LINCOLN — Nebraska teens, under a 2019 state law, must clear a civics requirement to graduate. Immigrants must pass a test on civics and U.S. history to gain U.S. citizenship.

Now a bipartisan group of Nebraska state senators wants to write into law that new members of the officially nonpartisan Legislature take a 20-question civics test — and publicly post the scores.

A passing grade would not be required, and individual answers would remain confidential. But the “raw scores” would be listed on the Legislature’s official website and also on the lawmaker’s official public biography.

Results would not affect the ability of any lawmaker to hold or continue to serve in a public role, according to Legislative Bill 1066, which should not “be construed to add to or alter the qualifications for office established in the Constitution of Nebraska.”

The introducer of LB 1066, State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, said the effort was inspired by conservative and progressive constituents alike who have questioned the level of understanding and appreciation lawmakers have of U.S. government and responsibility to steward institutions that protect them.

With the country’s 250th birthday approaching, Fredrickson thought it was a good time for the civics test law. The measure is co-sponsored by lawmakers from diverse political backgrounds: State Sens. Stan Clouse of Kearney, Tanya Storer of Whitman and Paul Strommen of Sidney are Republicans; State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha is a progressive independent. Fredrickson is a Democrat.

“We have a very serious job,” Fredrickson said of all 49 state senators. “We create, we amend, and we repeal laws. So ensuring that folks who are in that position are continually educating themselves on our responsibility to uphold the Constitution … felt like an important step to take.”

Fredrickson said he has at times heard colleagues say things like, “Well the governor is the boss.” He recalled a couple of recent situations when the Legislature voted to approve a bill then, following the governor’s veto, certain senators flipped their votes and buried the proposal.

One such occasion came last year when, despite three consecutive bipartisan votes to lift a lifetime ban on public food aid for some Nebraskans with past drug felonies, the . The only change was Gov. Jim Pillen’s veto.

That prompted Fredrickson’s debate remark: “We were elected to lead, not to follow, and certainly not to flinch.”

He reminded colleagues that the Legislature is a separate and coequal branch of government to the executive and judicial arms. Such occasions gave rise to his thought: “How do we refresh our memories of the basic principles of how our country works and how our role as legislators should be exercised.”

Storer said she was encouraged to back a bill she believes should get universal support.

She said that while lawmakers come to the Legislature with different experiences, political backgrounds and home districts that represent rural, urban and suburban neighborhoods, a common ground should be a foundational grasp and appreciation of civics and the country’s road to democracy.

“It’s not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue,” she said. “We don’t know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve come from, right?”

Admittedly, not everybody loves test-taking, Storer said. She chuckled and said her palms even got a bit sweaty thinking about the process, though not to the point of doubting its value. She said public posting of raw scores might be a deterrent for some, but underscored that a failed grade won’t get anyone removed from office.

“If anything, it would prompt us all to be more intentional about studying civics and basic principles of government,” Storer said.

Fredrickson said he is unaware of any past efforts to require a civics test of Nebraska lawmakers, and believes the law would be a first for a state. A public hearing will be scheduled for LB 1066.

Exam questions could be pulled from the civics portion of the test administered to naturalization candidates by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or an equivalent designed by the Nebraska Secretary of State or Nebraska Department of Education.

The Clerk of the Legislature would provide the test, within 90 days of a state senator taking office, that would include 20 randomly selected questions about U.S. history and civics. A lawmaker who doesn’t reach a passing score would be invited, not required, to attend a voluntary civic literacy seminar conducted by the Nebraska State Historical Society or Legislative Research Office.

For Nebraska students, answering questions from the civics portion of the federal citizenship and naturalization test is one of three options Nebraska school boards have to fulfill the state legal requirement aimed at ensuring students are prepared “to be competent and responsible citizens who engage in public debate knowledgeably and in a civil manner.” Other suggested options for students include a project on an important American figure or attendance at a public meeting.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.

New data shows that while has climbed in recent years, Hoosier educators still earn less than peers in neighboring states — a gap union leaders and some legislators say threatens teacher retention and classroom success.

Members of the Interim Study Committee on Fiscal Policy spent much of their final meeting on Friday examining teacher and administrator salaries, student-to-teacher ratios, and other education funding trends. 

The statewide median teacher salary was $60,100 as of the 2025 fiscal year, compared with $98,193 for school administrators and $114,825 for corporation administrators, according to a presentation prepared by the Legislative Services Agency.

The mean salary across Indiana was $63,424 for teachers; $99,556 for school administrators; and $116,731 for corporation administrators.

Though average salaries rose about 4% from 2024 to 2025, LSA staff told the committee that when adjusted for inflation, median wages for teachers and administrators have actually declined since 2020.

Suburban districts continue to pay the most, while teachers in rural and small-town schools saw the smallest wage growth, according to the LSA analysis.

Public schools spent roughly $824 million on teacher and administrator benefits in 2024, nearly 80% of it for health insurance.

‘We simply have to raise teacher pay’

Joel Hand, representing both the American Federation of Teachers Indiana and the Indiana School Social Workers Association, told the committee that Indiana “still lags far behind our other Midwestern states.”

He pointed to Wisconsin, for example, where teacher salaries averaged $65,196 for the 2023-24 school year. Ohio, meanwhile, reported average teacher pay at $72,644.

“If we want to keep those students who are getting degrees in education from leaving to go to Illinois or Ohio or Wisconsin or Michigan, we simply have to raise teacher pay,” Hand said.

He emphasized that Indiana currently ranks 39th in the nation for average teacher salary, citing data from the National Education Association. 

“If we want to address teacher retention … we have to raise teacher pay across the board,” Hand told lawmakers.

Gail Zeheralis, with the Indiana State Teachers Association, echoed those concerns. She reminded the committee that the 2019 Governor’s Teacher Compensation Commission had set a goal of a $60,000 average teacher salary.

“A $40,000 salary in 2019 equates to roughly $50,000 today, and a $60,000 average in 2019 equates to about $76,000 in today’s dollars,” she said. “Indiana must continue increasing state funding.”

LSA staff told lawmakers that statewide, student-to-teacher ratios have declined — from 17.6-to-1 in 2019 to 15.6-to-1 in 2025 — while the student-to-administrator ratio dropped from 208-to-1 to 196.9-to-1 over the same period. 

The trend, said LSA Assistant Director Austin Spears, mirrors national patterns but is “really driven by an increase in the count of teachers” rather than student enrollment growth. 

Still, Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, noted the roughly 1,300 open, unfilled teaching positions on the Indiana Department of Education’s website.

But other committee members questioned whether funding decisions at the local level steer too few dollars directly to classrooms. 

“It’s frustrating up here … that we want to take care of teachers as best we can, because we think that helps us educate kids better,” said Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville. “But dollars going into the school system from this body don’t seem to always make it into the classroom or teachers’ pockets.”

Hand responded that “the erosion of collective bargaining for teachers at the local level” has weakened educators’ ability to advocate for fair pay and working conditions.

Hand additionally called attention to Indiana’s severe shortage of school social workers, which he and others flagged as a “critical” issue in the midst of growing mental health needs across the state’s schools.

The latest data from the state and national school social worker associations showed that Indiana has a student-to-social worker ratio of 1,829 to 1 — massively above the recommended ratio of 250 to 1.

“With the enormous crisis we have in Indiana — and really throughout the country — with mental health in our schools, this is a ratio that I would strongly challenge you as members of the General Assembly to work on,” Hand said.

School social workers are different from school counselors and are primarily focused on students’ lives outside of the classroom and on helping deal with issues outside of school that interfere with academic progress. 

Hand said that despite holding master’s degrees and being specially-certified, school social workers are typically not considered to be teachers and many are not on teacher contracts. 

He urged legislators to include social workers in the state’s definition of “teacher” for funding purposes, arguing that change will make it easier for school social workers to get hired or be qualified for raises.

Possible legislative solutions

Lawmakers and education advocates pointed to — approved earlier this year — as a starting point for potential reform, but said additional changes are needed to make teacher pay competitive.

That law from $40,000 to $45,000 beginning June 30, and increased the share of state tuition support that school districts must spend on teacher compensation from 62% to 65%.

It also created a statewide Teacher Recruitment Program to help fund training and placement in high-need schools, while requiring annual reports on expanding affordable health plan options for educators.

Several lawmakers on the committee signaled interest in going further. 

Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, suggested offering weighted funding or incentive pay for shortage areas such as special education and STEM fields — “a market-based approach,” he said, that would help schools recruit for the hardest-to-fill roles.

Baldwin continued to push for greater transparency in local spending to ensure that “dollars reach classrooms and teachers,” rather than being absorbed by administrative growth.

