Big Change for SSI

 Big Change has arrived for SSI

 

People with disabilities may receive Supplemental Security Income or SSI.   Recipients of the benefit are required to report how they spend the stipend.  Until recently if a recipient paid less than fair market value for his/her rent, the difference between the fair market value and the actual rent was deducted from the stipend.

This situation was most likely to occur when the recipient lived at home or with other family members.  Yet, the benefit did not pay enough for fair market value in the open market AND the recipient’s disability often made it very difficult for him/her to live independently.

Recipients went to court in a number of states.  As a result, there was variety around the country.  In seven states, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Texas, monthly payments were not reduced if the recipient was paying more than a third of his/her income for housing even in those instances when it was less than fair market value.

With the new rule, Social Security will apply the less stringent standard nationwide.   Social Security administration expects that as a result of the new rule about 41,000 people will see their SSI payments increase an average of $132 a month.  An additional, 14,000 are expected to now qualify for SSI.

The new policy took effect on September 30.

This rule change is part of a wide-ranging effort to reconsider how the Social Security Administration is handling SSI payments.  Earlier in the spring, the Social Security Administration said it would also stop counting food as part of the “in-kind support and maintenance” this fall.  How Social Security views income from other public agencies is also being examined.

Martin O’Malley, Director of Social Security,  explained that the plan not only had huge benefits for recipients but it also reduced agency time spent calculating and administering rental subsidy.

A win-win for people with disabilities and the bureaucracy that serves them.

 7%- That’s Amazing

Only 7% of the 8^th graders taking the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment in math passed it last school year.   That’s terrible.  Well actually it is quite amazing if you take the trouble to look at some of the practice items that are published online.  If you did that, you would not only be amazed that anyone passed the test but  you would also have to ask the question – why on earth do we even TRY to prepare kids to pass this foolishness.

Sample question:

Which expression below is equivalent to +=

A= -8

B= -1/8

C= 1/8

D=8

 

Truly the above is a sample question for an 8^th grader.  The vast majority of 8^th graders got this wrong.  Probably the vast majority of job holding successful adults got it wrong too. Other questions on the test are similar.

Time is finite.   Once elapsed you can never get it back.  Teachers are working and wasting students’ time teaching them to try and do this foolishness.   To what purpose??  Evidently so they will not be among the 93% who do not pass the test.  How many more useful functional things could our students be learning instead of wasting their time on this. 

 

One of the easier items is =49/16

Again, how useful is this?  

Students need to pass these tests to get a high school diploma.  Check around with people you know and see how many can answer the questions.  Then ask yourself, are they relatively successful adults?   Are they employed, self-supporting, have jobs, contributing to society?  And yet they can’t do these math questions. 

There is a lot of hype around the poor math scores of students.   Very few people ask the question, what is being measured and is the juice worth the squeeze.  Do we really care if our kids can do these things or not and isn’t there some better way for them to be using their time.

Sort of reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes.  While we are arguing over the color of his cloak, we fail to acknowledge he isn’t wearing a cloak at all!

BTW, the answer to question 1 is D-8.   The answer to question 2 is 1 ¾.  Let me know if you can ever use this information.

Do we want to feed the kids or not

 Maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch?

 

Eight states in our union have promised every student a free lunch.   No paperwork, no forms, no how much money does your family have.   Nope, everyone who comes to school gets a free lunch- or at least free to the student.

Governor Walz of Minnesota said that while other states were banning books, his state was banishing hunger.

The Federal meal program for k-12 students was created to provide food to children from low-income families while at school.   The program is funded through the US Department of Agriculture.   While originally created as a kind of stop-gap for hungry kids, it has become in many ways an entitlement program.

As with all things there are three sides to every story.

The US House of Representatives has passed a budget package that would eliminate the community eligibility provision.  This is a policy that allows entire school districts, groups of schools or a single school to provide all students with meals regardless of the income of any single child.  Project 2025 and the US House of Representatives argue that the program should return to its original intent and only serve low-income kids.

California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Vermont all join Minnesota in providing free lunch to all.  Under the typical meal system, some students pay the full price, others pay a reduced price and still others get a free lunch.  Universal free lunch dramatically reduces the paperwork and each child can feel good about him or herself. No more stigma for some kids if they want to eat.    Under the typical system, some kids would rather go hungry than have to identify as poor enough for a free lunch.   As Scrooge would say, “if they would rather go hungry then let them”.   A bill sponsored in both houses of Congress calling for free breakfast and lunch has gained no traction among Republicans.

For many children, school lunches (and breakfast in some cases) provide the major food source for a child in a day.    Some schools send home weekend bags too.

