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Matthew Lynch published in Parental Involvement January 9, 2016

The Crucial Role of Parental Involvement

By Matthew Lynch

It is beyond any doubt that low-performing schools would benefit from developing strong parent-school partnerships. However, it is not always easy to promote such a culture of shared responsibility. Schools may face difficulty in attaining an efficient collaborative framework among stakeholders, which include teachers, parents, students, the community, and the administration.

Generally, education and school leaders try to generate a social framework that will help teachers, administrators, and parents resolve differences in a peaceful and supportive manner. Overall improvement of student performance can be the outcome of improved relationships between teachers and parents.

Education leaders can encourage parental involvement by improving the structural environment of schools that directly affects teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Historically, American culture has tried to promote a locally inspired, community-based school structure; however, most of the calls for decentralization of schools and school district systems have failed to remove the bureaucratic nature of schools. This includes a structural division of responsibilities, a strict set of laws and regulations, and hierarchical control over the functionality and operation of schools.

Bureaucratic systems often create barriers that prevent teachers from developing effective student-teacher relationships and discourage parents from taking part in helping students develop their learning skills. Centralized schooling systems under the burden of stern bureaucracies can also cause alienation of teachers and obstruct student development. On the other hand, bureaucratic systems help teachers control and use their expertise to guide students effectively. A reduction in bureaucracy would increase administrative tasks among teachers, which would then have a negative impact on their performance.

The bureaucratic system should be based on flexible formulae that will guide the teachers, administrators, and parents in promoting the learning skills of students and help them achieve better results. The centralized or hierarchical authority of schools can be used to implement these supportive regulations and policies to enhance parental involvement. On the other hand, the wrong set of policies or the lack of flexibility may harm the process of teaching and learning.

Schools must be prepared for the fact that one outcome of effective parental involvement programs will be the desire of parents to become partners in the decision-making process existing in schools. Thus, school personnel must possess a genuine belief that shared responsibility for multiple aspects of the educational enterprise will result in improved learning environments for children and youth.

Understanding the deep-rooted importance of family and parental involvement in education and its effect on the academic performance of a child, requires recognizing the fact that parents are children’s first teachers. Home is the first school, and as such, it is the place where children learn an abundance of skills, knowledge, and attitudes, some of which supports what is taught in schools.

When parents get involved with their children’s education, they tend to succeed academically and perform better on exams. They miss fewer school days and tend to be more conscientious about completing school-related work outside of school. Conversely, children, whose families are not as involved in their school experiences, are often unable to compete academically with peers, have irregular attendances, and are less likely to graduate from high school.

Because of the positive impact that parent and family involvement in education has on the performance of children, schools often try to encourage parents and family members to increase their participation in the educational process. In order to increase partnership of parents with schools, schools must create an environment that offers enough incentives and support for parents.

Schools cannot expect that all parents and family members will increase their level of parental involvement on their own. School staff, including teachers, other school personnel, maintenance staff, and administrators, must work together to develop an environment that encourages parents to ask questions and share their feedback with school personnel. Some parents will need to be invited to schools, and learn to view schools as places where they may seek advice, receive suggestions on any number of school/student related issues, and understand it is a place where their inputs and thoughts are welcomed.

Some parents may be dissuaded from getting involved with what they perceive as a group of close-knit educational professionals who engage in language and practices meant to exclude parents from the work of educational systems. School districts must make sure parents understand state standards and assessments so that parents can be more involved in monitoring the progress of their children. Schools are required to make sure that communications with parents are in a language and format that are understandable to parents. In order for America’s children to succeed academically, the crucial role of parental involvement must be embraced wholeheartedly.

Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education December 23, 2015

Report: wealth gap in higher education growing

According to a report by Moody’s Investor Service, Americans colleges and universities are developing a wealth gap problem.

“One third of all assets held by colleges and universities” is with the country’s 10 wealthiest universities.

A few on the list include Harvard, Texas, Stanford, Yale, MIT, and Duke. Of the top ten, three are public universities. The rest are private.

Harvard, perhaps the nation’s most prestigious university, is also the country’s richest. In terms of wealth, Harvard is stout with $42.8 billion. That’s almost $10 billion more than the University of Texas, which comes in second.

The report also states that the country’s richest schools “capture the bulk of charitable gifts flowing to higher education” to the tune of 60 percent.

