Oh, Wait, You Meant Those Regulations? The DeVos Reality Settles In. Plus, Tackling Dummies Into Plowshares? Great Moments In Teacher Eval, Federal Budget Politics, Charter Growth, MA Charters, Tuck’s Running, Skywalker’s Feuding, Leafy AZ, McCluskey’s Consistency, Chaltain’s Talk, Plus Toads! More!

Today is March 15th! Beware!

Bonnie O’Keefe on the new ESSA regulatory regime. Also, breaking: Groups that recently cheered Congressional jettisoning of federal regulations now realize what that might mean….

Here are the regs, or rather the non regs.

This lede is quite true:

Washington greets the president’s annual budget release the way it does a forecast of a few inches of snow — which is to say, often with a huge overreaction.

But also true that various social programs are facing some real pressure under a Trump administration’s budget framework and what conservatives on the Hill want. That would have consequences. For a bit of historical perspective, though, welfare state spending grew under Reagan (and Thatcher for that matter) as well as George W. Bush. So you just never know how these things are going to play out.

Also, a Department of Education aide is feuding with Luke Skywalker. 

New report on food security/hunger and college students (pdf). Focuses on community college students but it’s a broader issue. Here’s one innovative initiative to address this issue from a Texas HBCU. Turn your football facility into a farm.The president of this college is in DC to speak at an Aspen Institute event tomorrow.

Frank Bruni (and Van Jones) think college students are too coddled. I’m not sure why it took Middlebury to wake people up to problems of illiberalism on campus and the ensuing effects on American life but here we are.  Also don’t miss Stephen Carter on the broader issues.

Charter schools still growing but the rate of growth is declining. NACSA with some important data on what’s going on. 

What did Massachusetts teachers unions think of their game plan to bottle up the state’s charter schools? All the details plus some forecasting here. Alternative and more clicks headline? The teachers unions put a ton of effort into defeating school improvement in MA and GA instead of focusing on key presidential states and you’ll never believe what happened next….

Can Randi Weingarten stop President Trump’s infrastructure plan? The flacks who planted this story sure think so – and she owes them a sweet raise because it’s a good one and a signal. Stay tuned…

Marshall Tuck announced this week he is making another run for Superintendent of Public Instruction in California. He outperformed expectations last time and came close to winning, keep an eye on this race. CRPE says the power of persuasion is key for state chiefs.

I was unaware the Arizona suburbs were especially leafy, all the ones I have visited were not. But, Matt Ladner says they can compete for students anyway.

Hat tip to Neil McCluskey of CATO. I don’t agree with him on some policy questions but in a town where people change their views to fit the prevailing political winds or advance their career he’s admirably consistent on questions around choice, federalism, and policy.

Seems like we read some version of this article every few years, it’s always treated as new and novel.

Presumably everyone in the education world can at least agree to please not bite the kids? It’s been a while since I did teacher prep but I think they covered that in the first few classes. Penultimate graf is awesome for eval nerds by the way.

Sam Chaltain on the future of learning (and movies).

This toad is fantastic.  Strangers ask him if he was wearing pants.