Qaddoura additionally proposed a deeper analysis of district administrative structures to distinguish between small charter schools and large corporations when comparing salary ratios, noting that such distinctions “would give us a clearer picture of where our dollars are actually going.”

Other ideas discussed included restoring stronger collective bargaining rights for teachers and giving districts more flexibility to redirect certain capital project funds — like those used for athletic facilities — toward salaries. 

“We just need to somehow loosen up that money for teachers over another astro-turf football field,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle.

No formal recommendations were adopted, but lawmakers said the findings will guide education discussions in the 2026 legislative session. 

“We’ve seen the data,” Thompson said. “Now we need to figure out what levers we can pull.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.

Matthew Childress arrived at Matt’s El Rancho, an Austin restaurant, on Sept. 4 with mixed feelings of anticipation and grief. He greeted the other parents with hugs.

This group had largely been strangers two months earlier, before they learned that their children at Camp Mystic were missing after a massive flash flood, before many waited all night for answers about whether search crews had found any kids alive, before parents had to do the unimaginable and identify their child’s body.

Now, in their torturous sadness, they shared a bond. Over the past several weeks, these parents had pushed their ideas for summer camp reforms through the state Legislature with remarkable speed.

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The moms and dads were gathering in Austin from Beaumont, Dallas, Bellville and other Texas cities. One family came from Alabama. The next day, they expected the Texas governor to sign the bills that they championed.

The changes would require kids’ camps to move overnight cabins out of floodplains, to follow weather warnings with radios and install alert systems, and to train staff on emergency plans including where to move children to higher ground if needed.

The parents believe any one of these steps would have kept their own children alive during the July 4 flood, which claimed along the Guadalupe River, including 25 Camp Mystic campers, two counselors and the camp’s director. One camper remains missing.

Childress, a consulting executive, had driven from Houston to Austin with his wife, Wendie, an attorney. He was one of a pair of dads who helped organize the group for political action. He wanted to see something positive come from the tragedy.

Chloe Childress was one of the two counselors who died. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hailed her and counselor Katherine Ferruzzo as heroes for trying to save the 8- and 9-year-old girls in their cabin instead of saving themselves.

Matthew Childress, 50, had always seen his daughter as his hero — a smart, funny girl who put her whole being into pursuing what she wanted, like when she launched her own online slime-selling business in elementary school. She was her parents’ energetic child, always running around and always sweaty. She was their music-loving Taylor Swift fan who wrote her own songs.

She grew up surrounded by adoring friends as they moved toward adulthood. She ordered Amazon decorations for their parties. She rapped Nicki Minaj lines. She made her friends wear “Can’t wait to gamble today” t-shirts at a Bahamas casino.

Now, as he ate fajitas and chatted with the other parents in the restaurant, Matthew Childress felt like he was nearing the end of a sprint of activity. The overflowing funeral for Chloe. Getting involved in the camp legislation and coordinating with the other parents and lobbyists to meet with officials and testify in support of the new laws at the Capitol.

Keeping so busy had helped Childress avoid the dark places in his mind. He didn’t know what he would do when the camp reform bills finally became law and he had to face his grief head-on.

“If I can solve this problem, it’s almost like I can bring her back,” he said. “If I can solve it, I’ll save her.”

To Wendie Childress, every day had felt like her worst nightmare, something to survive hour-by-hour. Her daughter had been her best friend, and Chloe’s absence felt like an insurmountable void. Chloe had been moving into a new phase of life, graduating from high school, taking a trip to Europe, getting ready for college.

“And then,” her mom said, “it was just like, fade to black.”

When he’d gone to identify Chloe’s body, Matthew Childress hoped that she had died quickly. When he saw her in a makeshift morgue on July 5, he saw wounds on her face.

He found he couldn’t leave her without doing what he had done compulsively since she was a baby. He kissed her 17 times. It was an arbitrary number, a code between them.

Goodnight. I love you.

* * *

Matthew and Wendie Childress had planned to celebrate July 4 by sharing a meal and drinks with friends at their home in Houston, then going to see fireworks at a country club. Their 15-year-old son was away at a friend’s family ranch. Chloe was at Camp Mystic, where she’d spent every July for 10 years.

The all-female camp represented tradition for women in the Childress family. Matthew Childress’ mother and sister had been campers there. When they dropped 8-year-old Chloe off at camp for the first time, one of his nieces, also a camper, was there to hold her hand.

Chloe made friends as she returned year after year. Five would speak at her funeral, dressed all in white, like they had for camp prayer services. They would tell stories about Chloe’s penchant for dropping into the splits, her stubborn conviction that she was right even when she was wrong and her dorky way of bringing up random facts.

They would talk about how she always laughed, even when she chipped her tooth at her own party to celebrate her high school graduation from the private Kinkaid School. They would remember how she would rush over in her Jeep to shop for makeup. They would recount how she kept riding Lime scooters and falling off of them.

Their friend lived fully.

This year was Chloe’s first summer as a Mystic counselor. She’d been accepted to her dream school, the University of Texas at Austin, the campus where her parents had met during their freshman years. She’d packed her turquoise trunk. She grabbed her lovey blankets with teddy bear heads she’d had her whole life. She’d covered a small bulletin board with photos using gold pushpins, then forgot to take it — so her mom had hurriedly brought it to her before she and other Houston-based counselors drove to camp.

Her mom had followed Chloe’s June 27 trip to Kerr County through the GPS locator on her phone until she arrived, safe.

On July 4, Wendie Childress started getting texts from other parents. The Guadalupe River had flooded early that morning. As they realized the severity of the storm, the Childresses threw together overnight bags and started the five-hour drive to Kerr County. Chloe might need a ride home, they figured.

They didn’t yet know the extent of the devastation along the Guadalupe: Ten inches of rain had fallen on the south fork of the river in three hours. The river’s main channel rose more than 20 feet, sweeping away trees, houses and vehicles. Camp Mystic was among the first places in the path of destruction.

The Kerr County judge who is supposed to be in charge of emergency response was . The county emergency management coordinator was home sick and asleep. The county sheriff got involved only after dire calls for help began coming in. The local river authority had last year with pursuing state funding to build a flood warning system.

Before the Childresses reached San Antonio, a camp representative called to say they couldn’t find Chloe.

Matthew Childress reminded himself that his daughter was strong. She was a fighter. The machine, he called her.

“She was a force …. beyond belief,” he would later say. “Everything she faced, she figured out how to conquer.”

Surely, she was in a tree, waiting for rescue. Surely, a camp that operated next to a for 99 years had staff who knew how to deal with floods.

* * *

They arrived at Ingram Elementary School, the designated reunification center, joining other distressed Camp Mystic parents. Strangers brought snacks and drinks.

Someone started to call out the names of girls who were ready to go home. The first list was short, Childress recalled, and didn’t include Chloe’s name.

Childress gripped his sister-in-law’s arm. Tears fell. It hit him: “This is real,” he said. “I might not see my daughter again.”

Amid the wails and cries of parents, Blake Bonner, 39, waited to learn what happened to his 9-year-old daughter Lila.

Bonner, who lives in Dallas and works in finance, was in Austin with family for the July 4 weekend when he heard about the flood. Lila was at Camp Mystic for the first time, following in her mom’s footsteps. They wanted her to have the same experience of being outside, making friends and developing her faith.

Lila had never spent that long away from home before they dropped her off to a smiling, excited Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo, who were in charge of the cabin called Bubble Inn.

Now, Bonner kept cautiously showing people Lila’s photo, asking if anyone knew what happened to his empathetic, animal-loving older child who had dreamed of starting her own animal rescue one day.

“She was a perfect, just-turned-9-year-old girl that had a lot of life in front of her,” he said.

The parents heard so many rumors as they waited. They got reports that their kids were going to a hospital. That they were being rescued from trees. That they were stranded on an island in the river.

Bonner called it a pingpong of hope and defeat. He couldn’t help but get his hopes up as girls’ names continued to be read aloud.

Bonner’s wife, still in Austin, got the call about identifying Lila’s body. She called her husband, hysterical. “I knew immediately,” he said.

Later, it would occur to him that they were lucky in some terrible way because they didn’t have to keep waiting for someone to tell them she had died in the flood.

Childress kept his vigil for hours that afternoon and well into the night, not knowing what to do, awkwardly hugging people who left with their kids. He and other parents of the missing — parents he would come to know well — eventually moved to wait in a new location, Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville.

Another Christian organization with dorm-like rooms took Childress and his wife in for the night. He lay down and stared at the ceiling, knowing that search teams with infrared cameras planned to keep scanning the river in the dark.

The next day, the waiting parents watched news conferences and had limited chances to ask officials questions. They chit-chatted nervously, Childress recalled, until someone would just break down.

“It was just absolute torture,” he said.

On the evening of July 5, the parents learned search crews that day hadn’t found anyone alive.

