Compass Point
A Weekly Collection of Data, Articles and Insights from the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute
A project of the Center for Public Policy
State & Local Education News
Segregationist Byrd’s name to be axed from Virginia school
The Free-Lance Star
March 11, 2016

A Virginia school division decided Thursday to remove a prominent segregationist’s name from a school, saying students should not be educated in a building named after a man who sought to shutter schools rather than integrate them.

The Henrico County school board voted 5-0 to strip Harry F. Byrd’s name from the suburban Richmond school following a petition drive and overwhelming public condemnation of the school’s name.

While most board members said Byrd had a positive influence in Virginia, they said they couldn’t overlook his stubborn resistance to racial integration. Many also said Byrd had never apologized for his role in the state’s so-called Massive Resistance to school integration.

UVa students seeking mental health aid in record numbers
The Roanoke Times
March 14, 2016

Students at the University of Virginia are seeking out psychological help in record numbers.

The number of UVa students seeking appointments at the university’s office of Counseling and Psychological Services, also known as CAPS, rose 25 percent in the past year, said Dr. Chris Holstege, executive director of student health. That’s following a steady 19 percent increase over the past 10 years, with appointments outpacing student growth.

Salem teacher honored as Virginia Teacher of the Year
Roanoke Times
March 8, 2016

The General Assembly honored Salem teacher Natalie DiFusco-Funk as Virginia Teacher of the Year on Tuesday.

DiFusco-Funk, who teaches fifth grade at West Salem Elementary School, received a House commending resolution in Richmond. Del. Greg Habeeb, R-Salem, presented her with the resolution.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement in October that DiFusco-Funk stood out among other top teachers.

“Natalie is recognized by her peers, by her principal, by the superintendents of her region — and now by the commonwealth — as the best of the best,” McAuliffe said. “As the 2016 Virginia Teacher of the Year, Natalie will represent the tens of thousands of outstanding classroom educators whose creativity, content knowledge and love of teaching have made Virginia’s public schools among the best in the nation.”

Attempt in budget to limit tuition increases splits General Assembly
Richmond Times-Dispatch
March 12, 2016

The last day of the 2016 General Assembly session began badly for presidents and other representatives of Virginia’s public colleges and universities, who were rebuked by top leaders of the House Appropriations Committee for attempting to prevent the pending two-year state budget from limiting the institutions’ ability to raise student tuition.

Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, and Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, chairman of the higher education subcommittee, delivered the private scolding to a half-dozen presidents, as well as other representatives of almost every public college or university in the state.

It focused on what they perceived as an attempt by “several” university presidents to bypass them in order to undercut a proposed 3 percent cap on tuition increases, despite a House budget proposal that was much more generous to higher education than either the Senate or Gov. Terry McAuliffe had offered.

National & Federal Education News

In bipartisan move, Senate confirms John King Jr. as U.S. Education Secretary
The Washington Post
March 14, 2016


The Senate voted on Monday to confirm John King Jr. as U.S. Education Secretary, a move that shows that education has become a rare issue on which a polarized Washington can reach bipartisan compromise.

Seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting 49 to 40 in favor of King’s confirmation at a time when key GOP senators are refusing to even consider an Obama nominee to the Supreme Court.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — chairman of the education committee who previously served as education secretary under President George H.W. Bush — urged his colleagues to confirm King, arguing that the education department needs a leader who can be held to account as the nation implements a sweeping new education law that replaced the long-maligned No Child Left Behind.

“This vote is not about whether one of us would have chosen Dr. King to be the education secretary. Republicans won’t have the privilege of picking an education secretary until we elect the president of the United States,” Alexander said Monday, 25 years to the day after his own Senate confirmation. “We need a United States Education Secretary confirmed by and accountable to the United States Senate so that the law to fix No Child Left Behind will be implemented the way Congress wrote it.”

