Education Week - October 2, 2019 - 1

To inspire and empower.

Vol. 39 * Issue 7 * October 2, 2019

edweek.org

Civil Rights
Data Report
May Shift
Ed. Dept. seeks to add,
scale back sensitive topics

Tailyr Irvine for Education Week

By Andrew Ujifusa

Kelsey and Dusty Jones walk with their daughter, Cali, at Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell, Mont. Three different parents at Stillwater are plaintiffs
in a case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court over Montana's tax-credit scholarship program.

High Court
Case Tests
Faith-Based
Use of Tax
Credits

By Mark Walsh
Kalispell, Mont.

A national debate that has simmered for 200
years-whether public funds may go to the coffers
of religious schools-is set to take center stage at
the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that originated
in this small Montana city over a state tax credit
for donations to groups providing private school
scholarships.
The dispute, Espinoza v. Montana Department of
Revenue (Case No. 18-1195), which will be argued
in the term that starts Oct. 7, is potentially the most
significant high court case for K-12 education in
years.

A ruling in favor of parents seeking to use the
scholarships at religious schools could affect
state constitutional provisions in at least 37
states that bar the inclusion of religious schools
in educational choice programs such as vouchers,
tax credits for scholarship donations, individual
tax credits or deductions, and education savings
accounts.
The Montana program, passed by a Republicanmajority legislature in 2015 and modeled on similar
programs in 18 other states, is quite small, authorizing $150 annual tax credits for scholarship contributions. Big Sky Scholarships, the only scholarship
organization to emerge so far, provides $500 scholPAGE 10>

State-District Tension Over Educator Pensions
There's a tussle over the right balance in picking up the costly tab
By Daarel Burnette II
States and districts are increasingly at odds
over who should be on the hook for crushing
K-12 pension costs, which are starting to crowd
out the money available for teacher salaries and
other academic initiatives.
The nation as a whole last year spent around
$12,000 on every one of its 51 million public
school children. Robert Costrell, a top school
finance researcher at the University of Arkansas, estimates that K-12 pension contributions
and newly earned benefits amounted to almost
$1,445 per student last year-more than a 10th
of per-pupil spending overall. That's triple the
amount the nation spent in 2004.

Pension costs are typically split among
employees, districts, and states. States have
been blamed for inept management, leading
to unsustainable pension debt. At the same
time, states want districts to be aware of the
pension burden when they negotiate teacher
contracts that can lead to large payouts upon
retirement.
But in trying to reset the balance, there's a debate in states including California, Connecticut,
and Illinois over how much wealthy districts
should pay toward pensions versus how much
poor districts should pay.
New research suggests that the way many
states have sought to rebalance pension costs
effectively undercuts and reverses the effects

of progressive school funding formulas and
worsens inequities between wealthy and poor
districts.
The reason: Wealthier districts typically have
older and more stable teaching forces. Their
pension costs are typically much higher than
those of low-income districts, which have a
younger teaching force and high staff turnover.
That means a wealthier district may benefit
more if the state takes on a bigger proportion of
the pension load.
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, with billions of dollars in surplus cash to
spend, decided to make an in-kind $850 million paydown of districts' pension debts earPAGE 8 >

Proposals from the U.S. Department of
Education to change its massive, biennial
collection of data from school districts could
significantly alter what and how much information is available about topics that have
long been of interest to educators, advocates,
and researchers, from discipline data involving the youngest learners to teacher pay and
sexual misconduct.
If the proposal released last month is finalized after a 60-day comment period, the
department's office for civil rights would
begin collecting new information about
documented incidents of sexual violence
committed by and against school staff, as
well as new data about harassment and bullying in schools based on perceived religious
affiliation.
But other data that had previously been
collected would no longer be required by
the department's office for civil rights. For
example, the proposal would end breaking
down preschool student enrollment by race.
Such a move could make it much more difficult to calculate inequalities in areas such
PAGE 12 >

Educators Tackle
Low Usage Rates
For Digital Tools
By Alyson Klein
Evaluating the usage of ed-tech products is
tricky, complicated, and oftentimes confusing. But it can be done.
Consider the case of the Granite County
school district in Utah. It partnered with
a company called LearnPlatform to measure whether time spent on three particular
pieces of software led to a bump in student
achievement.
The district found that one program had
great results for English-language learners and Native American students. Another
seemed to get results when students used it
as often as the manufacturer suggested, but
going beyond that didn't lead to better outcomes. A third was barely used at all, and the
district is considering nixing it.
But most districts aren't nearly as sophisticated as Granite.
Report after report cites low usage numPAGE 14 >

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - October 2, 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 2, 2019