But one of the more interesting portions of the study lands with how many schools collect their revenue. The collection of tuition and student fees at the country’s top 20 private educational institutions has a median of 15 percent. That number jumps to 46 percent for public colleges.

Moody’s report concludes that because of the recovering economy and stock market, university endowments for the country’s wealthiest schools have aided in their increased wealth.

This report almost models how certain collegiate sports are fashioned. As power is concentrated in just a few NCAA conferences in sports like football and basketball that host big name schools like Alabama, Ohio State and USC, many kids will forgo opportunities at smaller schools in an effort to compete at larger, more competitive universities.

That example is a small sample size compared to the grand number of colleges and universities that many students have to choose from, but attracting the best and brightest to one’s campus is always easier when money flows as freely as spring water.

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform December 23, 2015

3 Things That Barack Obama Did For P-20 Education in 2015

When Barack Obama assumed the presidency, he was confronted by a nasty set of problems in P-20 education. High student loan debt, lack of affordable early-childhood education options, and everything in between were put in the President’s lap and have been issues he’s addressed in both terms.

Given the nature and sheer number of challenges, his administration has done a great deal to foster positive change and progress. In a bid to build upon his already stellar record on education, Obama implemented a number of education reform initiatives in 2015.

Obama gave $1 billion to Native American Education. President Obama’s budget request included $1 billion for American Indian schools next year, with millions of those dollars dedicated to restoring crumbling buildings and connecting classrooms via broadband Internet.

Administrative officials said the President was inspired to increase funds to better serve this population partially after last year’s visit to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. He and the First Lady traveled to North Dakota and met with young people who shared how drugs, violence, and poverty impact their lives.

The federal government reported that around one-third of Bureau of Indian Education schools were in poor condition last year. This has forced students to learn in classrooms that fail to meet health and safety standards.

The BIE oversees 23 states and serves over 40,000 children in nearly 200 schools.

In addition to renovations, Obama’s budget included funds to expand broadband access at BIE schools, expand scholarships for post-secondary education, and help tribes deliver their own education programs.

Young people in Indian Country are some of the most at-risk in the United States. Many grow up in communities suffering from poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse. More than one-fifth of Native Americans over 25 never earn a high school diploma. Of those who attend college, only 39 percent earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.

I can only imagine the impact $1 billion will make on the Native American community, which is in such dire need of resources. Students do not deserve to have roofs caving in on them—they deserve to attend school and get an education in dramatically better conditions. I think Obama’s proposed funds could support some big changes in Native American education, changes that will lead to improved high school graduation rates and hopefully end the Native youth crisis.

Obama announced $240 Million in STEM funding. President Barack Obama used the spotlight of the 5th annual White House Science Fair to announce $240 million in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) funding, which will come from private businesses, foundations, and schools.

Calling the National Science Fair “the most fun event of the year,” the President praised the sophistication of the projects presented from scientists as young as kindergarteners. He emphasized the need for society to keep pushing STEM initiatives, through vocal and financial support, and said that this generation of students will “define the contours of the 21st century” through their advancements.

It’s no secret that President Obama is a big proponent of STEM learning and initiatives. Since the start of his first term, he has pushed for higher accountability in schools where these subjects are concerned and has looked for ways to funnel funding towards them—schools with strong STEM programs, for example, see more

Race to the Top funding. Keeping up with other countries when it comes to STEM initiatives is a priority for the President, and he sees long-term economic value in encouraging students today.

I’m interested to hear more about the specifics of this funding, though. What programs will it specifically fund? Will some of it go to scholarships? We know that young women tend to lose interest in STEM learning around middle-school age. Will some of the funding address this growing concern? Computer coding is also an area that is rapidly advancing in demand. How will these funds help bridge that gap?

Where would you like to see some of this $240 million in STEM funding applied?

Obama administration released a testing action plan for K-12. President Obama is determined not to allow the moniker of “lame duck” to stick to him. In 2015, Obama and the Department of Education released their Testing Action Plan, which aims to reduce the burden of tests that many students are tasked with taking.
While Obama has little recourse in scaling back how often states tests its students, his administration can at least provide an outline. Part of that outline includes having schools “send parents written notice” if students exceed a two-percent cap of classroom time that they may spend taking tests.

