Education Archives - Page 6 of 76

January 19, 2023

Governor Pillen Announces Education Finance Bills

LINCOLN, NE – Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Governor Jim Pillen, accompanied by a number of point out senators such as members of the Legislature’s Schooling Committee, introduced 3 precedence charges for the Legislative session aimed at growing the state’s financial investment in education and learning and lowering university reliance on property taxes.

“We need to and we will commit in just about every Nebraska kid so that the education they acquire is the greatest good quality, no issue where they live in our condition,” said Governor Pillen. “These charges are the culmination of great teamwork from teams representing stakeholders from throughout Nebraska. By this laws, we will be certain potential generations of learners are on strong footing, make funding much more uniform across all college districts, and present Nebraskans with house tax reduction that is prolonged overdue.”

LB 583, introduced by Senator Rita Sanders, phone calls on the point out to allocate $1,500 each year for each K-12 general public faculty university student by means of the Tax Fairness and Educational Options Support Act (TEEOSA). The boost amounts to practically $113 million in condition assist. In addition, the bill proposes a statutory provision that 80 {ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of exclusive training funding be protected by means of a combination of federal and condition funding. The point out part, virtually $160 million, would be on top rated of the existing $250 million in yearly aid for special education and learning.

Senator Rob Clements proposed laws to create the Education and learning Future Fund, which allocates $1 billion of point out normal resources through the 2023-2024 biennium and $250 million each and every yr afterward for the applications of:

Providing $1,500 for each scholar every year by way of TEEOSA

Funding the state’s part of unique education
Increasing funds to K-12 educational entities, ensuing in dollar-for-greenback assets tax relief
Allocating grants aimed at retaining licensed instructors within just Nebraska
Allocating grants aimed at furthering job and technological education opportunities for K-12 quality students
Allocating grants to raise mentoring alternatives for K-12 quality learners

The ultimate proposal (LB 589), brought on behalf of the Governor by Senator Tom Briese, produces a three percent cap on assets tax earnings that a college district gets. It is a soft cap that can be overridden by 75 {ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of voting university board associates or the acceptance of 60 p.c of the district’s registered voters, need to there be a need.

January 18, 2023

Vermonters strongly endorse personal finance education

Poll Finds Overwhelming Positive Support; Civics Education Also Important to Residents

Vermont Business Magazine More than nine out of 10 Vermont residents believe that personal finance education is an important subject that should be taught in high school. This overwhelming finding emerged from a statewide poll of 541 voters conducted this month by Public Policy Polling for the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College.

John Pelletier, director of the center, notes that the poll shows 93 percent of Vermont residents agree that a personal finance course should be offered in high school. Pelletier also notes that 88 percent of Vermont adults believe that guaranteed access to a personal finance course for all Vermont high school students is urgently needed. Yet, despite these views, currently, few Vermont high school students have guaranteed access in high school to a full-semester course in personal finance prior to graduation.

See results below.

Pelletier believes that this poll data will help state education policy makers, legislators, the state board of education and the agency of education make informed decisions regarding personal finance education in Vermont’s public schools.

“Personal finance education changes behaviors in positive ways,” says Pelletier. “Research demonstrates that high school students with this knowledge improve their own money management practices, and share this learning with their families, resulting in improved parent knowledge, saving and spending behaviors.”

He also notes that individual financial literacy means healthier family balance sheets, which in turn builds a stronger state economy. And studies like this one show employees who are money savvy are happier with and remain longer in their jobs.

Courtney Poquette, who teaches personal finance at Winooski High School, says she and her students believe it is the most important course in high school in 2023. “It’s the one course Vermont students will take in high school that they will use every day for the rest of their lives.” Her former student David Klinker, now a student at Champlain College, agrees, and wrote a commentary piece in VT Digger outlining how the course completely changed his life.

Pelletier says that there is a national movement to bring the subject to more high schools, since just 1 in 4 students nationwide currently have access to a guaranteed course.

Personal finance is also an issue of equity, says Pelletier. He points to this 2022 study by Next Gen Personal Finance, which shows that in states that do not guarantee access to personal finance education those who arguably need this training the most are the least likely to receive it. In these states, which includes Vermont, wealthy and less diverse high schools are approximately three times more likely to guaranteed access to this training than very poor and very diverse high schools in our nation.

On the positive side, he notes that last year, six more states passed legislation guaranteeing a personal finance course, bringing the total number of states with such guarantees to 17. He also notes that it is expected that a dozen more states will consider this change in 2023, Vermont being among them.

In the state poll, 87 percent of respondents indicated that high school personal finance education was very important and 12 percent said it was somewhat important. Ninety-three percent of respondents said a course covering budgeting, investing, taxes and saving should be offered in high school, while 83 percent felt the course should be guaranteed for all students.

