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School Safety and Gun Violence
In the wake of one of the deadliest school shootings in American history, students, educators, and advocates are calling on policymakers to better protect schools and communities from gun violence. In response, Congress is considering several proposals that would restrict access to guns for potentially dangerous individuals and increase support for school security. At the same time, some lawmakers are advocating for putting more guns in schools and classrooms by arming teachers, administrators, and school staff. Read the latest School of Thought blog post for more about NASSP’s positions on these issues and how you can get involved. You can also see guidance for principals on handling walkouts and other organized protests.
This Month’s Top Advocacy Issues
Conversations Continue Over FY 2018 and FY 2019 Budgets
Congress has only one week left to finalize an FY 2018 budget. After numerous short-term resolutions, Congress is hoping that it can finally pass a long-term budget that covers the remainder of the fiscal year. Optimism is high that a budget will get completed though, as the last short-term budget resolution included a deal to raise the defense and nondefense discretionary spending caps for the next two years. By increasing the spending caps, an avenue was opened for both parties to secure funding for some of their key programs, improving the odds that a budget agreement will be reached.
Even without the FY 2018 budget finalized, many members have already started focusing their attention on the FY 2019 appropriations process. It is very unorthodox for a fiscal year budget to drag this late into the year, as these budgets are supposed to be determined at the end of the prior fiscal year (although, in recent years, Congress has had a habit of completing these budgets in late December, prior to the calendar year of said fiscal year). Because this process has taken so long, the FY 2019 appropriations process will be moving extremely quickly. With this process moving so quickly, your voice is essential in securing funding for some of the most important issues that aid principals, like Title II. NASSP urges you to contact your members of Congress today and stress how vital these funds are to aiding educators in better serving students for FY 2019.
Twitter Talk
For more advocacy tweets, join us on social media by following NASSP and the advocacy staff on Twitter:
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Take Action
This week is National #PublicSchoolsWeek. Join us March 12–16 in celebrating the diversity and success of our country’s public schools by reaching out to your members of Congress, sharing your schools’ success stories with them, and encouraging them to adequately fund and support public education programs.
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In this Month’s
Principal Leadership
This month’s Principal Leadership features an article by Steven Hauk, principal of West Hollow Middle School, Melville, NY, about changing school culture through technology and how to foster a "maker mindset" in schools. Principal Hauk has contributed to the Technical Working Groups for the ISTE Standards and presented The Maker Mindset at ISTE 2017.
All FGN members are invited to write a guest article for Principal Leadership or blog post for School of Thought. Just email Senior Manager, State Engagement and Outreach Greg Waples with your idea. |
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