The whole point of this initiative is to utilize additional ways to measure student success as opposed to just testing. Included in the action plan are ways that schools may determine “how well students are learning and schools are functioning” by using “portfolios, projects, technology-supported assessments, students surveys,” etc. It’s still assessment, though, instead of just teaching and letting students learn—something that critics argue is sorely lacking in P-12 classrooms today.

In addition to the cap on testing and student measuring tools, the administration stated that it will be more flexible with federal standards when it comes to teacher evaluations. How that flexibility will look remains to be seen, but if they are willing to go easy on testing, then teacher evals may see similar variety.

On his way out of the White House, Obama is attempting to untangle the legacy of No Child Left Behind and create a new path and perhaps leave a presidential legacy on education.

Did I miss anything? What would you add to the list?

Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform December 19, 2015

2 Ways That Language Instruction Shined in 2015

In today’s global world, it is important that students leave high school knowing more than just one language. Several innovative school districts in the U.S. are making this a reality by ensuring that their students learn a second language.

Maryland districts add Spanish immersion at three of its elementary schools. Prince George County in Maryland is working hard to immerse young students in foreign language. Three schools in the county started formally offering Spanish immersion as part of an expansion option for children this school year.

Mariluz Mendez, a kindergarten teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, said that some of her students who have never spoken a foreign language before her class are now reading books in Spanish.

Executive Director of the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages Marty Abbott explained that the number of school districts that use a foreign-language immersion model rises each year. Spanish is the most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. schools, and Chinese is seeing a significant increase.

Gina Bowler and Delores Millhouse, two parents who did not have children in the public schools last year, lobbied for Schools Chief Kevin M. Maxwell to add Spanish immersion to the district’s list of offerings.

Bowler wants to give her daughters all of the advantages available to other children. She believes fluency in multiple languages will give students “many advantages in their academic lives, their professional lives, and their personal lives.”

Right now, kindergarten classes in each of the three participating elementary schools enjoy the new offering. Subsequent grades will be added each year. The district also offers Chinese immersion at a few schools.

I fully support Maryland in its decision to offer Spanish immersion in its kindergarten classes. Research points to benefits such as greater understanding, tolerance, and appreciation for other languages and cultures. I anticipate and hope that we will see an increase of language immersion programs throughout the U.S. in upcoming years.

NYC expanded dual-language programs. The New York City Education Department plans to expand dual-language programs offered in the city’s public schools.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina stated that 40 dual-language programs in elementary, middle and high school levels would be created or expanded for the 2015-2016 school year. As of June, there were 150 dual-language programs in the city. The new dual-language program will receive a $25,000 grant to prepare for the implementation and $1 million in federal funds.

The programs will primarily be in Spanish, but there will also be some in French, Haitian-Creole, Japanese, Chinese, and Hebrew. The programs will aspire to teach students to read, write, and speak in two languages. Half of the students will be English speakers and the other half will already speak the second language in the classroom.

Dual-language programs have been spreading around the United States as school districts strive to prepare students to compete for jobs in a globalized, multilingual world. The methods used in each school vary. For example, some teachers may teach half of the school day in English and half in another language.

Beyond the job prospects and global advantages, education experts say that dual-language programs can also attract middle-class families to attend poorer schools they may otherwise evade.

I think this shows that New York City is using its multicultural community to its advantage. Dual-language programs promote a positive school culture and can help close the achievement gap. I anticipate we will see students from a range of backgrounds attend schools that offer dual-language programs as more and more parents recognize the importance of bilingual education.

Can you think of any other stories that we missed?

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform December 18, 2015

3 Ways Activists Fought For P-20 Education in 2015

Activism and fighting for the common good are as old as the human race itself. In P-20 education, the last decade has seen progress for groups that have traditionally been left out of the decision and often made to fight for a seat at the table. To the surprise of some and elation of others, many of these education activists groups have be overwhelmingly successful, especially this past year. In honor of those of us that fight for what’s right, I decided to do a piece discussing the top ways that education activists pushed back against “the man” in 2015.

Oklahoma protestors rallied for public school funding. Thousands of protesters attended a rally at the Oklahoma State Capitol that called on the state’s legislators to

do a better job staffing and funding the public schools in the state, as reported by The Oklahoman. The Brighter Future rally was organized by the Oklahoma Parent Teacher Association, and more than 60 school districts cancelled classes so that teachers, students, and parents could attend the rally that has been taking place for over a decade. Whether the legislators listened remains to be seen, but it would be in their best interest to do so.