Informed that just 12 percent of high school students in Vermont were guaranteed a personal finance course, 88 percent of poll respondents said a law requiring such a course is an urgent issue. Currently in Vermont, only Black River, Lamoille, Milton, Missisquoi, Spaulding, Vergennes and Winooski high schools provide student with guaranteed access to personal finance in high school. BFA St. Albans plans on joining this list of guaranteed access high schools.

A bill calling for a course in civics was introduced in the last session of the Vermont legislature, so the poll also included questions on this issue. Eighty four percent of respondents believe a course in civics—covering the Constitution and matters related to the U.S. government—is very important, and 92 percent indicated that such a course should be taught. Eighty-five percent of respondents believe civics should be a guaranteed course.

Pelletier notes that personal finance education doesn’t stop in high school. A 2019 U.S. Treasury Department report on financial literacy best practices for colleges included the recommendation that colleges “should require mandatory courses to teach students financial concepts and skills.”

Champlain College is one of the few colleges that requires its on-campus undergraduate students to take personal finance training as a graduation requirement. The college’s InSight Program teaches students fundamental personal finance skills including how to negotiate your salary (including benefits and evaluation of compensation packages), create and follow a budget, establish credit, manage debt, invest your money, and more.

“Champlain equips its students with the life skills needed to complement academic and career success,” said Olivia Vittitow, the InSight Program Manager. “Embedding four years of financial, personal, and wellbeing-focused workshops, seminars, and one-on-one coaching as a part of our undergraduate requirements has resulted in Champlain graduates avoiding student loan default issues and enjoying financial stability after graduation.”

Evidence that Financial Education Improves Behavioral Outcomes

Evidence-Based Policy & Implementation Resources

Evidence that Financial Education Improves Behavioral Outcomes

a) The Effects of K-12 Financial Education Mandates on Student Postsecondary Education Outcomes

Research from the National Endowment for Financial Education. Financial education mandates have positive impacts on student borrowing behaviors across all income groups. States with personal finance graduation requirements have students with a higher incidence of applying for financial aid, a lower incidence of borrowing from private student lenders, a higher incidence of receiving grants and federal aid, and a lower likelihood of carrying credit card balances.

b) Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If So, When?

Most earlier studies of financial education rely on outdated financial education requirements. Kaiser and Menkhoff show significant positive effects of financial education on both financial literacy (knowledge) and financial behavior. This meta-analysis corrects an often cited meta-analysis from Fernandes et. al. (2014), adding additional interventions and a more rigorous statistical methodology to make its conclusions. Compelling, rigorously critiqued evidence of the need for “just in time” financial education for high school students.

c) Financial Education Matters: Testing the Effectiveness of Financial Education Across 76 Randomized Experiments

We study the rapidly growing literature on the causal effects of financial education programs in a meta-analysis of 76 randomized experiments with a total sample size of over 160,000 individuals. The evidence shows that financial education programs have, on average, positive causal treatment effects on financial knowledge and downstream financial behaviors. Treatment effects are economically meaningful in size, similar to those realized by educational interventions in other domains, and are at least three times as large as the average effect documented in earlier work. These results are robust to the method used, restricting the sample to papers published in top economics journals, including only studies with adequate power, and accounting for publication selection bias in the literature. We conclude with a discussion of the cost-effectiveness of financial education interventions.

d) Does State-Mandated Financial Education Affect High-Cost Borrowing? (UPDATED 2019)

“…young adults who were required to take personal finance courses in high school were significantly less

likely to borrow payday loans than their peers who were not. These effects do not significantly differ by race/ethnicity or gender, suggesting that financial education may be useful regardless of demographics.”

e) Retirement Savings with School-Based Financial Education

Students’ financial literacy performance is significantly associated with their schools’ and teachers’ characteristics, both positive and negative. Students who attend a school with adequate teaching materials and competent teachers — those who demonstrate control over their classroom and try to actively engage with students — are more likely to perform at the two highest levels on the PISA financial literacy test.

f) Optimal Financial Knowledge and Wealth Inequality

Financial literacy plays a key role in explaining inequality. Different levels of financial knowledge early in life have important implications for how much people will save. Adding financial knowledge to life cycle models permits a more accurate rendering of a world where consumers must cope with complex financial markets and must save so as to provide for their own retirement.

g) The impact of high school financial education: experimental evidence from Brazil

This paper studies the impact of a comprehensive financial education program spanning six states, 868 schools, and approximately 20,000 high school students in Brazil through a randomized control trial. The program increased student financial knowledge, increased saving rates for purchases, better likelihood of financial planning, and greater participation in household financial decisions by students. “Trickle-up” impacts on parents were also significant, with improvements in parent financial knowledge, savings, and spending behavior. The study also finds evidence that the program affected students’ inter-temporal preferences and attitudes.

h) Personal Finance Education Mandates & Student Loan Repayment

“Students with higher-income parents respond by adjusting borrowing, reducing median balances by 7{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. By contrast, first-generation and low-income borrowers bound by mandates did not significantly adjust borrowing, but were nonetheless more likely to pay down balances..”

i) Can financial literacy reduce domestic violence?

