Second-grade teacher Jacob Willis has worked in the San Diego Unified School District in different roles since he graduated from high school in 2016. Now, he is one of hundreds of California teachers waiting to see if they will still have a job when campuses reopen next school year.

Purdue Polytechnic High School Lab School is unique among the dozens of loosely defined microschools around Indiana, which are usually very small private schools. But like the other models, it emphasizes customized education for students.

How much IEP progress is enough for a district to show that it provided free appropriate public education? According to one court regarding a middle schooler with a seizure disorder, not hitting annual IEP goals is not enough progress.

She spoke with The Inquirer about her new book; how her research shows Pennsylvania's "fair funding" formula only distributes a small fraction of the education budget equitably, and why headlines about lawmakers securing funding for their school districts are not always what they seem.