Oklahoma ranks below the national average when it comes to academic achievement and chances for success for its students, according to Education Week’s 2015 Quality Counts report. For K-12 achievement and education spending, Oklahoma received “F” rankings. It’s reasonable to surmise that there is a connection between both things; without properly funded schools with highly trained (and adequately paid) teachers, students will not be able to reach their full potential.

The protest’s organizers hoped to double last year’s numbers and have 50,000 people at the rally today as a gathering of that size would hopefully collect the attention needed for some real change to take place when it comes to the public schools in the state and the children who attend them. The connection between public school funding and staffing, and the success of its students, is very clear. To best guide this generation of K-12 students into an economically healthy future for the state, Oklahoma needs to put the right funding behind its public schools.

Corinthian students said USDOE used them as publicity stunt. In a story that continues to grow, students who formerly attended Corinthian colleges are accusing the United States Department of Education (USDOE) of using them as a publicity stunt.

Representatives from the “Corinthian 100” were set to meet with officials from the USDOE about their student loan debts but opted to cancel the meeting because they felt they were being used. According to the New Republic, a representative from the Debt Collective, the organization aiding the students in their quest against the USDOE, did not believe the government wanted to help.

“They’re using us so they can pretend to care about students.”

The Corinthian 100 continue to fight in an effort to get the government to forgive their student loan debt. Students that formerly attended schools under the now-defunct Corinthian colleges banner are attempting to exercise a clause listed in the contracts they signed for student loans.

That portion of the contract allows for students to make a “defense of repayment” if they feel that they’ve been deceived.

Because the federal government fined Corinthian $30 million, in part, for felonious ways of collecting debt, the for-profit institution was forced to shut down. That’s also why the 100 want their debt forgiven.

Caught in the middle are the students who are saddled with thousands of dollars’ worth of debt owed to the Department of Education. But the 100 are refusing to bend and are demanding that their debt be forgiven.

Because Corinthian received nearly 90 percent of its revenue from federal financial aid, the federal government should overreach to help students who have shown that they are unable to repay their loans. As a result of the carelessness of Corinthian and the government, these students may never return to college due to the debt held from a negative and painful experience with an organization masquerading as a college.

Corinthian students refuse to payback student loan debt. Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit education outfit, came under fire when, as reported by NPR, 107 of its former students refused to pay back their student loans as a form of protest.

In addition to the large amount of debt that the students carry, they also claimed that the degrees they received from Corinthian are not recognized by most employers.

The Associated Press reported that Corinthian shut its doors last July due to federal regulations. The college had more than 100 U.S. campuses with more than 70,000 students. But when enrollment started to slump and reports showed that nearly 100 percent of students at for-profit schools take out student loans to pay for their education, the United States Department of Education stepped in.

According to NPR, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau met with representatives from the “Corinthian 100” to discuss “ways to address the burden of their student loans.” This is likely a step in the right direction for those students, but it doesn’t fully address the student loan debt crisis that’s beginning to engulf higher education.

The Institute for College Access and Success, by way of Pew Trusts, a rising number of states’ graduating students have an average debt of more than $30,000. Coupled with the fact that student loan debt now outpaces debt tied to mortgages and credit cards and more than 7 million U.S. borrowers are in default on their loans, higher education just may be in crisis.

The “Corinthian 100” is currently in talks with the Department of Education regarding their student loans.

I think these students have every right to refuse this repayment and that they were victims of predatory practices by this non-defunct university. Colleges and universities need to be held accountable for the degrees they give students and for what those students do after college.

What would you add to my list of ways that education activists fought back 2015?

Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform December 17, 2015

How the ESSA update will impact disadvantaged students

With President Obama signing the new Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, many are wondering what effect the changes in schools will have on minority students, students with disabilities and low-income students.

Some worry the gap between students will not be narrowed with the adoption of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the Center for the Study of School Transformation, Pedro Noguera, told NPR that he fears ESSA furthers the belief that we can minimize inequality and increase academic outcomes simply by focusing on schools.

Interestingly enough, ESSA is the most current version of the Johnson administration’s Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, which heavily addressed poverty and underserved students. During the 1970s, large scale gains were made in closing the gaps in academic achievement as school integration and poverty were focused on abundantly.

