Public Education Policy (PEP) Talk: Recent Episodes
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PEP Talk is the catch-all podcast for AASA advocacy. We'll talk policy, politics, people and possibility, all with a focus on supporting public education.
AASA and PDK International have partnered in a series of podcasts to coincide with the availability of the American Superintendent 2020 Decennial Study. The second episode features CEO of PDK International Josh Starr, Almudena (Almi) G. Abeyta, superintendent, Chelsea (Mass.) Public Schools; Deb Kerr, retired superintendent and AASA immediate past president; and, Carol Kelley, superintendent, Oak Park Elementary (Ill.) School District 97 in a conversation about women in school leadership.
AASA and PDK have partnered in a series of podcasts to coincide with the availability of the American Superintendent 2020 Decennial Study. The first episode features chief executive officer of PDK International Joshua Starr, Gregory Hutchings, superintendent of Alexandria (Va.) Public Schools and Jennifer Cheatham, senior lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education, in a conversation about race and equity in K-12 public schools.
AASA's advocacy team gets into the nitty gritty of the COVID pandemic, its impact on schools (As well as what to expect in terms of a fiscal downturn), and what the federal response to COVID will mean for your schools.
Today's podcast features Alan Richard, board member and journalist of the Rural School and Community Trust. Richard talks about the Trust's 2018-2019 Why Rural Matters report which analyzes cthe contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states and calls attention to the need for policymakers to address rural education issues more effectively. AASA has been proud to partner with the Rural School and Community Trust since 2017 because they are the go-to resource on the latest research and trends in education students in rural districts. Alan joins Sasha Pudelski for a discussion of some of the key findings from their signature report.
Our latest PEP Talk Podcast features Heather Weaver, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU, who will discus the major school voucher case that will be argued before the Supreme Court in January known as Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. A ruling in favor of voucher proponents could dramatically change the school voucher landscape in states.
This Week's Episode of PEP Talk features John Rumpler, Clean Water Program Director at Environment America and AASA Policy Analyst Chris Rogers. In this episode, viewers will get a chance to hear our conversation about the newly announced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Lead and Copper Rule and its impact on school districts. Specifically, John and I delve into the prevalence of Lead in public school water systems, the difficulties of testing for leads, and steps LEAs can take to solve the problem.
We're back with the latest episode of PEP Talk- AASA's policy podcast. This week's episode features a conversation between Alex Mays, Senior National Program Director Director for the Healthy Schools Campaign and AASA Advocacy Director Sasha Pudelski. Alex discusses the important work that the Healthy Schools Campaign is doing with district leaders as part of the Healthy Students Promising Future Learning Collaborative and in particular, what's happening in States that are pursuing opportunities to expand healthcare services for children. Check out our discussion to get the latest developments on what's happening at the federal and state level in terms of Medicaid as well as how the Healthy Schools Campaign is helping districts reduce chronic absenteeism.
We're back with the latest episode of PEP Talk, AASA's policy podcast. This week's episode features a conversation between Crystal FitzSimons, Director of School and Out-of-School Time Programs at the Food Research and Action Committee (FRAC) and AASA Policy Analyst Chris Rogers. In her current role, Crystal directs FRAC's work on the child nutrition programs that serve school-age children; and is responsible for advocating for legislative and regulatory improvements to the federal child nutrition programs. Check out our discussion to get the latest developments on the Categorical Eligibility program and hear updates from the Hill on Child Nutrition Reauthorization.
AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng talks with Katie Bisbee and Anna Edwards of Donors Choose, touching on crowd funding, what it means for schools, classrooms, and students, and ways our organizations are partnering to highlight the opportunities for using platforms like Donors Choose strategically within districts.
Getting a little wonkier, this episode of PEP Talk unpacks a seemingly arcane provision in federal policy that limits the ability of school districts to better address integration. AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng talks with Sunil Mansukhani & Philip Tegeler about this outdated anti-busing policy, a policy that exists today merely because it hadn’t been replaced. It's something we've been collaborating on for a few years, but something that also saw a resurgence after a related issue arose in recent presidential politics.
Longtime AASA friend Carl Davis, Research Director at Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, talked with Noelle Ellerson Ng all about the updated regulations released by the IRS, related to the tuition tax credit loop hole.
When it comes to being the top coalition for protecting and prioritizing the importance of public education at the federal level, and advocating against privatization agendas, there is no better or more effective coalition than the National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE). In this episode, AASA's Sasha Pudelski (an NCPE Co-Chair) chats with her fellow co-chair, Maggie Garrett with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
John Forkenbrock is a longtime AASA friend, making a career out of education policy and advocacy. His passion for strong public schools and rural education was central to his time on Capitol Hill and in education associations. Currently serving as a leader with Organizations Concerned with Rural Education (OCRE), John was previously the executive director for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS). In this episode, he chats with AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng, and the conversation is as filled with policy insights as it is with colorful stories from an accomplished education career.
AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng chats with Professor Bruce Baker, the dynamo behind @SchlFinance101 and one of the AASA advocacy team's favorite people to talk to when it comes to school finance and education funding formulas. In this episode, we focus on his most recent paper, one that takes a fresh--and also understandable and approachable--analysis of all 50 state funding formulas. Professor Baker works at Rutgers University specializing in school finance, education policy & quantitative analysis.
Let's talk education and #Census2020! In this episode, AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng talks with Georgetown Professor Nora Gordon, looking at exactly why Census 2020 matters to schools, what response rate and accurate count can mean to schools and communities, and starts to look at what superintendents can do.
AASA's Noelle Ng talks with CAP's Scott Sargrad, running through three of their newest reports, on fixing chronic disinvestment, increasing teacher salaries, and if high school diplomas are a path to success.
In this episode. AASA's Noelle Ng chats all things E-Rate and connectivity with Education Superhighway's Evan Marwell.
Former AASA advocacy all-star Leslie Finnan moved on after 5 years to head up policy and advocacy for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS), the group that advocates for Impact Aid. She called in to talk through all the fun goings-on of federal education policy and schools right now.
Education reporters Alyson Klein (Education Week) and Lauren Camera (US News and World Report) talk all things edu-policy and what to expect in 2019 with AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel joins AASA's Noelle Ellerson Ng to talk E-Rate, connectivity, homework gap, and leadership.
Public Education Policy (PEP) Talk is the officially unofficial podcast for the AASA advocacy team. AASA represents the nation's public school superintendents, and this podcast is one more way to engage with our advocacy team.
Our inaugural episode features AASA's advocacy team, Sasha Pudelski (Advocacy Director) and Noelle Ellerson Ng (Associate Executive Director, Policy & Advocacy). Enjoy!