For the first time since the start of the century, California has fewer than 6 million students attending public schools, stirring fears of more budget cuts and long-term financial instability for K-12.
As the Florida measure critics call the "Don't Say Gay" bill awaits final approval, a new curriculum transparency law requires schools to list library books and reading materials.
The average K-12 student accessed 74 different ed-tech tools in the first half of the 2021-22 school year while the average teacher used 86, according to LearnPlatform.
Female superintendents and superintendents of districts serving mostly students of color have been disproportionately impacted by turnover since the beginning of the pandemic though all leaders are reporting heavier workloads.
While K-12 leaders are invested in advancing digital transformation, most have not prepared for the increasing security threats these technologies have introduced.
With record revenues, much of the new spending for K-12 schools will be put into historic pay raises for teachers and improving instruction in the early grades.
President's budget request includes $1 billion in funding for school counselors and mental health professionals. The administration proposed similar funding in 2022 but it was cut from the final spending package.
The Biden Administration—calling teacher shortages one of education's most "critical challenges"—is urging district leaders, higher education and states to collaborate to move more student-teachers into classrooms to speed K-12's recovery from the pandemic.
A growing lack of confidence in K-12 principals—mainly among Republican voters—may only be the tip of the iceberg as yet more evidence of wider dissatisfaction with U.S. schools emerged Wednesday.