Childress dreaded his phone ringing because he knew it might mean bad news.

When he got the call from a Kerr County number, he fell to his knees.

* * *

Back in Houston, Childress spent 20 minutes in the car, unwilling to face his house without his firstborn child. Once inside, he made himself do what he dreaded most: He went into his daughter’s room. He curled up on her bed.

Chloe’s bulletin board showed a kaleidoscope of her life. Photos and memorabilia from camp made up one part of it. He vowed to leave her door open. Later, someone would find Chloe’s camp bulletin board and return it to the Childress family.

On her bedroom vanity was a post-it note on which was scrawled “Isaiah 43:2”. They would include the verse in her funeral pamphlet: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”

Gov. Greg Abbott called legislators back to Austin on for a special legislative session following the 5-month regular session, and Childress knew they were holding hearings on the floods. But the process , with Republicans trying to pass new congressional district maps to favor the GOP and Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state to stall that legislation.

A friend sent the name of a lobbyist to Childress, who saw an opportunity to take action.

Childress connected with Bonner, who’d been also stuck in a cycle of grief and shock.

Bonner couldn’t stop asking why Lila had died. He leaned into his faith; he wanted to see his daughter in heaven again. He concluded that her death didn’t come from some unavoidable act of God. It followed a series of very human errors. (Camp Mystic declined a request for an interview for this story.)

Bonner had been in touch with lobbyists too. A small, pro-bono lobbying team with people from various firms started to form.

“You can’t really legislate what God does,” Bonner figured. “But you can absolutely put in the safeguards to ensure that that [human] free will piece is appropriately balanced.”

Childress emailed the families of the 26 other girls who died — Heaven’s 27, they called them. With the lobbyists’ guidance, the families narrowed their goals. They aimed to present a positive, united front. They considered their recommendations to be in support of saving youth camps. After all, who would send their kids to a camp now if they didn’t know if their kids would be okay?

The lobbyists realized this was different than any work they had done, said Kelly Barnes, who works with HillCo Partners and who attended the same college as Bonner. This was a matter of life and death, and it could have been them in the parents’ shoes.

The group would have a limited window to strike, with no room for error, if the governor called a second 30-day special session. They had to focus.

“It grabbed us in a way we’d never felt before,” Barnes said.

On Aug. 14, a majority of the families met with “the big three”: Abbott, House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The parents took turns talking about their daughters. Barnes said it was the most incredible, raw, emotional advocacy he had seen in his career. The politicians recognized the gravity of the moment, listened with compassion and vowed to act.

The governor told the parents he would be calling a second special session, and that this time he would make camp safety the top priority. Childress said when he heard that, he lost his composure.

“I wasn’t quite expecting that,” he said. That was the same day that he’d been planning to move Chloe into her college dorm.

Legislators introduced new bills — House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 — with a focus on camps. More meetings followed. When a Senate committee held a hearing on its bill , the Camp Mystic parents again showed up to Austin to share their stories.

The Bonners talked about Lila’s gentleness, and how she’d been voted best manners at her camp dining table. Rescuers found Lila’s body 5.6 miles away from the camp, her mother told the lawmakers.

Childress, who spoke for his family while his wife stayed home with their son, who was starting his sophomore year of high school, told legislators he tried not to think about the fear that the girls felt as they scrambled for their lives, after waiting in their cabins .

His daughter was fun, spontaneous and a troublemaker, he told them. She was also smart, studious and driven.

“She did what I told her,” Childress testified. He wore his daughter’s Fitbit on his wrist. “She followed directions, the authorities, and that is what killed her.”

The rules had to change.

On Aug. 21, the House passed its bill while the parents watched. They wanted to see this all the way through. Bonner, among the team and the parents in the gallery upstairs, studied the lobbyists’ body language for any sign of how he should feel.

Later that night, the Senate passed its bill. The members couldn’t unhear the parent’s stories, Republican Sen. Lois Kolkhorst from Brenham said.

“In your grief, you have achieved remarkable advocacy,” said Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, an Austin Democrat.

The bills had just a few more steps to go.

* * *

On Sept. 5, Matthew and Wendie Childress filed onto rows of steps in front of the governor’s mansion, sweating in the heat. They stared ahead stoically as Abbott recounted how the parents pleaded for camp safety.

Childress nodded as Abbott ticked off what the bills would do. Installing alert systems. Training staff on evacuation routes. Requiring emergency plans. Requiring cabins to be out of floodplains.

“Every child who goes to camp should come home to their families,” Abbott said to the television cameras and assembled journalists.

Abbott wrote his name slowly, using dozens of Sharpies to sign small pieces of his name, so the parents could receive Sharpies used to sign the bills. He snapped the lids on and off. Camera shutters clicked. Hands gripped each other. Tears fell.

Wendie Childress stood behind her husband and held his shoulder as the lieutenant governor again praised Chloe and the other counselor, as he had done on the Senate floor. Matthew Childress reached across his chest to grab his wife’s hand.

Patrick suggested hanging a portrait of Chloe and Katherine, her fellow counselor, in the House and Senate chambers. Childress cocked his head, unsure how to process that information.

After 21 minutes, it was over. Childress exhaled.

He and Bonner had accomplished what they sought to do. They had honored their daughters. They had done what they felt was right and they had done their best.

But they still couldn’t change the horrible truth that their daughters weren’t coming back.

“It’s not some overwhelming joyous thing,” Bonner said, “because our girls are still dead.”

Chloe wouldn’t start her college classes. She wouldn’t go to medical school. She wouldn’t get married or have kids. Matthew Childress felt crushed by the weight of all the memories with his daughter that he would not get to have, and that “the world doesn’t get to be exposed to how amazing she was.”

They would have to keep moving without Chloe. They would have to find their ways to keep living and crying and remembering and advocating and loving.

“It has to be for something,” Childress said.

This article originally appeared in at . The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Advocates are hopeful that change is coming: This June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law , a historic $8.5 billion piece of legislation devoted to increasing education funding across the state, with a particular focus on teacher training and retention. It includes almost $190 million specifically devoted to teacher preparation and certification programs, as well as $4 billion for teacher and staff pay raises to keep high-quality teachers in the classroom. 

“I don’t think about this being your kind of traditional state policy, which tends to do a lot of patchwork reforms,” said Jacob Kirksey, associate professor at the College of Education at Texas Tech University. “This really tackled the teacher pipeline from its inception.”

The teacher pipeline issue “was a Texas-sized problem,” he added, “and this [bill] is a Texas-sized solution.”

Before this legislative session, Texas lawmakers hadn’t raised schools’ base funding or passed a comprehensive education finance package , leading to what some called a dire situation. Last year, the K-12 school system was ranked overall and 44th for reading scores.

The certification crisis became a major focus of the bill once lawmakers “started to recognize that the [resulting] learning loss was a statistic that you couldn’t turn away from,” Kirksey said.

In response, House Bill 2 will also limit some components of a which allowed the vast majority of Texas districts to hire fully uncertified teachers, experts told ����Ӱ��. Initially designed with a goal of opening educator pathways for industry folks to teach career and technical education courses, consequences of the bill really exploded post-pandemic, when schools were struggling to hire teachers, according to Kirksey.

Ultimately, over schools statewide applied for and received Districts of Innovation designation, allowing scores of them to hire uncertified teachers. By the , the share of all new public school teachers in Texas who are uncertified reached 56%. That share has increased significantly over the last decade, worrying advocates, experts and district leaders across the state. The previous year, when just under half of new teachers were uncertified, almost had no prior experience working in Texas public schools. 

That lack of preparation has real impact, both for the teachers themselves and the students they serve: 64% of uncertified teachers leave the classroom after just five years — compared to about a third of traditionally certified teachers, according to the  

“It was really creating a revolving door of teachers that sort of became a self-fulfilling prophecy,”  said Ryan Franklin, managing director of policy and advocacy at Philanthropy Advocates and former associate commissioner for educator leadership and quality at the Texas Education Agency.

Students with new, uncertified teachers lose about in reading and three months in math each year, comparable to and compounding the learning loss kids experienced during the pandemic, Kirksey’s research found.

The new legislation gradually mandates that all core subject teachers are fully certified by the 2027-28 school year, with an option for schools to apply for an extension until the 2029-30 school year. It also provides incentives for teachers who are currently in the classroom to seek out certification quickly with a $1,000 bonus.

In addition, the bill looks to promote high-quality training programs since “all preparation is not created equally,” Franklin said. 

A ‘chance at sustainable growth‘

While the scale of House Bill 2 is unprecedented in Texas, the desire to introduce innovative and high-quality pathways to teaching isn’t new.