“Yes. Using data on more than 3.7 million intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents between 1994 and 2016, and exploiting the staggered introduction of state-mandated personal finance high school graduation requirements across U.S. states for identification, we show that improvements in women’s financial literacy can significantly reduce the rates of violence against women perpetrated by their male partners. We conservatively estimate a reduction in violence by between 3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} and 11{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Our evidence points to financial literacy deterring financial abuse, thereby empowering women to leave abusive relationships earlier or by preventing the first incident from ever occurring.”

Evidence-Based Policy & Implementation Resources

a) Transforming the Financial Lives of a Generation of Young Americans POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADVANCING K-12 FINANCIAL EDUCATION

What we propose here is a comprehensive strategy to impart personal financial management skills to young people while they are in school. Recommendation 1: Introduce key financial education concepts early and continue to build on that foundation consistently throughout the K-12 school years. In addition, CFPB encourages states to make a stand-alone financial education course a graduation requirement for high school students. Recommendation 2: Include personal financial management questions in standardized tests. Recommendation 3: Provide opportunities throughout the K-12 years to practice money management through innovative, hands-on learning opportunities. Recommendation 4: Create consistent opportunities and incentives for teachers to take financial education training with the express intention of teaching financial management to their students

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (2013). Transforming the Financial Lives of a Generation of Young Americans POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADVANCING K-12 FINANCIAL EDUCATION. [online] consumerfinance.gov. Available at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201304_cfpb_OFE-Policy-White-Paper-Final.pdf

b) Final Report – President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability

The Council acknowledges that financial capability must be woven into the fabric of our lives—into our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our communities, even the design and regulation of the financial products and services we use.

United States Treasury. (2013). Final Report President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability. [online] treasury.gov. Available at: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/financial-education/Documents/PACFC{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}20final{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}20report{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}20revised{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}2022513{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}20{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}288{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}29_R.pdf

c) Financial Capabilities of College Students from States with Varying Financial Education Policies

Well-educated students exhibit positive financial behaviors. After analyzing data from 15,797 college students, Gutter found that students from states where a financial education course was required had the highest reported financial knowledge and were more likely to display positive financial behaviors and dispositions. Compared to other students, these young adults were: More likely to save; Less likely to max out their credit cards; Less likely to make late credit card payments; More likely to pay off credit cards in full each month; Less likely to be compulsive buyers; More likely to be willing to take average financial risk

https://www.nefe.org/_images/research/Financial-Education-Mandates-Report/Financial-Education-Mandates-Report-Executive-Summary.pdf

d) Financial Education in High Schools Across America

State-level embedded course requirement mandates do not result in full compliance. While this lack of compliance could be because course catalog descriptions do not detail financial literacy instruction in all schools, it could also be because state departments of education have trouble auditing embedded course mandates. In our estimate, only 43{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} within states that have embedded course mandates have either a standalone or embedded course requirement.

e) Financial Literacy Subject Survey

Between July 15th and 17th, 2017 the National Financial Educators Council asked 5,123 young adults, “What high school-level course would benefit your life the most?” Respondents chose money management more often than math, science, and social studies:

49.97{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} selected “Money Management (Personal Finance)”
18.25{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} selected “Mathematics (Algebra, Geometry)”
14.43{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} selected “Social Studies (History, Government)”
17.35{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} selected “Science (Biology, Chemistry)”

State by state results are available: NFEC Survey: “Should High Schools Require Financial Literacy?”

NFEC. (2017). Financial Literacy Subject Survey. [online] Available at: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/Financial-literacy-subject-survey/

f) A review of youth financial education: Effects and Evidence

“This report reviews current research and reporting in the field, and is intended to inform policymakers, practitioners, financial educators, and researchers of the current state of rigorous evidence on financial education in schools”… “This report features studies that (1) evaluate youth financial education programs in schools, (2) have a causal interpretation evidenced by a randomized controlled trial, natural experiment setting, or a valid pre-post study design, and (3) have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals or as reviewed working papers. Note that the studies predominantly relate to school based programs, as this is the context in which most youth financial education research has occurred.”

“Well-implemented state financial education mandates led to a clear improvement in financial behaviors.”
“Many U.S. financial education programs improve financial knowledge for students, though effect sizes vary based on the population served, amount of instruction time, and topics covered.”
“Other countries have used more widespread randomized controlled trials to study the effects of programs as they embed and expand them broadly. Those studies also provide useful information.”
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (2019). A review of youth financial education: Effects and Evidence. [online] consumerfinance.gov. Available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_youth-financial-education_lit-review.pdf

g) Digital vs. in-person financial education: What works best for Generation Z?

