They recently sent letters to students in Korah, a community of 130,000 in Ethiopia.

Eighth-grader Maddy DeCandido wrote in her letter, “I’m very passionate about playing volleyball, and I hope to play in college one day.” She included a photo of herself.

Responses from the African students are expected to arrive within the next few weeks, written in English “as best they can,” said Crystal Colohan, a gifted resource teacher who traveled to Ethiopia this past summer on a mission trip with her church.

Language arts teacher Sarah Morrison came up with the idea for the entire school to read the same book. Eighth-graders got first dibs. The pen pal project started with students in Morrison’s 45-minute daily enrichment class.

The speech could give the country a glimpse of education's place in Trump's presidency—or it could send a signal that education won't be a major focus.

Here are four things to watch for:

Does education come up at all?

Back in 2009, President Barack Obama made education a big theme of a similar speech in his first big speech to Congres and ended up laying out a lot of the proposals—and goals—that defined his presidency on the issue. He talked about how three-quarters of the country's fastest-growing jobs require education beyond high school, but noted that only about half of the country had attained that level of education. He set a goal of leading the world in college graduates by 2020, which he referred to again, and again, over the course of his presidency.

What will Trump say about career and technical education?

Trump got a ton of support from working-class voters, in areas of the country that are trying to revive a struggling manufacturing sector and pinpoint pathways for students who may not want to pursue a traditional, four-year college degree.

Both the House and Senate approved dozens of changes, which are highlighted below, to the budget plan that Governor McAuliffe introduced in December. In the Senate, the plan was approved unanimously, while the House passed the plan on a 99 to 1 vote.

Recall that although direct aid to public education was exempted from budget cuts last October, technical updates and the use of non-general fund revenues in the introduced budget decreased state funding for K-12 by more than $270 from the FY16 levels. The approved budget adds back more than $15 million above the levels in the introduced budget.

Major provisions of the approved budget conference report include the following:

• The spending plan redirects funding included in the introduced budget for a 1.5% bonus to provide just under $32 million for the state's share of a 2% compensation supplement for Standards of Quality (SOQ) instructional and support positions, calculated based on an effective date of February 15, 2018. School divisions will have the flexibility to qualify for the funds if they certify that they have provided or will provide an increase of at least 2% at some point during the 2016-18 biennium.
• State dollars for lottery per pupil allocations are increased by $34.1 million to $191.3 million in FY18, which amounts to an increase from $225.25 to $274.12 per student. As a result, 35% of all lottery proceeds now are funneled back to school divisions without any required local match or restrictions on uses of those funds (the budget removes a current restriction that equal amounts be spent for recurring and nonrecurring expenses).
• Nearly $7.3 million in FY17 is provided for a Small School Division Enrollment Loss Fund to provide additional dollars for 42 smaller school divisions (fewer than 10,000 students) that have realized a five percent or more decline in student enrollment over the past five years. A minimum dollar amount of $75,000 for eligible school divisions is provided.
• The approved budget uses an additional $8 million in FY17 from the Literary Fund to pay state costs for teacher retirement, upping the total amount for the year to just under $200 million.
• The budget establishes a revenue cash reserve in FY18, estimated at $35 million, from additional tax amnesty collections above the amounts assumed in the introduced budget. A second amendment establishes a revenue reserve fund from any excess revenues generated above the official FY17 revenue forecast.

Following are highlights of additional provisions related to public education that are contained in the budget conference report:

• The budget adds $50,000 to existing FY18 funding for Project Discovery to provide $662,500 in support of this program that encourages students to finish high school. Meanwhile, the plan reduces funding in FY18 from $2.8 million to $1.4 million for Project Graduation, which assists school divisions with instructional support for students who received a passing grade for a standard credit-bearing course but failed the required Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment needed to earn verified credit for the course required for graduation.
• The compromise budget reduces a planned increase for teacher residency partnerships in several urban school divisions, providing a $500,000 increase instead of the $1 million bump in new funding that was proposed.
• The budget cuts just over $200,000 of the $1.2 million budgeted over the biennium for “traineeships” for persons interested in working in the special education arena. New language would also allow for program operating grants for higher education institutions preparing special educators.
• The budget eliminates summer cyber camp funding of $480,000 in FY18.

The following provisions are included in the Department of Education (DOE) portion of the budget:

• $50,000 is included for a one-time file review of teachers who have been convicted of child abuse to make certain that the teacher's license has been revoked.
• $380,000 is earmarked for start-up costs for developing necessary policies, processes and procedures for administering the Parental Choice Education Accounts program (see HB 1605 below), should it be enacted. Otherwise, these funds will be allotted to the student growth model pilot for providing personalized instructional and academic planning for students and to facilitate data-driven school improvement efforts.
• $150,000 each year is shifted from principal training to assistance for teacher professional development on the subject of issues related to high-needs students.

Budget language amendments in the education arena include the following:

• Budget language directs the General Assembly’s money committee staff to facilitate a workgroup to examine options and determine actions necessary to better manage the quality and costs of private day educational programs currently funded through the Children's Services Act.
• Language directs the DOE, along with the community college and higher education systems, to recommend various alignments and improvements to high school dual enrollment financing.
• Budget language expands tuition eligibility such that graduating high school students can apply for and receive an annual tuition scholarship of up to $10,000 for pursing a teaching license for certain critical teacher shortage disciplines or for career and technical education.
• Language is removed that penalizes successful transition to an extended school year schedule during the start-up period. Initial grant awards may be up to $300,000 per school for up to two years after the initial implementation period, or $400,000 in the case of schools that have a “denied accreditation” status.
• Finally, budget language establishes a system to monitor potential fiscal distress among local governments and provides a mechanism for potential state and private sector assistance, including funding resources, to be coordinated by the legislative and executive branches and managed by the governor’s office. Additional language establishes an 11-member Joint Subcommittee on Fiscal Stress to review (i) savings opportunities from increased regional cooperation and consolidation of services, along with potential financial incentives and reforms to encourage increased cooperation; (ii) local responsibilities for service delivery of state-mandated or high-priority programs; (iii) causes of fiscal stress among local governments; and (iv) the differing taxing authorities of cities and counties.

Additional information on the adopted budget will be forthcoming via a Superintendent’s Memo posted here.

Education Legislation
The General Assembly went down to the wire in its consideration of a foursome of bills limiting suspensions of school students, and in the end, all the bills failed to pass. After being passed by on the Senate floor for several days, HB 1534 finally was sent back to Committee and not reconsidered. The bill would have limited suspensions to 60 days, with provisions to extend longer in cases involving criminal activity. HB 1536 was assigned to a conference committee to resolve differences, but the group of six legislators was unable to reach an agreement and the bill died. It would have prohibited preK-3 students from being long-term suspended or expelled unless their conduct involved weapons, drugs, inappropriate sexual behavior, or serious bodily injury. The Senate versions of the bills, SB 995 and SB 997, were defeated in the House on bipartisan votes earlier last week, with those opposing the bills saying that such decisions should be left to local school boards, rather than being dictated by lawmakers in Richmond. Some form of these bills likely will be introduced at the General Assembly again next year.

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