Clifton Tanabe, the dean of the College of Education at The University of Texas El Paso, has been working on this for quite some time. Six years ago, he introduced a residency program to his university to train teachers differently, so they were not just certified but truly prepared to enter some of the most difficult-to-staff urban and rural classrooms.

Residencies are a year-long, intensive form of training that pairs pre-service educators with a mentor teacher and single school site, allowing them to be fully immersed in a classroom environment and learn through doing. Teaching responsibilities often ramp up for the residents throughout the year, allowing them to “get their hands dirty,” as one researcher put it, with training wheels. 

Although essentially full-time jobs, they are often unpaid and done while the resident is simultaneously attending their own classes and paying tuition, making them historically inaccessible to a predominantly low-income student body like Tanabe’s. So, he started “pounding the pavement, asking for money,” and ultimately, in 2018, was able to launch a pilot program that offered all residents a yearly stipend.

Despite the program’s success, it wasn’t sustainable. Without COVID funding, Tanabe wouldn’t have the necessary money to keep paying residents. Already, this year, he’s had to cut back yearly stipends from $20,000 to around $14,000.

That changed this June with House Bill 2, which Tanabe called “massive” for his program and the students they serve.

“It’s what we think about as our chance at sustainable growth for this model,” he added.

The legislation will use a to get money into schools, ranging from an expansion of the a merit-based pay program, to the creation of a Teacher Retention Allotment, which will provide significant raises to core subject educators who have been in the classroom for more than three years. Teachers in smaller districts will get even bigger bumps. 

In addition, the sweeping bill expands career and technical education, introduces special education reforms and increases funding to charter schools. 

On the preparation side, the state will pay the cost of training teaching candidates, up to 40 in residency programs or 80 traditional student teachers in each district. Districts will receive up to $39,500 a year for each teacher resident and $21,500 for each student teacher. Along with the additional funds comes tightened requirements for program content — including mandatory reading and math academies and a ban on any critical race theory-related curriculum. 

Historically, around 20% of certified Texas teachers were prepared fully online, asynchronously, meaning they accessed the materials on their own schedule and without real-time live instruction, according to Kirksey’s research. Candidates could get a temporary certification in a matter of weeks and immediately enter the classroom. 

“That just shows you the incentive structure that was happening,” Kirksey said. 

“What [the new funding] does is it allows them to choose quality and not have the same kind of economic loss that they would have,” he added.

Wes Corzine, superintendent of Huckabay Independent School District, a small, rural district south of Fort Worth, said because of the bill, he’s able to give raises up to $8,000 a year to his more experienced teachers. While he’s excited about the increase in pay and the funding for his district’s residency program, he did push back on one element of the legislation, noting he wished there was a bit more flexibility in how districts could spend some of the money.

Tricia Cave, a lobbyist at the Association of Texas Professional Educators, also argued that the Teacher Retention Allotment funds only support raises for core content classroom teachers, excluding scores of other school-based staff like librarians, counselors and school nurses. Still, she is optimistic about the changes this bill can bring.

For the residency at El Paso, and others like it, the money can’t come soon enough. This year, Tanabe has 200 residents working in schools across seven urban and rural districts that are particularly challenging to staff. The vast majority of the student teachers receive federal Pell grants, and about a third come from families making less than $20,000 a year. 

“It’s a student population that’s tenacious, looking for opportunities, working hard and if you give them a realistic program, with the kinds of supports that a residency model with a stipend has, we can succeed at a very high level,” he said.

In the first six years of the program, they’ve already seen promising results and a high percentage of residents are ultimately offered full-time teaching roles at their school sites. Last year, leaders in one district that Tanabe’s program partners with told him the residency program had solved their teacher vacancy problem. This is particularly significant in rural districts, where in the uncertified teachers were hired at a rate four times higher than the rest of the state. 

And, because of their intensive training, these teachers “start day-one ready,” and remain in the classroom “because they’re not crying in the parking lot after week one, saying this was the worst decision of their lives. They know how to teach from the get-go,” Tanabe said. 

Corzine echoed this point, noting that whenever his district has an opening, they make an effort to hire a resident, “because you’re really hiring a second-year teacher … It creates this huge talent pipeline. It’s a yearlong job interview.”

Experts across the field are hopeful that these across-the-board investments will ultimately have a substantial positive impact on schools, teachers and their students. 

“I think we know with the teacher education pieces, this is about the long game,” said Franklin, the Philanthropy Advocates managing director, “and this is about long-term, sustainable ways to ensure that our students have the teachers they deserve, and that the teaching profession is an attractive profession to the end.”

The is a compromise , one sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro and the other supported by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. It passed unanimously in the Senate on June 1 and with a 38-4 Assembly vote June 2.

Lombardo said in a June 3 that the Legislature “passed historic education choice and accountability, so that every Nevada student can graduate career or college ready.” The bill was sent to his desk June 6. 

More than allow interdistrict open enrollment, according to the nonprofit Education Commission of the States. Nevada’s new system will let students transfer to schools outside their residential zone if there’s room in their grade.

It will also provide transportation subsidies for students trying to leave low-performing schools. Many states don’t require transportation to be provided for open enrollment students, as it is for residents, according to . In New Hampshire, for example, lawmakers recently passed an that places responsibility for transportation on parents. Families can drive their child to a bus stop on an existing route if they are attending a school outside their attendance zone, according to the bill.

Multiple times a year, districts will be required to publish open enrollment data online, including school vacancy numbers and the total number of students who transferred in and out of their attendance zones.

Nevada school boards will have to create a method, such as a lottery, to determine which open enrollment students are accepted into a grade that reaches capacity. 

Schools that deny a student’s application will have to explain why. The bill prohibits districts from considering factors like disability, English learner status, athletic ability and residential address when evaluating applications. Schools will be required to create a priority lottery for students who have low academic scores.

Students can be denied if they were expelled or suspended for 10 or more days during the previous school year. Parents can appeal a rejection to the district superintendent.

The Nevada Department of Education will have to provide transportation for students who want to transfer from a low-performing school but have no way to get there. According to the bill, the department will award grant funds “to the extent money is available” to local organizations that provide transportation.

The bill will also create a for districts and charter schools. The department could intervene in persistently low-performing districts by replacing leadership or assuming state control.

“We implemented open zoning so our children can attend the school that best fits their educational needs, and we provided resources to allow those children trapped in underperforming schools transportation to attend the school of their choice — regardless of their zip code,” Lombardo said in his statement. “Simply put, we have instituted more educational accountability measures than during any legislative session in the history of Nevada.”

Gov. on Saturday signed legislation authorizing a private school voucher program into law, marking the grand finale of an oftentimes ugly conflict that has largely defined Texas politics this decade.

will allow families to use public taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s education at an accredited private school or to pay for a wide range of school-related expenses, like textbooks, transportation or therapy. The program will be one of the largest school voucher initiatives in the nation.

“When I ran for reelection in 2022, I promised school choice for the families of Texas. Today, we deliver on that promise,” said Abbott during the bill’s signing before hundreds of applauding supporters gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion. “Gone are the days that families are limited to only the school assigned by government. The day has arrived that empowers parents to choose the school that’s best for their child.”

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The law will go into effect on Sept. 1, with the program expected to launch in late 2026.

The law’s passage follows years of discord in the Legislature over school vouchers. The Democrats and rural Republicans who fought against it argued that the program would harm already-struggling public schools, a major employer for working families and a resource center for many Texas students — the majority of whom reside in low-income households.

“Remember this day next time a school closes in your neighborhood,” state Rep. , D-Austin, said a few hours before at a news conference with other voucher opponents. “Remember this day next time a beloved teacher quits because they can’t support their family on their salary. Remember this day next time your local property taxes rise because the state government is not doing its fair share of school funding. And if recession comes and we are forced to make even deeper cuts to public education, remember this day.”

Top Republicans like Abbott and Lt. Gov. have forcefully rebutted, saying parents needed more schooling options for their children in the face of COVID-19 health restrictions and frustrations with public schools’ efforts to foster a more inclusive environment for all students. They have insisted that a voucher program and the state’s public education system can coexist.

Those arguments came as voucher programs in other states have largely benefited who already had their kids enrolled in private schools and led to for students.

Here’s a breakdown of how the program will work.

Families can receive about $10,000 to send their children to private school on taxpayers’ dime

Most participating families will receive an amount equal to 85% of what public schools get for each student through state and local funding — roughly somewhere between $10,300 and $10,900 per year for each child, according to a , which included financial projections for the next five years.Children with disabilities are eligible for the same funding as other students, plus up to $30,000 in additional money, an amount based on what the state would spend on special education services for that student if they attended a public school. Home-schoolers can receive up to $2,000 per year.

The money will flow to families through education savings accounts, which essentially function as state-managed bank accounts. In Arizona, for example, which has a program similar to the one Texas is rolling out, families can make education-related purchases through an online platform by the software company .