“Nowadays, financial literacy is one of the most important skills that can be acquired by a tech-savvy Generation Z student. In order to understand what format of financial education works best for Generation Z, we set up an experiment that involved implementing a financial education program called “Futuro Sicuro” with a sample of 650 High School students in Italy. The program allowed us to gather data from two treatments at the class level, namely 1) a traditional financial education simplified program with the presence of a financial advisor, and 2) a digital financial education program using web-based applications based on learning-by-playing concepts. The two treatments were associated with different costs but showed similar effects: three weeks after their conclusion, we find that both courses did increase actual financial knowledge and the results also aligned with participants’ realistic assessments of their own financial skills. A follow-up study also reveals the persistence of these effects three months later for the traditional course.”

h) Best Practices Implementing Financial Education in High Schools

“…breaks the implementation into eight stages: (0) building a coalition, (1) crafting and passing either legislation or administrative rule change, (2) constructing an implementation plan, (3) funding, (4) teacher professional development, (5) developing standards and selecting course resources, (6) teacher endorsement models, and (7) auditing and creating a feedback loop for continuous improvement.”

Urban, Carly (2022). Best Practices Implementing Financial Education in High Schools [online] Available at: https://papers.carlyurban.com/MTBestPracticesReportFINAL.pdf

About the Center for Financial Literacy: Established in 2010, Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) was designed to promote and develop financial literacy skills among individuals, allowing them to make more sound decisions about spending, credit, debt, investments, and complex financial situations such as buying a home and saving for retirement. The CFL is nationally acclaimed for its efforts to increase the personal finance knowledge of our citizens and has become the credible, go-to source for national media coverage of financial literacy.

About Champlain College: Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and a broad portfolio of online degrees and certificates through Champlain College Online. The College is known for its distinctive and innovative approach to career-focused education and its “upside-down” curriculum, which help students be: “Ready for Work. Ready for Life. Ready to Make a Difference.” Champlain ranks in multiple categories of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges,” including Best Value Schools, Best Colleges in the North, Best Colleges for Veterans, and Top Performers on Social Mobility. Champlain was also listed among The Princeton Review’s “The Best 388 Colleges” in 2023 and was recognized as a 2022. College of Distinction for its “Engagement, Teaching, Community, and Outcomes.” For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.

January 17, 2023, Burlington, VT — Center for Financial Literacy

January 17, 2023

Nurturing a better world through business education

With climate alter and inequality amongst the increasing threats to human wellbeing, business is beneath stress to embrace the concerns of individuals and world in put of the primacy of earnings maximisation and so is business schooling.

As we demonstrate in this FT Dependable Enterprise Education and learning report, there are now quite a few illustrations of business educational institutions adapting to phone calls for reform from students, college, companies and communities alike.

The FT addresses these troubles in its business enterprise instruction reporting and is adapting the methodology of its organization school rankings to raise scrutiny of — and credit history for — things to do around sustainability and social function.

But metrics have their limits. As the broader discussion about businesses’ environmental, social and governance responsibilities has proven, some topics are complicated to quantify quickly, comparably and comprehensively. The very same applies within schooling, which has a pivotal position in coaching the upcoming technology of professionals and business owners.

That is why we launched our Dependable Company Instruction Awards previous calendar year, to make sure a broader selection of actions are analysed qualitatively to showcase, reward and incentivise person illustrations of most effective exercise.

We are grateful to a distinguished panel of judges who have deep knowledge and passion in the area, and are drawn from across the corporate environment, non-income organisations, academia and beyond.

An critical summary from this 2nd yr of the awards is that the power of the inaugural winners was not a a person-off. We been given a different outstanding listing of submissions from all around the entire world and determined loads of strong projects for the shortlists and joint winners.

This yr, we have modified our criteria. Just after focusing in 2022 on alumni “change-maker” business owners and intrapreneurs as the critical “outputs” of small business faculties, for 2023 we shifted concentrate. We sought examples of functional perform by learners “learning when doing” for the duration of their programs in assignments with third-occasion organisations.

Even though the initiatives manufactured by specific winners have earned praise, their get the job done also highlights the crucial function of mechanisms that connection them to practical projects. ESMT in Berlin has a Liable Leaders Fellowship, for case in point, allowing for MBA and masters graduates to give professional-bono aid to organisations assembly social troubles in reduced-income nations around the world.

For an additional winner, the Hult Prize was an essential seedbed, in the kind of a worldwide contest that challenges college college students to deal with social problems via organization and supplies funding to support them exam their strategies.

