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As a constituency, children receive little attention in federal budget discussions. Today in Washington, and indeed leading up to the implementation of the Bipartisan Budget Control Act (BCA) (aka sequestration) next year, federal expenditures will be on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

According to the Kids’ Share 2012 report, just released by the Urban Institute, federal spending on children fell by $2 billion in 2011, the first decline of its kind in 30 years. Of even greater concern, spending is projected to fall again in 2012 as American Recovery and Reinvestment (AARA) money runs out. According the report, “CBO Baseline projections suggest that federal outlays on children will fall 6 percent in 2012 and an additional 2 percent in 2013.” This takes the BCA into account. Public education emerges as the biggest loser as the AARA expenditures dwindle, losing $13 billion, primarily in the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Special Education, and Title I/Education for the Disadvantaged. In total, federal spending for public education is projected to decline from $64 billion in 2011 to $37 billion by 2022, or $47 billion without BCA restrictions. Finally, total federal outlays will increase by ...

By Lisa Creighton, NEA HIN Senior Program Coordinator

Many of you may have heard about some big changes coming this fall to the school lunch and breakfast programs. As a result of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has updated the nutrition standards for school meals for the first time in fifteen years. The result? In cafeterias nationwide, students will be served more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and meals will now have limits on calories, saturated fat and sodium (among other changes). (For ideas on how to use these meal changes as a teaching opportunity, check out NEA HIN’s Healthy Steps, Healthy Lives).

Something you may not know is that the HHFKA also requires the USDA to update nutrition standards for snack foods and beverages that are sold outside of the school meal program—so called “competitive foods” that are sold in vending machines, food courts, cafeteria à la carte lines, and snack bars in nearly all schools in the United States. The current federal nutrition standards for snack foods and beverages have been in place since 1979, and are weak enough to ...

Not in most states, according to a national report card dedicated to answering that question.

Back in 2010, the first edition of a national report card on school funding and fairness was released. Considering “fair” school funding to be “a state finance system that ensures equal educational opportunity by providing a sufficient level of funding distributed to districts within the state to account for additional needs generated by student poverty,” it concluded that most states do not do a good job of ensuring equality of educational opportunity for all children. Last month, the second edition of this report card (which included funding data through 2009) was released – and once again, many states are falling short.

Just six states performed well on all measures of fairness that the report considered. Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont maintained their performance from the 2010 report, with Kansas and New Mexico joining them (Connecticut and Wyoming fell out of this group in 2012). Three states received below average rankings on all indicators – Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina.

These indicators reflect a number of core principles, one of which is that “varying levels of funding are required to provide equal educational opportunities to children with different needs.” Another is that the overall level of education funding matters ...

There’s a saying: When you have a hammer, everything suddenly becomes a nail. It is not surprising that student surveys, as a tool analogous to the hammer, are suddenly viewed through the lens of usefulness when applied to teacher evaluations.

Student surveys provide valuable feedback for teachers that contribute to professional development and can result in improved classroom practices. Over the years, the classroom-level cycle of feedback and adjustment can produce improved student performance results. It already happens in some places; imagine the possible impact if such a process were adopted system-wide. But when it comes to teacher evaluations, implementation is – as always - fraught with unforeseen consequences. The errors of the policy-making community, when in a rush, are plentiful, and in this instance, threaten to undermine the already established usefulness of student feedback when it comes to developing highly effective teachers. ...

Remember the Super Committee? Formally known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, it was a bipartisan congressional committee established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 tasked with identifying $1.2 trillion in federal budgetary savings (through spending cuts, revenue increases and program reforms) over ten years.

If you remember the Super Committee, you also remember that it failed. And the consequence of that failure is looming on the horizon: Sequestration.

Sequestration refers to the across-the-board budget cuts of approximately nine percent that are scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2013. It is a blunt instrument, applying budget cuts to all discretionary spending programs, from defense to education and medical research to housing, regardless of program effectiveness or return on investment.

The most widely discussed aspect of sequestration is cuts to defense spending. Almost immediately after the Super Committee failed, talks began among some lawmakers as to how sequestration could be reformed to ...

Public systems are inherently complex because they involve multiple levels of government and numerous actors. Such systems, funded with taxpayer dollars, engage the concept of public good. Collective dollars contribute to a framework from which the broader citizenry benefits. The U.S public education system exemplifies complexity, from diverse funding streams to policy-making at the federal, state and local levels to the daily functioning of schools and classroom teaching. As such, public education is often at the heart of a greater debate over the role of government and the concept of public good. ...

Editor’s Note: Our guest blogger today is Erik Peterson, Policy Director of the Afterschool Alliance, where his work includes building and strengthening relationships with policymakers and allied organizations to increase public support and funding for afterschool programs. Follow Erik and the Afterschool Alliance on Twitter: @afterschool4all.

If as a nation, we’re ever going to solve the education system problems that cause America’s schoolchildren to lag behind children in other nations on a host of educational measures, we’re going to need to look beyond the four walls and the seven hours of the regular school day. Reforms are ever under way during the regular day, and they deserve our attention. But kids are taking in information and learning new things during their every waking moment. Why not use some of that time to promote 21^st century skills among our young people?

While not always characterized as such, 21^st century skills and the four C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) are hallmarks of quality expanded learning opportunities like afterschool and summer learning programs. From teams of students conceptualizing, designing and building robots to solve prescribed tasks—to project-based learning built around community-mapping and mobile-application development—millions of young people are using the hours when school is out to develop and hone the skills they’ll need to flourish in the workplace of ...

At a recent briefing at the U.S. Department of Education, Peter Cunningham, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach, interviewed Rick Hess and Andrew Kelly from the American Enterprise Institute on the role of the federal government in K-12 public education.  The conversation was structured around a recently released book that Hess and Kelly co-edited entitled Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Lessons from a Half-Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America’s Schools.  

While I found some of the verbiage typical and maddening (considering the source), there were some statements that resonate and provide food for thought and areas where we can all work together.  Early in the briefing, Hess stated that one challenge with the federal role in public school improvement is that there are so many actors in working in the “space”.  Indeed, 14,000 school districts each with ...

According to the recently released 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, more than one in five high school students reported taking a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription. 

Whether it is intentional abuse (taking a medicine without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or for the experience of feelings elicited) or misuse (unknowingly or mistakenly taking a prescription drug in a way other than intended or directed), the consequences can be serious, even life-threatening.

Many students erroneously believe that prescription medicines are “safer” than illegal street drugs. Teens who abuse prescription drugs report that it is relatively easy for them to get the drugs from friends or relatives Adults might not understand some of the risks associated with the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs (for example, using an antibiotic prescribed for one child’s sore throat for another child’s). 

Antibiotics and other medicines can save lives, and the proper use of prescription drugs is an important life-skill. School health education programs can help build the skills and the knowledge that young people need to make healthier choices.  It is especially important to reach students before ...

If you don’t feel well, it’s hard to focus your attention on someone or some task. So it’s no surprise that children are better learners when they’re feeling well.

At its core, school-based health is a community service; it serves students, staff, their families, and the wider community in certain instances. Schools are considered a public entity designed to serve public interests; it isn’t a stretch to see a health clinic as part of this public based mission. For community members with grown children, or young adults without children, the school plays a more integral role if it includes key services that cater to a wider group of stakeholders. For those who find health care confusing and costly, school-based health provides an alternative. More broadly, basic preventative care has the added benefit of relieving some strain on our national health care system.  ...