The situation is often bleak where poverty is heavily concentrated. Unless as a nation we are able to invest in schools the way we did in the past, we can’t expect to see inequalities disappear. The hope is that with focusing on schools at the local level, officials can more effectively pinpoint issues and in turn determine viable solutions for those problems.

It is in our best interest that all children receive quality education. As a nation, we cannot afford to have large numbers of individuals who are under-educated and stuck in low-income jobs. The best way to an equitable society is to focus on education and providing individuals with the proper set of skills necessary to enter and flourish in the workforce.

The Every Student Succeds Act may help rebalance inequality. Though many believe it’ll be up to the next President and Secretary of Education and whether they focus more on teaching and learning, versus placing the spotlight on assessment, as we’ve seen so readily in the past.

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.

Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform December 16, 2015

Report: School funding lower than before Great Recession

A new report on public school funding in the U.S. finds that most states now receive less support per K-12 student than prior to the 2007-2009 Great Recession. In addition, some states continue to decrease funding.

Published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research and policy institute, the report cites what is says is the most current data available on each state and local funding. After adjusting for inflation, it found:

In at least 31 states, the funding provided was less per student in the year ended in 2014 than in the 2008 school year prior to the recession taking hold. The cuts surpassed 10 percent in at least 15 states.
In at least 18 states, local government funding per student fell over the same period. In at least 27 states, local funding increased. Very few of the states increased funding made up for the initial cuts in support. Total funding nationally declined between 2008 and 2014 in states where comparable data exists.
While comprehensive data on the current (2016) school year is unavailable, it is known that at least 25 states are providing less “general” funding — the primary form of state funding per school — per student than in 2008. The cuts surpassed 10 percent in seven states.
Most states raised the “general” funding per pupil slightly this year. However, 12 states imposed new cuts in funding, despite evidence that the economy has continually improved. The states, including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Arizona, experienced the deepest cuts since the recession hit.

The report says that the consequences of K-12 state-level spending include weakening a key funding source for school districts, slowing the economy’s recovery form the recession, and impeding reforms widely acknowledged to boost students achievement, such as improved teacher quality and reduced class sizes.

Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform December 11, 2015

Is breakfast in the classroom problematic?

According to Nypost.com, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio’s new “Breakfast in the Classroom” program is causing problems for students and teachers.

The idea behind the program is that by allowing students to eat breakfast in the classroom instead of getting up earlier to eat breakfast at school, it should enhance learning opportunities.

But some parents and the PTA state that teachers are spending too much time cleaning up and passing out food.

“[P]arents and teachers say distributing the food and cleaning up takes as much as 30 minutes — a total of 2¹/₂ hours a week.”

One school’s PTA president believes that education is being stolen because of the new rule. The New York Post quotes Vance Gorke, PTA president of Peck Slip public schools as saying that “It’s stealing education from all of our kids.”

The main complaint from parents is that food isn’t healthy and is processed, so it’s not serving the best interest of the kids.

But De Blasio isn’t budging and the United States Department of Education is standing by the program as “many families couldn’t get their kids to school at an earlier time, and that giving free breakfast to everyone would mean poor kids were no longer ‘stigmatized.'”

More than anything, it seems as if the program is so new that teachers haven’t firmly grasped how to manage the program. As one teacher interviewed by the Post put it, “We have not figured out how to manage it.”

Once that bridge is crossed, and maybe a better partnership is formed, the program will be successful. Until then, the PTA and some parents are likely to continue to complain about the breakfast program.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education December 11, 2015

Tips for training your brain to become a faster study

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Brooke Chaplan

Every student wants to learn faster, but it seems like your brain doesn’t always cooperate. Along with healthy living and brain health supplements, developing smart study habits can really make you a more productive study. Studying effectively and keeping those facts stored and ready to access is a skill not many are privy to. If you want to further define and develop good study and memorization habits, following the four tips below can help.

Regular Exercise
Research from Harvard Medical School shows that regular exercise improves both memory and thinking skills. Researchers have long known that regular exercise has excellent emotional and physical health benefits. However, exercise not only gets the heart pumping, but also temporarily boosts the size of the hippocampus, which is the brain’s memory and learning center. Additionally, intense exercise also stimulates the body to release important chemicals, such as endorphins that fight stress, and other chemicals that stimulate brain cell and blood vessel growth. Exercising also reduces common cognitive impairments, such as stress, anxiety, and poor sleep quality.