Recognising the central position of what is taught in the classroom, our 2nd award this year was for ground breaking methods to pedagogy — with a distinct aim on decision-generating for sustainability or weather transform adaptation.

A developing variety of organization educational institutions furnished a prosperity of suitable instructing instances, which are influential simply because they access large numbers of learners. The judges concluded that some of the best resources went further than regular situations, offering on line education, simulations, coaching, mentoring and even meditation.

A number have been jointly written by a number of authors in distinctive organization faculties and had been made readily available with out charge on the web, in a way that furnished the greatest probable get to to their peers elsewhere.

The final award was for educational exploration with societal impression and proof of uptake in exercise. The much better ones were ordinarily published by many authors dependent in diverse institutions, colleges and nations around the world, and published in a broad selection of retailers.

Attributing causality is under no circumstances effortless. All much too generally, on the other hand, teachers go on to define affect merely as the simple fact of publication in professional journals, which provide rigorous peer evaluation but have a narrow readership. The greater types at least request or take note reporting of their exploration in the media and practitioner stores.

In contrast, the best entries explained efforts by their authors to disseminate their strategies far more broadly, have interaction in public debate and participate specifically in conclusion earning with public and private sector organisations. Their metrics of results have been far more putting, in fields as diverse and sizeable as fashionable slavery and organ transplants.

Fantastic academic researchers might not usually be the very best candidates to disseminate or carry out their strategies more broadly, and nor should really the pressure to occur up with simple apps be allowed to compromise their intellectual liberty.

But greater endeavours are demanded by organization schools to really encourage them to target on societal worries, connect their strategies to action, and to overhaul incentives that are as well geared to analysis disconnected from teaching or outcomes.

We welcome feedback on these awards, which includes tips for improvement and recommendations on how to guarantee that we receive a continue to further and broader variety of future submissions — notably from company educational facilities over and above North The usa and western Europe.

Andrew Jack is the FT’s global education editor

Weather Funds

Where by local weather transform satisfies organization, marketplaces and politics. Explore the FT’s protection right here.

Are you curious about the FT’s environmental sustainability commitments? Uncover out more about our science-based mostly targets here

January 16, 2023

President El-Sisi Meets the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance and Education

Currently, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Primary Minister, Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohamed Maait, and Minister of Training and Complex Education, Dr. Reda Hegazy.

The Spokesman for the Presidency explained the conference adopted-up on the advancement of the instruction method and its essential features in Egypt.

President El-Sisi pressured the need to have to emphasis on producing human resources, enhancing the teachers’ method, and growing the institution of new distinguished faculties. This shall get spot in the framework of the state’s strategic and firm orientation towards supporting financial commitment in education and learning so as to add to creating the Egyptian character from birth until eventually college education and learning, with the goal of establishing a educated as well as scientifically- and culturally-savvy generation.

The President gave directives to greatly enhance the routines of the ministry of training, with regard to expanding Utilized Engineering Schools and raising societal consciousness concerning their importance. He noted that these universities represent a thriving design for specialized educational facilities, which count on cooperation with the non-public sector to fulfil its requires for specialized specialized cadres, significantly in the communications and IT fields. These areas represent a fundamental ingredient in the field and improvement method, in addition to crafts.

Dr. Hegazy reviewed the Ministry of Instruction and Technical Education’s designs for the comprehensive modernization of Egypt’s standard schooling procedure in its various elements, specifically the human source enhancement of educators, as properly as giving an suitable student-instructor ratio and schooling and qualifying college principals. This is in addition to the development of curricula in the distinctive amounts of schooling.

The Minister of Schooling made available an overview of the ministry’s system to boost the school process and establish new schools nationwide, significantly Egypt’s Distinguished Faculties, which work on a full-day program. This is in addition to the 20 Global Public Schools, IPS, in all governorate, as well as the Nile Schools. Dr. Hegazy also reviewed the ministry’s programs to current market its diploma internally and externally in coordination with intercontinental academic bodies specialised in granting related credits. These bodies will also prepare instructors and individuals in cost of the academic method in these schools.

The ministry’s system also lined the institution of much more Egyptian-Japanese universities in accordance with the Japanese accreditation specifications, which are based on offering the totally-built-in instruction Takatsu. This will appear along with the establishment of extra Educational facilities of Utilized Technology to add to offering sophisticated and sophisticated complex training so as to meet up with the needs of the market and improvement, in cooperation in between the condition and the personal sector. This shall guidance the state’s efforts to realize the exceptional financial commitment of the human funds that Egypt is prosperous in, and good quality the remarkable graduates of these schools to operate abroad in an array of fields.

The President was also briefed on the ministry of education’s attempts to build, produce and improve the performance of academic buildings nationwide, in coordination with each and every of the a variety of directorates of training, as well as the “First rate Existence” initiative for the progress of rural Egyptian villages. The President gave directives for the ministry to maintain periodic critiques of the instructional buildings and facilities across the republic.

