kindergarten in New York
City and the rest of New York state? That
question could lead to a prolonged tussle
between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Gotham
Mayor Bill de Blasio, as the two Democrats
seek to outmaneuver each other on the issue
of pre-K.
Mayor de Blasio wants to raise taxes on
city earners making over $500,000 a year
to pay for universal pre-K. He pledged to
do so when he was running for mayor. But
state lawmakers would have to approve any
such local tax, and he could face big political
headwinds.
Gov. Cuomo, meanwhile, has laid out a plan
to funnel $1.5 billion to provide universal pre-K
over five years to the whole state. (The mayor's
plan would yield $340 million for universal
pre-K over five years.)
The governor seemed interested in defusing
any conflict when he told the New York Times
that he would provide whatever funding the
new mayor wanted for pre-K: "Whatever he
needs. As fast as he can phase in, we'll fund
it." (He didn't cite a dollar amount.) But he
said that the legislature was unlikely to
approve the tax increase de Blasio wants, and
questioned why the mayor would raise taxes
to fund something the state had its own plans
to fully support.
Cases of Ed. Interest Added
-BENJAMIN HEROLD
To Supreme Court's Docket
| THE SCHOOL LAW BLOG | The U.S. Supreme
Court has added two issues to its docket
with potential implications for education.
One case involves whether government
agencies may retaliate against public
employees for certain testimony under
oath. Also on Jan. 17, the court added a pair
of cases about whether the police need a
warrant to search the contents of a criminal
suspect's cellphone.
The cellphone cases, United States v.Wurie
(Case No. 13-212) and Riley v. California
(Case No. 13-132), may be relevant for
school discipline because there has been a
growing number of cases in which school
administrators searched students' phones.
The public-employee speech case, Lane
v.Franks (Case No. 13-483), involves the
administrator of a training program for at-risk
youth run out of Central Alabama Community
College in Alexander City, Ala. He was fired
after testifying in the criminal trial of a state
legislator later convicted of creating a no-show
job for herself in the program.
-ANDREW UJIFUSA
-MARK WALSH
Calif. Board Approves Rules
For School-Finance System
| STATE EDWATCH | The California State Board
of Education has approved new regulations
governing K-12 finance under the state's new
Local Control Funding Formula, which directs
more money to needier students and gradually
raises overall state K-12 funding until 2020.
Districts and schools with relatively high
percentages of low-income children, Englishlanguage
learners, and students in foster
care will receive certain flexibility under the
formula to spend money at their discretion
on a districtwide or schoolwide basis. At the
same Jan. 16 meeting, the state board also
approved a template for Local Control and
Accountability Plans, which districts and
counties must use to involve the community
to a greater extent than required previously
when making budget decisions.
-A.U.
EDUCATION WEEK | January 29, 2014 | www.edweek.org | 17
Andy Manis/AP
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Education Week - January 29, 2014

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