Ten Leading Trends in Higher Education
NPR/WVTF
March 15, 2016

The Chronicle of Higher Education is out with its second annual assessment of trends on campus. A new book that echoes those concerns and on the ten trends highlighted by the Chronicle.

The authors looked at campuses nationwide and noted a fresh wave of attacks on free speech – especially what students are allowed to say in public or through social media, and they saw a growing tendency by governing boards to act without consulting students or faculty. Goldie Blumenstyk is a Senior Writer at the Chronicle and author of American Higher Education in Crisis?

“In the public university sector there is still a lot of concern that the trustees are political appointees," she explains. "In some cases they may be representing the political interests of the people who appointed them and maybe not so much the best interests of the university.”

Superintendents, but not teachers, give high grades to Common Core rollout
EdSource
March 11, 2016

Most California teachers, principals and superintendents view the Common Core as more rigorous and more relevant to students than the previous state standards, but disagree over how well the Common Core has been implemented, researchers from the nonprofit education agency WestEd have concluded.

While a majority of superintendents and district leaders say their districts have successfully rolled out the new standards, classroom teachers in California are not as upbeat. In a questionnaire and interviews, they expressed doubts about their principals’ instructional knowledge and capacity to lead the transition to the new standards. Teachers also reported they are struggling to find instructional materials aligned to the standards, relying on online resources and each other’s lesson plans rather than state-endorsed resources.

“Principals have not been trained in instructional leadership tied to the new standards, and so the state needs to consider leading administrator training that encompasses the standards,” WestEd Senior Policy Associate Reino Makkonen said in an interview. District and school leaders generally do not understand “the degrees of change” in instruction that the new standards require, he said.

What money for education is in the state budget?

The General Assembly passed a two year budget this past Friday, completing one of its most significant tasks.  A variety of news round-ups (including the Washington Post, the Waynesboro News Virginian and the Lynchburg News & Advance provided overviews of noteworthy parts, including some attention to education funding.  However, our own David Blount breaks down K-12 funding provisions in detail in his next to last General Assembly Update of the season, which we excerpt at length below.  (He'll have a final wrap-up piece out following the reconvened session in April when the GA regathers to process any vetos from the Governors office.)  

We also bring you another excerpt from the most recent edition of our Education Law Newsletter.  Written by Kathleen Conn, the March edition looks at the question of freedom of speech and higher education in the evolving world of online communications.   

Finally, in honor of March Madness, we share Inside Higher Ed's annual take on the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament where they crown a winner based on each team's performance in the classroom (using the multi-year Academic Progress rate) rather than on the court.  VCU, no doubt, is proud to make it to the Sweet Sixteen with victories over Oregon State and Oklahoma before losing to eventual champion Texas (which beat the Hoosiers in a close national title game that went to the tie-breaker - Graduation Success Rate.)

 


We hope you have a great week!


Sincerely,
CEPI
General Assembly Update - Week 6
Excerpted from CEPI's General Assembly Update, written by Policy Analyst David Blount.  The update will be published weekly during the General Assembly session.

"State Budget Update

Following are highlights of conference committee amendments to the introduced budget affecting K-12 education:

  • For SOQ-funded instructional and support positions, the budget includes the state share of a 2% salary incentive, effective December 1, contingent on actual FY16 general fund revenues being sufficient. The budget also provides nearly $57 million in FY18 for the state’s share of funding to advance the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) scheduled rates for the teacher pension plan to 100%. The plan swaps $10 million in the second year to backfill Literary Fund dollars used to pay a portion of those retirement costs, but over the course of the biennium, the plan transfers about $315 million in Literary Fund dollars to pay for teacher retirement.
  • The spending plan re-establishes a previous General Assembly policy of sending lottery proceeds to local school divisions on a per pupil basis. Nearly $194 million of Lottery Proceeds Fund revenues will be sent to school divisions on a per pupil basis (using the composite index). The specific amounts are $36.6 million in FY17 ($52.42 per pupil) and $157.2 million in FY18 ($224.43 per pupil). Most of these dollars have been redirected from the introduced plan’s “new teacher” initiative and from an at-risk add on “range” increase. Up to 50% of this allocation can be used on any recurring expense and at least 50% must be used on non-recurring expenses (such as capital, equipment, school buses and maintenance). A maintenance of effort, but not a local match, is required.
  • Additionally, the approved spending plan provides $5 million over the biennium for career and technical credentialing and equipment; this includes $2 million for equipment and $500,000 for tests and materials costs of earning industry certifications each year.
  • It provides $4.6 million over the biennium for the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, to include $3 million for a new pilot program to provide grants to incentivize additional public-private partnerships in preschool services. It also adds $2.9 million over the two years to increase the Virginia Preschool Initiative per pupil amount from $6,000 to $6,125.
  • The spending plan provides $17 million in the first year and $17.4 million the second year to fund a Cost of Competing Adjustment (COCA) rate of 10.6% for K-12 support personnel in 18 primarily Northern Virginia localities. The introduced budget included $40.6 million in FY18 for this initiative.
  • The budget includes $50,000 in FY17 for grants to school divisions of up to $5,000 each to explore alternative teacher compensation approaches that move away from tenure-based step increases and toward compensation based on teacher performance and student progress. Priority will be given to school divisions that have schools not achieving full accreditation or that have high numbers of at-risk students needing qualified teachers in hard-to-staff subjects. In FY18, just over $2 million will be available for the first year of five-year competitive grants to school divisions to implement such performance-based pay systems. Approved programs also are expected to provide teachers with incentives to take on additional training and responsibilities.
  • A total of $500,000 in FY17 is included for a new pilot for an analytical model to measure student growth in schools; the introduced budget had proposed $150,000. The plan also provides $1 million over the biennium for computer science training for teachers.
  • Separate amendments provide dollars for a pair of important studies. Included is $24,000 each year for HJ 112/ SJ 85, which establish a two-year joint subcommittee to study the need for revisions to, or reorganization of, Standards of Quality (SOQ) for public education. Also, $150,000 each year will support the Commission on Employee Retirement Security and Pension Reform, created pursuant to HB 665. The VRS also is getting $300,000 each year to support this study.
  • The spending plan includes various amendments related to the Virtual School Program. It provides $1.6 million to expand the full-time pilot initiative from 90 to 200 students and for a new Virtual Virginia Math Outreach Algebra I pilot. One-time start-up funding for personnel costs for the Virginia Virtual School also is included; four full-time staff should be hired by January 1, 2018, in order to be ready for the opening of the school for the 2018-19 school year. Additionally, language is included directing the DOE to transfer the average state share of SOQ per pupil funding and the state's sales tax per pupil amount to the program for each student that is enrolled in the school and who was previously enrolled in public school, pursuant to HB 8 (a compromise bill was approved on the session’s last day).
  • The approved budget decreases by $250,000 the first year and $62,500 the second year the proposed increases in introduced budget for Project Discovery. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of program metrics is required by October 1.
  • The approved spending plan includes $100,000 the first year and $200,000 the second year for grants for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education competition teams at qualified schools, pursuant to SB 246.
  • The budget also includes $414,000 over the biennium and one position to administer statewide dyslexia training to teachers seeking an initial licensure or a renewal, pursuant to HB 842.
For additional information about the approved budget conference report, please click here."

 

(To read the full update, visit our website.)

Regulating Professors' Online Speech: Academic Freedom or "Incivility"
Excerpted from from Kathleen Conn's  March 2016 Education Law Newsletter.

The Pickering Decision
Marvin Pickering was a public school teacher who complained in a newspaper editorial about his district’s priorities in expending tax monies. The district censured Pickering, but when Pickering alleged in a lawsuit that the district had abridged his First Amendment rights, the court agreed. In order for the public employee’s speech to be protected by the First Amendment, the Pickering majority ruled, the employee must be speaking as a citizen on a matter of true public concern, and the right of the employee must be balanced against the right of the employer to maintain efficiency and productivity in the workplace. This has often be referred to as the Pickering balancing test.