Brain Workouts
Weight training involves increasing muscle mass through controlled, repetitive movements. The brain also grows through cognitive exercises and students should practice memorizing new information according to their own personalized system with custom pneumatic techniques. For example, you can practice quickly memorizing other people’s names or things you see in public. In a boring class you could practice memorizing details about students and then trying to recall them. This is important because the brain naturally resists information overload through protectively ignoring random details. Try to systematically train your brain to memorize this unfamiliar information instead.

Explore Different Skills
Learning new skills or information actually creates new neural pathways. The famous cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner postulated that there are actually different types of intelligence, such as spatial, logical, and kinesthetic intelligence. Therefore, IQ tests inaccurately reflect an individual’s intelligence because they primarily test factual knowledge. However, music expands a students’ ability to translate visual information to physical performance. On the other hand, studying art or architecture increases the students’ spatial comprehension. Therefore, students should explore different skill sets in order to increase the time and quality of their brain’s learning.

Academic Training
One of the most comprehensive ways to become a better learner is to formally study education. A degree in education is a great way to learn the fundamental principles of education through teaching others. In fact, an education degree will lead to greater understanding of the socio-cognitive learning processes. Students will learn the most effective techniques for increasing memory, creativity, and comprehension. For example, education degree programs and education masters degrees online provide students insight into how the learning process is highly individualized and as a result, you will be able to assess and understand your own learning preferences.

Clearly, there are proven ways to increase the brain’s learning effectiveness, such as exercise, memorization, skill expansion, and studying education. Don’t fall behind this year in school. If you take the time to rewire your thinking system, you can find new ways of studying faster.

_______________________________________________

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening.

Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch December 11, 2015

2 States That Made Big Investments in P-20 Education in 2015

In order for education in the U.S. to regain its former preeminence, we must start to fully fund education. Fortunately, many state governors got the memo and decided to do just that. Here is a shortlist of states that made investments in education in 2015.

Michigan governor invested millions in P-20 education. Higher education and public schools received a shot in the arm from the Michigan legislature earlier this year when Governor Rick Snyder approved a new funding bill for the 2015–2016 school year.

According mlive.com, the legislature sent $16 million worth of education funding to the governor’s desk for approval in June. Within the budget was an increase of over $18 million for higher education, $1.53 billion for the state’s public universities, an over-$23 million increase for community colleges, and $50 million “for a possible agreement on Snyder’s plans for Detroit education reform. The reform money will go towards paying down “the debt of Detroit Public Schools.” More antecedents included were money for at-risk funding and a bump in per-pupil funding, from $70 to $140.

Because the education budgets received bipartisan support and votes, Snyder signed off on them. He received the money he requested for education reform, and there seem to be no coming cuts to higher education.

State legislatures across the country have struggled to balance budgets without cutting higher and public education. This money addresses the needs of low-income, or poor, school districts and will pump more money into Michigan’s public universities.

Hopefully Michigan sets a trend nationwide where lawmakers will refrain from freezing or cutting money from higher and public education.

Arizona governor invested $3 billion in K-12 education. In October, Arizona politicians took a small sigh of relief when Governor Doug Ducey signed an education bill that will pump over $3 billion into K-12 schools.

According to azcentral.com, the bill was signed after leaders squabbled over coming to terms on funding due to a five-year-old lawsuit “that sets conditions on when the K-12 formula can be denied inflation funding.” This new plan calls for $3.5 billion to go to Arizona schools in the next decade by raising the base amount of K-12 dollars. That base will then be adjusted annually for inflation, and an extra $625 million will be added from the state’s general fund.

It took several weeks of negotiations between Ducey and school officials. Democrats weren’t fully behind the deal, which was championed by Republicans and signed into law by a Republican governor. But in the end, students seem to be the winner, so there’s no reason to grasp for partisanship.

In the next 10 years, K-12 schools in Arizona will see an uptick in funding due to the deal. That could mean more teachers, better facilities, and better resources for students to utilize. Of course, oversight of these funds is essential, and my vote is always to improve education conditions for minority and underserved students (especially in bilingual Arizona), but we will see how it all falls into place.

The semantics of the deal, or how we arrived here, may be debatable. But in the end, students seem like they will come out ahead with Arizona’s latest education law.

Can you think of any additional states that made big investments in P-20 education in 2015?