Distributed by APO Team on behalf of The Presidency, The Arab Republic of Egypt.

January 14, 2023

Texas 2023 Legislature: Schools call for public education funding changes

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During a triumphant 2019 ceremony at Parmer Lane Elementary in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott sat on a small stage in front of a large Texas flag as he signed a massive overhaul of the state’s public school finance system.

The new legislation injected $6.5 billion into public education spending, plus about $5.1 billion devoted to lowering Texans’ property tax bills. It included raising the total amount the state gives schools per student by about 20{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, setting aside funds for teacher raises and reducing the amount of money wealthy districts would have to send to poorer ones under the state’s recapture program, informally known as “Robin Hood.”

“You could not overstate the magnitude of the law that I’m about to sign because this is a monumental moment in public education history in the state of Texas,” said Abbott, flanked by about a dozen Republican and Democratic lawmakers. “This one law does more to advance education in Texas than any law I have seen in my adult lifetime.”

Four years later, that same school where the law was signed is one of several campuses in the Pflugerville Independent School District under threat of being closed. The district, which expected a $17 million windfall from the 2019 law, is now grappling with a $12 million budget deficit under the pressure of mounting inflation and its still-high financial dues to the state.

The pandemic also had a direct impact on enrollment and, perhaps more significantly, student attendance, a crucial metric that helps determine how much money school districts get from the state. In Texas, if a student misses school, their district’s attendance average goes down and so does the amount of money it receives. And in a post-COVID-19 world in which parents are quicker to keep their children home if they’re feeling ill, some districts’ finances have become more volatile than ever.

Districts like Pflugerville now believe the funding formula should be based not on attendance but on enrollment — which they view as a more stable benchmark — to better reflect schools’ reality after the pandemic. As a new legislative session begins with an unprecedented $188.2 billion available to pay for state business, school leaders are hopeful but uncertain if lawmakers will have the appetite for another ambitious revamp of the school finance system.

“[Enrollment-based] funding would help us right now,” Doug Killian, superintendent of Pflugerville ISD, told The Texas Tribune. “I’m hoping for the Legislature to save us, but I really don’t have that belief that they’re going to do what they need to do.”

Financial strains

Every weekday, Esmeralda Alvarado walks her son to Parmer Lane Elementary with enough time to get to work. Alvarado is familiar with the neighborhood, which gives her a sense of peace when her son and his 13-year-old sister walk back home on their own in the afternoons.

Signs advertise an informational meeting about the potential closure of Parmer Lane Elementary School to parents during student-pickup in Pflugerville on Jan. 9, 2023. — Signs advertise an informational meeting about the potential closure of Parmer Lane Elementary School in Pflugerville.

Credit:
Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune

First: A flyer in Spanish and English advertises an informational meeting about the potential closure of Parmer Lane Elementary School. Last: In their backyard in Pflugerville, Esmeralda Alvarado ruffles the hair of her son Emilio, who is in second grade at Palmer Elementary School.

Credit:
Evan L’Roy for The Texas Tribune

Esmeralda Alvarado shows drawings her daughter made of birds playing basketball, made when she was seven, in her home's garage on Pflugerville on Jan. 9, 2023. Alvarado and her family have lived in the same house for 18 years, and part of the reason she chose the home was the proximity to the school. Since she had no plans to move, she kept the drawings up to preserve the memories of her young children. — In her garage in Pflugerville, Alvarado shows drawings her daughter made when she was 7 of birds playing basketball. Alvarado and her family have lived in the same house for 18 years, and part of the reason she chose the home was its proximity to Parmer Lane Elementary.

Credit:
Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune

She was shocked to hear Parmer Lane might close. It would throw off her family’s daily routine and maybe cost her her job, she said.

But she was also frustrated. Her property taxes have only gone up in the 18 years she has owned her home, yet her school district is struggling.

“We’re paying for our schools, and now I won’t have my own school close to my house,” Alvarado said.

Pflugerville ISD, which serves families in the suburban city of Pflugerville, north of Austin, announced last month that Parmer Lane Elementary could close as the district looks to save money. Most of the district’s 10 proposed plans to stay afloat call for shuttering two to three elementary schools that are located in older buildings and have low enrollment and attendance rates. Only one proposal would result in no school closures and trade them for heavy rezoning.

Parents have also expressed concerns about the potential closures’ impact on class sizes, long school bus drives and equity. All of the schools being considered for closure have a high percentage of Black and Hispanic students and are classified as Title 1 schools, meaning they have a high population of economically disadvantaged students.

Terrance L. Green, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said schools that close because of economic struggles are usually majority Hispanic or Black, disrupting decades of community building and leading to negative student outcomes in reading and math.