Texas will spend $1 billion on vouchers in the first two years, but costs could skyrocket

The state can spend no more than $1 billion on the program during the state’s next two-year budget cycle, which begins Sept. 1, 2025, and ends Aug. 31, 2027.

It is not clear how much the program’s costs will rise after the spending cap expires — lawmakers will likely make that determination in future legislative sessions — but state budget experts that the tab could escalate to roughly $4.8 billion by 2030.

Most families can participate, including some of the wealthiest Texans

Almost any school-age child in Texas can apply for and participate in the voucher program, including students already attending private schools. Up to 20% of the program’s initial $1 billion budget could flow to wealthier families who earn 500% or more of the poverty rate — roughly $160,000 or above for a family of four.

Families cannot have their children simultaneously enrolled in the program and a public school. The program excludes students whose parents cannot prove their child is a U.S. citizen. Lawmakers are also considering that would bar the kids of any statewide elected official from signing up for the program.

If public demand for the voucher program exceeds the funding available, it will prioritize applicants in this order:

• Students with disabilities from families with an annual income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $160,000
• Families at or below 200% of the poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $64,300
• Families between 200% and 500% of the poverty level
• Families at or above 500% of the poverty level (limited to 20% of the program’s budget)

The voucher program also prioritizes students exiting public schools over kids already in private ones.

The priority system does not guarantee access to the program, however. The legislation does not require participating schools to change their admissions processes, meaning they can still deny entry to any student they determine does not meet their standards. Private schools are also not required to follow state or federal laws regarding accommodations for students with disabilities.

The program launches next year, but other specifics are still unclear

The voucher program will officially launch at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

The comptroller — the state’s chief financial officer, who will oversee the program — has until May 15, 2026, to establish the rules and procedures it must follow. In addition to setting up the application process for Texans who want to enroll their children, the finance chief will select up to five organizations that will help Texas administer the program.

Private schools can choose whether they want to participate. The law requires participating schools to and to have operated for at least two years.

Participating students won’t have to take the STAAR test

Enrolled students must take a nationally recognized exam of the private school’s choosing. Private schools, however, are not required to administer the same standardized tests currently issued to public school kids each year — the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR.

The state must produce an annual report that includes data on participants’ test results, satisfaction with the program, and college and career readiness. It will include information on how the program affects public and private school enrollment. Lawmakers will also get a report every year with demographic data on each participating child, including students’ age, sex, race or ethnicity and zip code.

State officials will also be required to work with a private auditor responsible for helping ensure program participants follow the law. The bill directs the state to suspend the accounts of people not in compliance with the legislation’s guidelines and refer to local authorities any organizations or individuals who use taxpayer funds fraudulently.

This article originally appeared in at . The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The Montana Legislature may consider “minor” changes to statutes related to public charter schools during its 2025 session following a recent court order, said a legislator and chairperson of an education committee.

But 18 schools are slated to open this year, according to the Office of Public Instruction.

Rep. Dave Bedey, R-Hamilton, said Thursday he believes the bill that opened the door for more charters is clear as written.

“At the end of the day, I’m just gratified that schools across the state are going to be able to put these innovative programs into place without delay,” Bedey said.

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In the 2023 session, the legislature approved House Bill 549, which eased the way for more charter schools through the public school system. However, filed this spring alleged the Office of Public Instruction was throwing up roadblocks.

Last month, a Lewis and Clark District Court with the Office of Public Instruction’s interpretation that certain prerequisites needed to be met to get the charter schools off the ground, such as a parental petition and approval from county commissioners.

The legal dispute took place as students made plans to attend the new schools, but educators alleged the argument over how to open them meant likely delays.

Last week, the court signed off on an agreement between the plaintiffs, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, and defendants, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and the Office of Public Instruction, that resolves some of the fight.

In the stipulation, the Montana Quality Education Coalition agreed Arntzen and the OPI had implemented processes that allow the schools to start operating by July 1, 2024, and that they were in compliance with the court’s order for a preliminary injunction last month.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition describes itself as made up of more than 100 school districts and five education organizations and one of the largest education advocacy organizations in Montana.

The agreement the judge approved acknowledges the preliminary injunction from April 17 remains in effect unless the court terminates it or the legislature amends relevant statutes. It also dismisses outstanding claims.

In an email this week, the Office of Public Instruction notes that as of May 13, it had opened 15 of 18 schools enrolling students this year.

“The OPI is working with one school to correct some of the information that was submitted and is waiting on applications from two schools,” the agency said in an email. “One of the approved public charter schools will not open until the fall of 2025.”

Rep. Bedey, chairperson of the interim budget committee on education, said Thursday he doesn’t believe amendments are needed, although small changes are possible.

Rather, he said a plain reading of HB 549 clearly indicates the approval process for schools, the authority of the Board of Public Education, and the duty of the Office of Public Instruction.

All the same, Bedey said the legislature has an opportunity to make “some minor changes” to make the intentions of the bill “crystal clear and remove any ambiguity” given some people had a “contrary reading” of it.

At a committee meeting in March, legislators voted 6-2 to send a telling her she was failing students and not meeting her Constitutional duties related to HB 549 and other educational programs legislators had supported.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition filed the lawsuit later the same month.

“It’s regrettable that this issue had to go to the courts for resolution because the meaning of the law was clear,” Bedey said. “It’s regrettable that we were unable to convince the superintendent of that when her lawyer appeared before us in a committee meeting in March.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

The Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday voted to advance legislation that purports to give parents more insight and control over what their children are reading in school. But opponents vigorously argued the measures are a de facto book ban, and a redundant effort to exclude content by and for marginalized communities.

Senate Bill 7 passed 29-21, with state Sen. Lisa Boscola, (D-Northampton), voting with the Republican majority. It would require schools to identify sexually explicit content in school curriculum, materials, and books, create an opt-in policy to notify parents of the sexually explicit content by including a list of the book titles on a form, allow parents to review the materials, and require parents to give direct consent for their children to be provided or have access to sexually explicit content. It was by the Senate Education Committee last week.

The bill’s prime sponsor Sen. Ryan Aument, (R-Lancaster), has been working on similar legislation since 2021, and has insisted that SB 7 is not a book ban, an argument he reiterated on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

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“We are not seeking to ban books and we are not seeking to censor any group,” Aument said. “We are simply seeking to empower parents to make decisions about their own child, not anyone else’s. One must only look at local school board races and local school board meetings all across this Commonwealth to see that this is an issue that concerns many parents.”

Aument said he had taken a “measured approach” to crafting the legislation. “We listened to families. We listened to school administrators, teachers and librarians. And we worked hard to draft a proposal to make sure all sides could feel heard and respected,” he said, adding that what resulted was a proposal that closely resembles legislation recently passed in Virginia.

State Sen. Amanda Capelletti, (D-Delaware), said SB 7 is a book ban. She called it part of a “stunning and increasing trend of censoring books in schools and libraries,” and “a direct attack on the right to read and our freedom of speech.”

Capelletti said the “extreme vocal minority” pushing book bans was missing a “glaring” reality.

“We all like to believe that every child grows up in a family that loves and values them for exactly who they are. We know that unfortunately, is not true,” she said, adding many kids are left needing a support system and information outside their families, which they can often find in books.

“The kids who need books that explore gender identity and sexual orientation, are the most likely ones whose parents are denying them and their communities the right to learn from these books,” she added. “Exploring human relationships, sex and love are some of the most challenging and rewarding obstacles that we will face in life. And we need the right education and materials available to ensure people can explore those spaces safely and with the right knowledge to be able to interact with the world around them compassionately.”

Sen. Nikil Saval, (D-Philadelphia), said the bill was not specific enough in its definition of what was “explicit,” and cautioned that its present language could exclude works of literature like Milton’s Paradise Lost, St. Augustine’s Confessions, or The Song of Solomon, all of which contain explicit references to sexuality. He noted that Paradise Lost was one of 150 books recently of an Orlando, Fla. school district.

“The experience of many states that have adopted similar ordinances shows these invidious distinctions are not so easily drawn, haplessly and clumsily though the bill tries,” Saval said. “Let us be sober and clear about what this bill, if passed, would do. The standards of liberal education for which our founders fought would be decimated. SB 7 would destroy the educational system it purports to uphold.”

Boscola, who broke with Democrats to vote in favor of SB 7, said she had worked with Aument on a previous version of the legislation she voted against, and thought the latest version was a marked improvement.

“Senate Bill 7 strikes the needed balance between parental control over their child’s exposure to sexually explicit content,” Boscola said. School boards, she added, are in an impossible position of having to make decisions about books, holding meetings where parents show up to protest that grow heated.