The Mt. Healthy Decision
The Court expanded on the Pickering ruling several years later in Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle. Fred Doyle was a social studies teacher fired for allegedly sharing his negative comments about his school’s new dress code for teachers on a radio station. However, the Court noted that Doyle had been a less than stellar employee, and had previously engaged in obscene gestures toward students and other confrontations with colleagues. The Court stated that, although Doyle’s speech was a substantial factor in the district’s action, an employee cannot claim the protection of the First Amendment for otherwise unprotected conduct. The Court established a burden shifting analysis in which the disciplined employee would have to show that the speech alleged was a substantial factor in the district’s disciplinary action, but the district could then show that but for the speech, the district would have taken the same action for other valid reasons.

The Connick Decision
While the Pickering and Mt. Healthy decisions were in the context of K-12 school teachers’ writings or speech, the third decision in the trilogy, Connick v. Myers, was in the context of an assistant district attorney’s written survey to colleagues. Sheila Myers, unhappy with a proposed transfer in her work environment, circulated a survey among co-workers, attempting to uncover a lack of morale and a general dissatisfaction with the actions of supervisory personnel. Myers was disciplined. The Court looked to the Pickering and Mt. Healthy decisions and fashioned the third prong of what would become its public employee speech jurisprudence for years to come. The Court ruled that Myers was not speaking on a matter of true public concern, and stated that no First Amendment protection was available for purely internal expressions of dissatisfaction with workplace conditions. Employee speech that eroded interpersonal relationships between employer and employees, the Court concluded, was not subject to protection.

*********

Recommendations
Civility as a standard for employment decisions in any context, but especially in academia, is problematic. Civility can be viewed differently by different individuals at different times, and the need to be viewed as “civil” may stall or foreclose full discussion of sensitive issues. The basic premise of the First Amendment is defense of the “marketplace of ideas.”

At public institutions, contrary to Garcetti, professorial speech may be protected by the First Amendment, but at the current time that protection is jurisdiction dependent, with Circuit Courts of Appeals creating contradictory precedents for lower courts. In addition, the very different and more expansive nature of online speech may influence the outcome of any institutional disciplinary deliberation. The more controversial or profane the speech, the wider its dissemination, and the more tangential to the professor’s assigned teaching duties, the less likely is First Amendment protection. Bad publicity translates into decreased funding, alumni and otherwise. Boards of Trustees fully comprehend this reality.


A professor’s duties revolve around teaching and scholarship, with institutions of higher education known as “teaching institutions” or “research institutions.” However, the common denominator is that institutions hire certain faculty members because the institutional search committees collectively decide that the successful candidates will fulfill a need in the institution, and will be a “good fit” with the institution’s mission, goals, and colleagues. Even so, rescission of Steven Salaita’s job offer because of his tweets was unprecedented.


What should be the guiding principles for professorial speech online? First, professors are by collective reputation “smart.” Publishing controversial opinions in inflammatory rhetoric, without substantive factual support or elaboration, is not smart, and allowing those opinions to be broadcast online to the world is even less smart. Second, professors should remember the caution of the AAUP: the public, including donors to universities, may indeed interpret professorial speech as representing the university’s mission and vision.


On the other hand, civility cannot be an excuse for bad decisions. As one commentator remarked, college and university administrators must take care not to create campuses of “nice people” where professors are afraid to state well-supported, but unpopular opinions. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently surveyed 437 institutions of higher education and asserts that 55% maintain severely restrictive speech policies for students and faculty, prohibiting protected speech under the guise of respect for others and civility. College and university administrators must re-examine their speech policies together with their legal counsel, to make sure that protected speech rights are not abridged.

Read the full analysis and other Education Law Newsletters on our website