“In these communities, schools often represent a place of hope, pride and dreams. So, when schools are closed, it not only affects students, families, teachers and staff members, it also reverberates through the entire community,” Green wrote in his research findings.

His research has also found that districts that close schools due to financial reasons don’t really save money in the long run because they incur new transportation costs and often continue paying for the maintenance of the old buildings.

“The data is clear that you don’t save money unless you are ready to fire a whole bunch [of faculty],” he told the Tribune.

Killian said the district will do everything to make it an equitable transition since — at the moment — he sees no option other than to close some schools to save money. Since last school year, the district has made cuts across department budgets, reduced administrative staff and stopped filling positions. Killian said the district can’t find anywhere else to cut.

“There’s not a lot of low-hanging fruit anymore, and so we’re having to look at how we staff, what campuses are open [and] whether or not they have enough kids in them to make them as efficiently staffed as possible,” he said.

Killian describes the Pflugerville ISD’s deficit as a “perfect storm.”

The first factor is the state’s recapture program, which requires the state to take funding from school districts with higher property values within their boundaries, like Pflugerville ISD, and give it to poorer school districts that can’t raise much money. Even though the 2019 school finance law lessened the recapture burden on property-rich districts, Pflugerville ISD still has to make a $12 million payment to the state this school year.

Killian said the law was good and did give the school district more money, but inflation has eroded its value: The amount of money schools get per student went up four years ago, but it has stayed the same while the cost of living keeps rising.

Then there’s the pandemic, Killian said, which altered the way people think about schooling and poked holes in the state’s school funding system.

Under the current formula, schools get money from the state based on their attendance rate, which measures how many kids actually show up during a school year. Pflugerville’s current attendance rate is about 91{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}; it was about 94{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} before the pandemic. A difference of a few percentage points in the attendance rate can mean millions of dollars in losses for a school district.

With the current attendance-based funding, schools have a hard time budgeting the right way because attendance is unpredictable, especially amid a pandemic, said Amanda Brownson, executive director of policy and research at the Texas Association of School Business Officials.

“Now, as waves of COVID and waves of flu run through a district, attendance rates fall, and they’re falling more than they used to fall,” she said. “Frankly, people probably used to come to school a little bit sick. They don’t anymore.”

And Pflugerville isn’t the only school struggling with attendance.

In the El Paso Independent School District, officials closed schools between 2019 and 2020 due to budget deficits that stemmed from declining enrollment and attendance rates.

In the McAllen Independent School District, superintendent J.A. Gonzalez said his district could have an extra $6.7 million this year if it weren’t for an attendance rate of about 94{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, the lowest figure it’s had since COVID-19 hit.

Gonzalez said kids are missing school more often because COVID-19 scares are still frequent, the flu and RSV are also making rounds and, mentally, some kids and parents are struggling to get plugged in since coming back to school full time.

“It’s just an interesting phenomenon that happened across our society,” Gonzalez said. “After COVID, people got used to working remotely, or people got used to staying home or people got used to a different lifestyle.”

A new fight for a new formula

In November, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, filed House Bill 31, which would remove average daily attendance from the state’s funding formula and replace it with average enrollment in an effort to get more money to school districts.

The average daily attendance is calculated by the sum of children present each school day divided by days of instruction that schools are required to give. The school district then gets $6,160 per student in that average.

Under Hinojosa’s bill, schools would likely be funded based on an enrollment snapshot from the previous school year. Supporters of the change believe it should be more favorable for districts because it wouldn’t punish them for students missing school.

“The general concept is, ‘Let’s not shortchange our kids in schools; let’s fully fund our schools based on the enrollment that our schools have to anticipate and pay for,’” she said.

Hinojosa estimates that switching the funding formula to enrollment would cost the state an extra $5 billion on the next state budget cycle.

“Anybody who has their kids in public schools knows that our schools desperately need at least that kind of investment,” she said. “Our public schools are really struggling right now, and we need to be responsive as a state to ensure that they can survive and thrive.”

However, it’s unclear whether lawmakers will want to update the funding system again, especially as Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Republicans have said they’ll support “school choice” this session, a term used to describe programs that give parents state money to pay for private schooling. Critics say such measures take away money from the public education system.

State Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, who is on the House Public Education Committee, believes schools need an incentive to keep kids going to class, which he said the current attendance-based funding model provides. Rolling out a new enrollment funding model would also be costly, he said.

“I don’t know that I would give [Hinojosa’s bill] great odds of making it across the finish line,” he said.

VanDeaver said he’d be more in favor of raising the basic allotment this session instead of reinventing the funding model. Doing so would give schools more money and also allow them to give teachers raises, he said.

Killian, Gonzalez and other superintendents would prefer to move away from the attendance-based formula — as most other states in the country already have — but they said they’d take the basic allotment increase if that’s on the table instead.