“There are some groups that want to ban all books that have even the slightest reference to sexually explicit content. And groups on the other side that see all sexually explicit content as being OK,” she said. “This General Assembly needs to lead. It needs to set forth a statewide policy that balances those radically different viewpoints of parents on both sides of this issue. We cannot leave this up to 500 different school boards.”

Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor at the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, said the state already has strong protections in place, and SB 7 will only further encourage book-banning activities at the school district level.

“The bill will divert educators from their work with students, requiring them to search through thousands of volumes to find a single word or phrase that could offend a parent, regardless of the merit or popularity of the book, ignoring two decades of court decisions that have rejected this form of book banning,” Ward wrote in an email to the Capital-Star.

Senate Bill 340, sponsored by state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), requires school districts to post on their website a link or title for every textbook used by its schools, a course syllabus, and the state academic standards for each course.

Several Democrats objected to SB 340 on the grounds that it is redundant. Sen. Art Haywood, (D-Philadelphia), cited several school districts’ policies that already allow parents to review reading materials. “School districts already provide for significant parent, guardian or student input on the materials that are in the library and in the curriculum,” Haywood said.

Similar curriculum-focused legislation was approved by the Senate and the House in 2021 but was .

Sen. Jay Costa, (D-Allegheny), called SB 340 “an example of a solution in search of a problem with political motives behind it,” adding it would only serve to add more mandates to already overburdened school districts.

Mastriano said there was “nothing nefarious or political” behind the legislation. “This is definitely something we need to do to build trust with parents,” he said.

SB 340 passed along party lines, 28-22.

Growing national rise in book bans

Over the past several years, there has been an and censorship spurred by parents and right-wing groups. started during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, part of the frustration over mask mandates and online learning that eventually led to the politicization of school board meetings.

The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing last week about whether some books containing LGBTQ+ content should be removed from public school libraries. Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression and education programs at PEN America, said during th hearing that the organization has been doing research on book bans “on and off for about 100 years as these issues have flared up.”

He said three or four years ago “there was nothing like this on the scene. Something changed. A movement to encourage people to try to censor information and ideas.”

Between Jan 1. and Aug. 1, across public, school, and academic libraries in the U.S. there were 695 attempts to censor library materials and 1,915 challenges to specific titles, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

That reflects a 20% increase from 2022, which held the previous record for book challenges since ALA started compiling the data more than two decades ago. According to the ALA, the “vast majority” of challenges were to books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“The Pennsylvania Senate approved two bills today that unnecessarily impede student learning and create a burdensome mandate on educators and school librarians,” Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) president Aaron Chapin said in a statement Tuesday. “These bills are completely unnecessary mandates on educators and school librarians who are overworked and underpaid.”

PSEA, an affiliate of the National Education Association, represents about 177,000 active and retired educators and school employees, student teachers, higher education staff, and health care workers statewide.

Chapin, who is also a middle school teacher in the Stroudsburg Area School District, added that such legislation would further serve to deter teachers from coming to work in the Keystone State.

“We need to stop accusing hardworking educators of indoctrinating kids,” he said. “If you want yet another example of why Pennsylvania continues to see educator shortages, here is Exhibit A. We don’t need overreaching state legislation for issues that are worked out at the local level on a daily basis.”

Both bills now head to the Democratic-majority House.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on and .

A long-standing effort to provide low-income schools with federal grants to improve building infrastructure and internet connectivity has been reintroduced in Congress by Democratic U.S. lawmakers with support from Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D), and others.

According to a Monday press release, the “Rebuild America’s Schools Act” would establish a $100 billion federal grant program and a $30 billion tax credit bond program for high-poverty schools to fund physical and digital infrastructure improvements.

Van Hollen has been a supporter and cosponsor of the initiative when the bill was first introduced in 2019, and then again in 2021. But neither of those previous efforts were successful.

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“We must ensure that our students and educators have modern school buildings and facilities that support their success rather than rundown infrastructure that hinders progress,” Van Hollen said in a written statement.

“This legislation will help bring our schools and classrooms into the 21st century, ensuring that they don’t stand in the way of our children’s opportunity to receive a quality education,” he added.

This year, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) are again leading the legislative effort, and Van Hollen joins more than a dozen other co-sponsors for a third try to get the bill over the finish line.

According to a , the average age of a school in the state is 31 years, with Baltimore City Public Schools having the highest number of aging school buildings.

The effects of aging facilities can impact a student’s ability to learn, according to the press release, as students can miss hours of instruction time due to power outages or bad pipes.

According to the press release, the federal grants would not only go to schools in greatest need for infrastructure repairs, but would also encourage green construction practices and improve access to high-speed broadband internet connection.

The Rebuild America’s Schools Act would also encourage projects to use American-made iron, steel and other manufactured products.

“Chronic neglect of America’s public schools has forced students and teachers across the country to learn and work in outdated and hazardous school buildings. Moreover, dilapidated and poorly ventilated school facilities that make it harder for teachers to teach and students to learn,” Scott, the House bill sponsor, said in a written statement.

The story was originally published at .

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature on Pennsylvania’s $45.5 billion budget brought relief Thursday across the commonwealth as the new school year approaches and quarterly payments come due.

But his administration’s decision to hold back hundreds of millions in funds for a handful of programs leaves uncertainty for some as school districts work to reconcile their budgets with the money they expect to receive from the state.

Shapiro touted the budget, which was delivered to his desk by the General Assembly 34 days after the June 30 deadline, as a commonsense spending plan that accomplishes many of the goals laid out in his campaign and budget address.

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Budget Secretary Uri Monson informed legislative leaders in a memo this week that he would not release money for seven programs including more than $200 million for public education because the General Assembly has not passed fiscal code bills to authorize the spending.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, nonetheless late on Wednesday called the chamber back to session on Thursday so that Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, acting as Senate president, could sign the general appropriations bill, the final administrative step before sending it to Shapiro’s desk.

Although Democratic leaders said they disagreed that some of the programs require authorizing legislation, they said negotiations on the fiscal code language is ongoing. House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, said the House would reconvene when talks are finalized.

The frozen money, totaling $338 million, includes $7.5 million to pay for public defenders for the first time, nearly $21 million to increase ambulance reimbursement rates, $50 million in relief for struggling hospitals, $50 million for grants to help low-income homeowners with maintenance, and $10 million for stipends to attract students to the teaching profession.

The programs for which funding is frozen include $100 million for Level Up supplementary payments to the state’s 100 poorest school districts and $100 million for school mental health grants.

Pennsylvania School Boards Association Senior Director of Government Affairs Andrew Christ said school districts have 30 days after the state budget is finalized to reopen and reconcile their budgets with the funding they expect to receive from the state.

But with significant sums in state subsidies in limbo, some districts that have received Level Up payments in the past could be uncertain about what they will receive.

While Christ said it is safe to assume that the Education Department will use the same formula this year as it has used in the past, districts that are on the cusp of eligibility may not have a full picture of their financial situation until the money is released.

A delay in releasing the mental health grant money could also force school districts to move money from other areas in order to pay contracted providers, he said.

“It does leave some question marks for some schools and their programs,” Christ said.

Human services make up the largest share of the state budget, and county human services agencies and providers are often the most seriously affected by budget delays.

Richard Edley of the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association said the end of the impasse is a good thing because the strain on county human services would have been great and may have impacted Medicaid payments and federal matching funds if it had continued.

However, Edley said, the budget was disappointing for human services providers, who spoke out during budget negotiations about a $170 million cut in funding for intellectual and developmental disability care providers.

Advocates said money to pay the wages of direct support providers who care for individuals with severe autism and other disabilities was cut due to a drop in spending. But the drop in spending was a result of a workforce shortage driven by insufficient wages that has left thousands of people on a waiting list.

“The financial losses of providers are mounting. The administration and legislature believe providers will somehow ‘figure it out.’  Eventually they will not be able to,” Edley said.

Edley said he is hopeful that as lawmakers return to the negotiating table to work out the authorizing language for the frozen programs, they restore $100 million that had been earmarked to address mental health needs identified by the legislature’s Behavioral Health Commission.

That money, received as part of the state’s American Rescue Plan aid during the pandemic, was redirected in the Senate’s version of the budget to the school mental health program.

The House passed legislation in June with a bipartisan 173-30 vote to direct the aid money into three streams to train and retain behavioral health professionals, provide criminal justice agencies with mental health resources and award grants to county mental health agencies and providers.

State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, and Sen. Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, held a rally at the Capitol last month on restoring the funding. Schlossberg said the Senate budget amendment redirecting the pandemic aid to school grants was improper and gave the appearance that it was an either-or proposition.

In past budgets, the fiscal code has included supplementary appropriations and it is still possible to restore the funding approved in the House.

“The money is absolutely still there to make that happen,” Schlossberg said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on and .

