As leaders of LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles remain locked in an impasse over a new contract, the district has hired close to 400 substitute staffers to replace picketing educators in the event of a potential strike on January 10. But the move has sparked outrage from the union.

A state Senate committee approved recommendations that include starting no earlier than seven to 10 days before Labor Day, and ending around June 1. Most of Georgia's 181 school districts begin in the first half of August and end in May.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation to establish a pilot program for school districts to use the design-build construction delivery method. It allows architects, engineers and construction contractors to pick their partners and be hired as a team, expediting project completion.

The research shows that people become skilled readers by learning that written text is a code for speech sounds. The primary task for a beginning reader is to crack the code. Since the starting point is sound, it's critical for teachers to have a deep understanding of this. But research shows they don't.