Either way, it will likely be too late to help Pflugerville ISD with its current financial struggles. The district wants to make a decision about what steps to take, and whether they’ll involve school closures, by February.

Before then, the Pflugerville community will have a chance to propose to Killian and the rest of the school board solutions on how to keep the schools open.

Rena Clegg, who has a child at Parmer Lane and also taught at the school, laments that a place beloved by families and known for its diversity and togetherness might close because of the district’s money problems.

“It’s just one of those places where everybody is a family, and no matter what happens, they’re going to destroy something that’s been built there,” Clegg said.

Esmeralda Alvarado walks home with her son, Emilio, from Parmer Lane Elementary School in Pflugerville on Jan. 9, 2023. — Alvarado walks home with Emilio from Parmer Lane Elementary School on Jan. 9, 2023. “We’re paying for our schools, and now I won’t have my own school close to my house,” she said of the possibility that the district might shut down the nearby school.

Credit:
Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune

Disclosure: Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

January 13, 2023

AHIP pushes education on Medicaid redeterminations

Image: Tempura/Getty Images

AHIP hosted a Condition of the Field briefing Wednesday detailing the policies the team will be viewing in 2023, as perfectly as the issues dealing with the health care sector. AHIP President and CEO Matt Eyles carved out time to chat about the resumption of Medicaid redeterminations, which were being set to kick in on the expiration of the COVID-19 general public health and fitness crisis.

It was a well timed problem for the group. In December, President Biden signed into law a $1.7 trillion omnibus paying package that in depth a system for Medicaid coverage determinations.

Underneath the monthly bill, states will be in a position to start out processing Medicaid redeterminations on April 1, and have 1 calendar year to entire them. It needs condition Medicaid packages to supply 12 months of ongoing coverage for small children and permanently enable states to give 12 months of coverage for postpartum girls, according to the American Hospital Association.

An believed 18 million men and women are envisioned to eliminate their Medicaid protection following the continual enrollment provision ends. That was to close with the expiration of the public overall health crisis, but the omnibus bill kick-starts that on April 1. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra prolonged the PHE for a 12th time on Wednesday.

“Considering that the COVID-19 crisis, the number of people who depend on Medicaid has grown considerably,” said Eyles. “Practically 90 million Us residents have accessibility to coverage by Medicaid, shielded in 2019 by pausing redeterminations. With the passage of the current omnibus bill, Medicaid redeterminations can begin April 1 regardless of when the PHE ends.

“If it expires in April, 18 million Us citizens will shed Medicaid coverage in the adhering to 18 months,” he stated. “Quite a few will not know this coverage can be terminated when states start out their renewal course of action. It demands to be completed in a fashion so that people needing it are transitioned to other coverage.”

Eyles reported states should engage with enrollees and ensure a easy transition to other forms of protection, which includes market and employer-sponsored protection.

Now, HHS has declared no plan to permit Medicaid beneficiaries who eliminate their coverage to enroll in an Reasonably priced Care Act market system via a distinctive enrollment period of time.

Indeed, conclusions posted in January by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation located most grownups with family Medicaid enrollment had been not mindful of the return to frequent Medicaid renewals when the PHE expires. When requested how a lot they experienced listened to about their condition restarting renewals, 5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of respondents had read a lot, 16.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} had heard some, 15.7{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} experienced read only a small, and 62{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} had heard nothing at all.

Awareness was not significantly better amongst all those who experienced enrolled because the constant coverage prerequisite took impact – a group that may perhaps not have had expertise with states’ redeterminations and could involve additional aid.

Medication, CONSOLIDATION

Eyles also touched on consolidation in healthcare, stating the insurance industry should concentration on competition and the role it can engage in in preference, access and top quality.

“Clinic focus is joined to market rates that are 5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} increased than in a lot less concentrated places,” explained Eyles.

He also termed for a lot more accountability from the pharmaceutical marketplace.

“A therapy is worthless if no one can manage it,” reported Eyles. “The challenge is the cost, and we even now assume which is incredibly true. Selling prices are set and controlled by large pharma and large pharma by yourself, and if they wished to cut down rates, they could do so now. But they’re growing rates on outdated medicines alternatively, making medicine and insurance policies much more high priced for all people. Generics and biosimilars conserve income, but major pharma takes benefit of a damaged program. Stakeholders can keep significant pharma accountable.”

With a Republican-managed Home and a Democratic-controlled Senate, Eyes acknowledged that many People in america are anxious that the subsequent two years in Washington will be mired in gridlock. Eyles, however, noticed a path to some settlement for the nation’s lawmakers.

“I am typically optimistic that there are some important areas of agreement and typical floor, and a number of of them are in health care,” he claimed.

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the author: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com