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Wednesday filed to expedite his appeal of a circuit court ruling that delays the effective date of the LEARNS Act, the governor’s signature education legislation. Griffin asked that the state Supreme Court respond by 8 a.m. Friday.

Griffin on July 3 of an order invalidating the law’s emergency clause, which would allow it go into effect immediately instead of 91 days after the end of the legislative session.

Pulaski County Judge Herbert Wright the law’s emergency clause is invalid because it was not passed with a separate roll-call vote garnering a two-thirds majority, as required by the Arkansas Constitution.

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Barring the Arkansas Supreme Court overturning the ruling, the LEARNS Act will not go into effect until Aug. 1.

The lawsuit has delayed the pursuit of a “transformation contract” between the Marvell-Elaine School District and Friendship Education Foundation, a charter school management organization. A provision of the LEARNS Act, a “transformation contract” allows a struggling school district to partner with a third-party organization in lieu of a state takeover.

The state took control of Marvell-Elaine of the State Board of Education last Friday. Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said the action was necessary so preparations for the upcoming school year, including hiring teachers and setting an academic calendar, can resume.

Officials plan to continue pursuing a “transformation contract” with Friendship Education Foundation after the law goes into effect on Aug. 1, Oliva said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com. Follow Arkansas Advocate on and .

While New Jersey schools grapple with a shortage of teachers, the Legislature failed before its summer recess to advance several bills aimed at attracting new educators, expediting some certifications, and doing away with fees and testing that critics say create barriers to the profession.

With the Legislature  until the fall, none of these measures will make it to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk until after the next school year starts, raising fears among supporters of the bill that the state’s teacher shortage will worsen.

One of those  would have temporarily lifted the requirement for teachers to live in the Garden State. The state Senate passed the bill unanimously last month, but it remains stalled in the Assembly, where it has yet to make it to a committee vote.

Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), a prime sponsor of the bill, said passing it will be a priority for her when the Legislature returns. When asked why the bill hasn’t advanced in her chamber, Lampitt said it needs more support from lawmakers.

“We want to support our schools, but we’re waiting for more support on the bill to keep moving it forward,” she said.

Since 2011, New Jersey teachers and nearly all public employers have been required to live in the state. The law was  under then-Gov. Chris Christie, and officials at the time said the mandate would “put our own residents first.”

Under the bill, school districts could ignore the residency requirement for three years, though they would be required to make a “good faith” effort to hire New Jersey residents. After the three-period, state education officials would evaluate the residency requirement and make recommendations to the Legislature. Any out-of-state resident hired during the prior three years would not be required to move to New Jersey.

Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said it strongly supports removing the residency requirement. He noted that districts in neighboring states hire New Jersey educators.

“At a time when we have a shortage of teachers and other essential school personnel, we should be doing everything we can to deepen and widen our pool of potential educators,” he said.

When the pandemic exacerbated a nationwide shortage of educators — teachers felt overburdened and underappreciated, Baker said — lawmakers began considering lifting the requirement and exploring other ways to fill the increasing number of vacancies.

A  on public school staffing shortages convened by Murphy recommended eliminating the residency requirement, along with other initiatives like programs to convince students to pursue education as a career and a teacher apprenticeship program.

“Especially for school districts that border other states, the residency requirement significantly restricts the recruiting pool for educators,” the task force wrote in its February .

According to the , New Jersey suffers shortages in science, math, special education, world languages, English as a second language, and career and technical education. The average pay for starting teachers is around $56,000, according to the 

Lampitt is also sponsoring several other bills aimed at alleviating the teacher shortage.

A bill introduced in January would require the Department of Education to conduct a study on  in districts with teacher shortfalls.  she co-sponsored to require the state Board of Education to create an expedited teacher certification path for paraprofessionals advanced out of the Assembly but is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. A bill to  passed in the Assembly but also stalled in the Senate.

Several of these bills are part of a  that was drafted with state and local education officials.

Baker said while the state has taken steps to address its teacher shortage, more needs to be done to address the “economics and sustainability of the profession,” he said. He pointed to reducing “bureaucratic paperwork” that pulls educators away from their teaching responsibilities.

“We should be focusing our resources on ensuring we have enough qualified educators so that every New Jersey student in every New Jersey public school gets the in-person instruction that we know is most effective,” he said.

Other bills to address the teacher shortage that did not make it to the governor’s desk before the Legislature’s summer recess include:

• , which would reduce student teaching requirements from two semesters to one.
• , which would allow students to more easily apply county college credits to teacher certification.
• , which would create a state fund to reimburse certification costs for new teachers, or for teachers who want to teach another grade or subject.
• , which would offer a stipend of up to $7,200 per semester for two semesters to college students who are student teaching.
• , which would direct the state Board of Education to create rules to expand the grades and schools that teachers for students with disabilities or bilingual students can work in, rather than limiting them to only elementary school and middle school.
• , which would establish a program within the Department of Education aimed at increasing the ranks of teachers of students with disabilities.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com. Follow New Jersey Monitor on and .

There have been GOP efforts in some states to curtail union influence. The most prominent of these is to prohibit school districts from deducting union dues from teachers’ paychecks. This forces unions to collect dues individually through electronic funds transfers or some other means. Payroll deduction bans of union dues were enacted this year in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.

But anti-union legislation makes up only a small portion of the overall picture. that of the 236 bills introduced in 2023 relating to public employee unions, 58 were sponsored by Republicans, while 158 came from Democrats.

So while four states made it harder to collect union dues, Maryland enacted a law allowing union members to deduct dues on their state tax returns.

Here’s a cross-section of union-related bills and activity from around the nation:

California

The state Senate approved a bill that would allow . It had overwhelming bipartisan support and the endorsement of the school administrators association and the U.S. Department of Defense, as military spouses must often seek new teaching credentials each time they relocate.

The California Teachers Association, however, opposes the bill, stating that there is no need for it and that reciprocity agreements with individual states were sufficient.

The bill is awaiting assignment to an Assembly committee.

Colorado

Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a measure that , banning job discrimination or discipline against them for engaging in such activities. The law also allows public workers “to pursue an employee organization with their co-workers without interference.”

Illinois

Both houses of the legislature approved a bill that allows up to who are elected to “represent the association in federal advocacy work.” The state union will reimburse the school district for the cost of a substitute.

Indiana

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law a bill that removed from the previous statute . These included: curriculum development, teaching methods, hiring and retention, student discipline, expulsions, class size and budget appropriations. All these issues may still be discussed with unions but are no longer required to be.

The law also added “repeated ineffective performance” to the list of reasons for which a teacher may be immediately terminated.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is sponsoring a bill dubbed the , which would eliminate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System standardized tests required for graduation.

The measure would create a commission composed of members appointed by various interest groups to recommend a new assessment system that could include work samples, projects and portfolios.

The bill has languished in the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education since February, probably because Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has been about it. The state teachers union recently held in an attempt to spur legislative action.

Nebraska

Gov. Jim Pillen signed a into law that allows a tax credit of up to $100,000 to organizations that fund private school scholarships to K-12 students, with low-income families receiving priority.

In response, the Nebraska State Education Association immediately launched a drive to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law. In order to do so, the union will need to gather the signatures of at least 61,000 registered voters by Aug. 30, and double that number to suspend the law until the referendum can be held.

The National Education Association just released its for lobbying Congress. The document contains 36 pages of proposals that NEA will be backing or opposing. Items repeated from past years include stances on a wide range of issues, such as allowing parents to opt out of standardized testing, eliminating broadcast advertising of alcoholic beverages, repealing all right-to-work laws, building a national monument to educators to be located in Washington, D.C., instituting a moratorium on capital punishment and creating “a tax system that provides for education and other social needs while achieving reduction of the national debt.”

Three new items call for supporting legislation to protect children and youth from addiction to social media, increase funding for stillbirth prevention and add a minimum of 12 weeks of paid family leave to federal law.

Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly will either approve or amend the legislative program when they meet in Orlando next month.

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears most Wednesdays; see the full archive.

Two Ohio state House Republicans introduced legislation last week that would force school boards to disclose to parents all “sexually explicit content” taught in the classroom.

At parents’ request, teachers would need to provide students with alternative instruction that doesn’t include this sexually explicit content.

The — introduced by Republicans Sara Carruthers and D.J. Swearingen — defines sexually explicit content as any description of or any picture, drawing, film, image, or “similar visual representation” depicting sexual conduct.

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The sponsors refused to specify what precisely they’re trying inform parents of that’s occurring in the classrooms.

The legislation also requires boards of education to notify students of any “change in the student’s services or monitoring” regarding their mental, emotional, or physical health and well-being. Likewise, it prohibits school personnel from “directly or indirectly encouraging” a student to withhold information from their parents regarding their mental or emotional health.

