Monthly Update

September 1, 2023

Flirting with a fiscal cliff

Although another COVID wave has crashed upon the nation, the pool of federal relief funds that flooded districts will ultimately evaporate. In a move to raise a warning flag, Aligned President Torree Pederson penned an op-ed published by the Missouri Independent that asks, "Are districts inadvertently setting themselves up for a crisis when these funds inevitably dry up?"

Pederson predicts that districts will be caught off guard when the funding expires next year.

"Districts were required to plan and allocate this funding within a short timeframe before the full extent of the learning gaps became apparent. This policy has led school districts to use a significant portion of these funds for ongoing operational expenses, inadvertently setting the stage for a fiscal cliff once the funds inevitably run dry in September 2024."

Some districts directed ESSER (federal relief) funds towards one-time or temporary costs like capital improvements, instructional materials, and outdoor learning spaces. However, other districts used stimulus funds for ongoing expenses like teacher salaries and raises.

Financial shocks that could hurt districts include enrollment declines, inflationary pressures, and an economic slowdown that impacts state general revenue.

Marguerite Roza and Katie Silberstein from the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University presented a webinar that outlined the tough choices districts may face in the years ahead.

They recommend reducing excess capacity/employees and reigning in cost growth for benefits and special ed services to alleviate pain down the road. Click here to see the webinar slides.

Education Week published a report from ERS that identified Missouri as one of 15 states* that could face a tough road in 2024 because of high marks in the three following factors:

1) ESSER represents a high percentage of overall education dollars;

2) Many districts serve a large number of students living in poverty; and

3) Many students attend school in a high-need district.

Kansas was one of 13 states not significantly impacted by those factors.

*Other states facing challenges are AL, AR, AZ, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, NM, OK, SC, TN, TX, and WV.

About Aligned

Aligned is the only state-wide non-profit, nonpartisan business group working in Kansas and Missouri on educational issues impacting the full development of our children, from supporting high-quality early learning to solid secondary programs that provide rigorous academic programs and real-world learning opportunities.

Our vision is that our public education systems in Kansas and Missouri have the resources and flexibility to prepare students to pursue the future of their choice.

We are currently focused on education policies that will strengthen early childhood education, teacher recruitment and retention, and school finance reform.

Learn more about our work.

Missouri News

State board gets (social) emotional

According to the Missouri Independent, state officials gave the green light to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) standards; however, board members recognize that this move could generate blowback in light of the politically charged rhetoric around the issue.

The public can weigh in on this proposal until September 15th, and the board will share the survey results at its October meeting. Click here to submit comments.

Why is SEL controversial?

Some parents believe that SEL encompasses Critical Race Theory and Comprehensive Sex Education. Just yesterday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a parent group in St. Charles advocating an opt-out waiver for any learning not related to academic instruction.

However, Jen Foster, who co-chairs the work group studying the standards, said, "We're not advocating that everyone has to change their values to all meet the same values; we're advocating for basic human dignity, and those are two different things."

Stay tuned as this could become a hot-button education issue in the next legislative session.

How many Missouri public schools ranked in the top 100?

Just one.

This week U.S. News and World Report released its annual "Best High Schools" rankings which examines 25,000 public districts and charters in the country. Metro Academic and Classical High School, a magnet school in the City of St. Louis is the only public high school in both Missouri and Kansas to crack the top 100 list, squeaking in at the 99th spot. Metro is a selective school and only considers students who score at or above the 70th percentile level on standardized tests among other requirements..

Real-time testing

The Show-Me State made national news earlier this month when the State Board of Education approved innovation waivers for 19 districts and one charter school. This new flexibility will allow schools to implement alternative assessments separate from the requirements of the state's mandatory evaluation system.

Some of the components of this approach include:

Measuring student growth multiple times throughout the school year
Immediate, timely feedback for the student, teacher, and parents
Student awareness of where they are and engagement in setting future goals
Active student learning using different pathways and varied pacing
Student progress based on evidence of mastery, not seat time
Student engagement in real-world learning experiences that support high school, college, career, and workplace readiness

State Board of Education President Charlie Shields characterized this move as a gift to the students and families of Missouri. He said, "Others will learn from us nationwide."

The innovation waiver pilot period will last three years, and districts and charters must still participate in federally mandated testing.

In other news

Kansas News

State Board of Education Highlights

The Kansas State Board of Education met in August and approved adjusting the state's accreditation cycle to align with the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation learning cycle.

Dr. Randy Watson devoted much of his monthly report to "collective teacher efficacy (CTE)" and how that can lead to success. CTE is a unified theory of behavior change based on the collective belief that teachers, working from a collective mindset, can positively impact students. Albert Bandura introduced this concept in the 1990s and found that "the positive effects of CTE on student academic performance more than outweigh the negative effects of low socioeconomic status."

Read the state board summary here.

In other news

Left to right: Torree Pederson (Aligned), John Nave (KS AFL-CIO), John Ladd (US DOL Office of Apprenticeship), Shonda Anderson (Kansas Office of Apprenticeship), Dr. Jennifer Seymour (Wichita State University - Tech), Hilary Worcester (KS CoOP)

A "working" model for Kansas kids

Torree Pederson joined the Kansas delegation last month for a trip to our nation's Capitol to participate in the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) Policy Academy to Advance Youth Apprenticeship.

Kansas was one of six states invited to share ideas and challenges related to youth apprenticeships. Governor Laura Kelly sees the apprenticeship model as an innovative way to grow the workforce to support workers and businesses. "Now, we are furthering our efforts by developing a plan to ensure more of our high school students graduate with the skills they need to get good-paying jobs that don't require a four-year degree."

Shonda Anderson serves under Kelly as the Director of Internship and Apprenticeship for Kansas Department of Commerce and has been instrumental in generating momentum around the youth apprenticeship model.

The Brookings Institute published a commentary earlier this year that shared what high school students think about this model. Aracely Avila Hermosillo, a junior, said, "I'm surprised how many skills I have used, like OKRs, lean, continuous improvement," she said. "And all these skills that I probably wouldn't have learned until I'm way older. Simple skills, like how to talk to people formally, using Google calendars, scheduling meetings professionally."

Other takeaways from the Brookings report include the following:

Apprenticeships can help students make more informed college choices and make them more competitive applicants.
There are barriers and challenges to working and going to school.
Leaders need to raise awareness of apprenticeships.

So long sweet summer

Although we technically have three more weeks before the official start of autumn, the random falling leaf and the kick-off of college football tells us it's time to finish up our summer reading.

Bill pre-filing starts in 90 days and we are putting our legislative action plans together. Expect more in '24 will be our theme, and we are teeming with excitement about big ideas for education. As always, we will bring our subscribers along for the ride.

Enjoy this last luscious weekend of "summer".

Cheers!