The legislation continues a pattern of Republican legislation on a state and national level seeking to restrict what’s taught in classrooms, especially as it relates to race relations, American history, gender, and sexual identity.

“I think the real issue here is just how vague the term ‘sexually explicit content’ is,” said Kathryn Poe, a public policy and digital communications manager with Equality Ohio, which advocates for LGBTQ interests.

Poe noted the bill makes no exception for health, biology or anatomy classes. The bill’s real point, Poe said, is to use the legislation’s vague language to chill speech about gender and sexuality in classrooms under guise of parental rights.

“We know who will be called out here — it’s LGBT people,” she said.

The newly introduced bill in Ohio is largely a copy of similar legislation recently in Virginia and Missouri. In Missouri, NPR the legislation goes as far as to criminalize teachers and librarians providing sexually explicit material to students, leaving librarians pulling books off the shelves to comply. A similar law passed the Pennsylvania Senate earlier this summer, to the Pennsylvania Capital Star.

Organizations representing the LGBTQ community in other states have also protested the legislation, arguing the laws are a means of marginalizing gay and lesbian voices and experiences in classrooms.

Some 36 states have introduced 137 bills designed to restrict teaching about race, gender, U.S. history and sexual identity, according to a from PEN America, which advocates for the freedom of expression in literature. Seven became law this year, and another 12 became law last year.

In Ohio, Republicans introduced , which forbids educators from teaching certain “divisive concepts” mostly related to race in America, past and present. Another, , includes the ‘divisive concept’ provisions but expands the proposal to also prohibit the teaching of “sexual orientation or gender identity” until it’s “age appropriate” (a point in time not specified by the legislation). Neither have passed as of yet.

The recent bill’s sponsors declined to specify what kinds of purported sexually explicit conduct or changes in student health monitoring they’re seeking to inform parents of. Instead, in a statement through an aide, they both said the legislation would bring teachers and parents together to “foster involvement.”

The General Assembly is set to return after the November elections to wrap up its legislative work before the term ends.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on and .

A Louisiana lawmaker plans to make another attempt to stop the promotion of third-graders who repeatedly fail reading assessments. Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, said he will bring back a bill that narrowly failed this year after the latest LEAP test results show a continued decline in reading scores.

“Much has been written about Louisiana’s literacy crisis. Unfortunately, many of our students can’t read it,” Nelson said in a statement Monday.

Mississippi put a similar law in place nine years ago that stopped struggling readers from advancing to the fourth grade, according to Nelson. He said it resulted in “the fastest improvement in the country.”

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“Third-grade retention works because it makes everyone accountable: students, parents, teachers, and schools,” Nelson added.

Nelson’s bill came of gaining Senate approval, and he couldn’t get enough support in the upper chamber to bring it back up for reconsideration in the closing days of the session.

Opponents argued Nelson’s bill would hold back too many students back or lead to discrepancies affecting minority students. In his statement, Nelson said 8% of third-graders were held back the first year Mississippi’s law was in effect, and the percentage has decreased every year since.

“Black students also score significantly higher in Mississippi than Louisiana, and there is a smaller achievement gap between black and white students,” he said. “Ensuring minority students can read is the best way to help them achieve. Literacy is fundamental and reaches beyond elementary school, driving high school dropout rates, employment, and crime.”

Nelson did get a law approved in this year’s session that prohibits schools from using textbooks with the three-cueing system to teach reading. The method has come under criticism for relying heavily of sight clues that allow the student to guess the meaning of a word, rather than placing emphasis on spelling and letter sounds.

Next year’s legislative session will be held from April 10 to June 8.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jarvis DeBerry for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

A new middle school civics class was approved by the Indiana State Board of Education one year after state lawmakers required the government and citizenship standards to be taught to younger students.

Louisiana students may soon see their local state representative as their new substitute teacher.

The state House of Representatives unanimously passed Thursday. It requests each House member to volunteer as a substitute teacher in a public school.

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“Most of us have been sitting on the bench, and now’s the time when the coach calls us into the game,” said Rep. Patrick Jefferson, author of the bill and vice chair of the House Education committee.

There are about 2,500 certified teacher vacancies across the state, state education superintendent Cade Brumley told the House Education Committee last month. He calculated that the vacancies impact 2,500 classrooms with an average 20 students or a total of 50,000 K-12 students.

“I’m encouraging each of us (to volunteer) as a means of showing appreciation, as a means of showing what we believe as far as education is concerned,” Jefferson said.

“Many of you are already doing this… it’s no attempt to throw shade or to embarrass anyone. I just think it’d be a great idea and an opportunity for all of us,” he added.

The House resolution does not carry the weight of law, as it is only a recommendation or expresses intent. It also doesn’t require the approval of the Senate or governor.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jarvis DeBerry for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

But legislation filed in the 2022 legislative session would prohibit school personnel from using those methods — potentially sparing students, especially those with disabilities, from a traumatic experience.

Only school resource officers, school safety officers, school guardians, or school security guards would still be able to use these restraints on students in grades 6 through 12 — but not younger children.

“The younger the child, the smaller they are,” said Rep. Rene Plasencia, the sponsor of HB 235. “It’s easier to use the right, the appropriate methods of making sure they don’t harm anyone else or harm themselves. As a child gets larger it becomes a little more challenging.”

Plasencia builds off previous legislative efforts to limit how teachers and other school personnel handle students who might be acting out in a dangerous manner.

“We want to make sure that no parent sends their child to school and the child comes home with bruises, or the child comes home with some kind of stress that could have been avoided,” Plasencia said Thursday at a House education subcommittee meeting.

The previous legislation dealing with this topic, which was sponsored by former Rep. Bobby DuBose, added language into Florida law that limited the use of restraints on students.

Under current Florida law, following DuBose’s successful push for the legislation, school personnel can only use restraints, physical or mechanical, on a student if they pose a serious risk to themselves or others as long as all other forms of behavioral intervention methods have been exhausted.

Florida law defines a mechanical restraint as the “use of a device that restricts a student’s freedom of movement.” This definition excludes devices recommended by a physician or a behavioral health specialist.

The restraint — such as handcuffs, zip-ties, straightjackets or other devices — is to be removed as soon as the dangerous behavior has dissipated and is not be used as discipline.

DuBose’s legislation also completely prohibited the use of seclusion on students, another behavioral intervention method that the former lawmaker said was “traumatic.”

Instead, current law calls on schools to develop crisis intervention plans for students who are restrained more than once a semester. The crisis intervention plan would be developed by a team that includes the student’s parent or guardian, school personnel, and physical and behavioral health professionals.

But with Placensia’s bill, school personnel would not be able to use mechanical restraints on students at all.

But physical restraint, meaning a school personnel using manual restraint techniques to restrict movement, would still be available as a last resort when all other behavior intervention methods haven’t worked.

Caitlyn Clibbon, is a public policy analyst with Disability Rights Florida, spoke at the Thursday committee meeting, saying that the disability advocacy group was in support of the bill.

“Using mechanical restraints on children is traumatic. It’s harmful,” Clibbon said during public testimony Thursday.

She continued:

“We get calls about this all the time. About the effects on the child after it happens to them. It’s very scary for them. A lot of them don’t understand what’s happening. They no longer trust their teacher or school. It can hold them back educationally – their ability to go to school and actually learn – because they’re in fear at school. And it can cause PTSD and things like that.”

The most recent discipline data is from the 2020-21 school year, with the Florida Department of Education reporting that there were 43 uses of mechanical restraints on students in that timespan.

Clibbon also spoke on the use of restraints by law enforcement.

“If there’s a true threat – Lord forbid, there’s a school shooter or something – they (SROs, etc.) can absolutely restrain those kids and make sure everything is safe,” Clibbon said.

She continued:

“If a kid escalates to a point where they’re actually being physically violent, now we’re talking about something else – we’re talking about crime, possibly a crime.”

At the committee meeting, Rep. Plasencia noted that he has been a teacher in the past, and his official page on the Florida House of Representatives notes that he is also known as “Coach P.” He is a Republican who represents part of Brevard and Orange counties.

He said he taught social studies for mainstream students, and while he was exposed to students with disabilities in his school, he didn’t “really understand it” until a nephew was diagnosed with autism.

“Having seen the impacts of the right behavioral therapies can mean for these children and the families, and when the schools implement the right trainings for their instructors and their paraprofessionals, and they allow for the therapist to be a part of that holistic care for that child… that has made a huge difference in his life and for children all over our state and all over our country,” he said to committee members Thursday.

“It brings us closer to making sure that all children have the ability to be successful as they grow, have the ability to learn, and have the ability to a life of independence,” Plasencia said.

The bill passed 17-0 in a roll call vote and has several more steps to go to get full approval from the House and Senate.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on and .