These lunches aren’t free.   Someone is footing the bill.   So, the questions are should all kids eat, should some kids eat, and who should be paying for the groceries, because there really isn’t a free lunch.

 

Let's Redshirt that boy!

 Let’s Redshirt that boy!

 

More and more parents are “redshirting” their young children.    College sports teams aren’t the only ones to “redshirt”.

Maryland law requires that kindergarten is the first compulsory year of school attendance.   But the law also allows for caregivers to ask for a maturity waiver.   Mostly this rule impacts boys who tend to mature more slowly than girls.  

Many families do not feel their child is ready for kindergarten.   But as in many benefits this bonus comes with several considerations.

First of all, kindergarten is free.  And that includes free transportation.   Providing your child with an extra year of child care is not free.   It is not unusual for day care to cost around $235 a week.  That’s a chunk of change.   Maryland’s Blueprint for Education will eventually provide free pre-school as well, but the roll out of that program is just getting started and limited free spots fill quickly.  Last year about 300 families in the Baltimore metro area took the maturity waiver.   Not surprisingly these were mostly upper income families.

Another consideration is the maturity of the child.   While Kindergarten begins at age 5, not all 5 year olds are ready to begin the more formal schooling.   This situation is particularly true today when kindergarten has become more academic centered and not play centered.  Summer birthday kids are particularly at risk.   Kids with winter birthdays turning 5 have almost a full year before they need to start kindergarten.   Whereas, summer birthdays are right on the cusp.

In making the decision, families need to talk with day care providers, sports team leaders and other trusted adults.   How is the child doing on focus, communication with peers and setting boundaries?

When thinking about redshirting, families need to consider the here and now as well as the future.   A child who is redshirted because of emotional immaturity may be academically on target or even ahead.    What will that mean for the child who then starts kindergarten even more ahead of his class peers academically ?   In an environment of pacing guides, teachers don’t slow down nor hurry up for differences in learning rate.  Being academically ahead of classmates becomes hard on the teacher and the child.

Decisions need to be made carefully.   And sometimes family economics make the decision.   There is no need to rush childhood.   And redshirting only benefits some athletes and kindergarten kids.

You don't learn much if you are not in school

 You don’t learn much if you are not in school

 

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has increased from 1 in every 6 students to 1 in every 3 students.   And overall absentee rates remain higher than before the pandemic.  Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more that 10% of the school year regardless of the reason.

How many of us would keep our jobs if we missed 10% of the work year in addition to holidays.

Fact: students with higher absentee rates have lower achievement.   So it doesn’t matter if you missed school because you were ill, went on a family vacation, needed a mental health day or just didn’t feel like coming to school.

According to reports 16% of Asian students, 24% of white students, 36% of Hispanic students and 39% of African American students were chronically absent.  Reverse this list and you have rankings of the lowest achieving students in our schools. 

School is a kid’s job.  So besides not learning we are teaching our children that it’s perfectly ok to miss one’s job for whatever reason that comes up.  

Fourteen states have joined an effort to cut down on absenteeism.  

The plan is going to begin with a worksheet given to teachers to try to figure out why a child is chronically absent so that the root causes of the absence can be addressed. 

The worksheet includes these questions:  Has the child been struggling academically? Does the student have language or communication issues?  Have there been any reports of bullying? Do parents and/or guardians recognize the importance of school attendance and do they support getting their children to school?

The Maryland State Board of Education is on the cusp of enacting a policy that will put into place some serious interventions to get students to read on grade level by the time the students finish 3^rd grade.   Interventions include grade retention, intensive after school and summer tutoring.  

Here’s the deal.   If a child is not in school, all the interventions in the world aren’t going to work.  School matters, now and in the future when the child is an adult and trying to get and keep a job.

Another Day, Another School Shooting

 Another Day, Another School Shooting

 

Horrific news that once again a child has killed other children in his school.   Everyone has a solution.  Arm the teachers, increase mental health services, lock those bad kids up for the rest of their lives, prosecute the parents- all such great ideas, few of which would prevent anything.

Again and again with every shooter, the same issue comes to the fore.  These kids did not feel known.  In fact, they were NOT known.  In the case of the Georgia child, the administrator went to what she thought was his class but had the wrong kid with a similar name.   Certainly, we can lock them up for the rest of their lives as Trump says of these “vicious, evil people”.   But they aren’t vicious or evil people.   They have done vicious and evil things, no question.   They were once babies and little people in kindergarten that were known to teachers and family.  What can we do to make kids feel known?

A principal at a California high school says he treats the first day of school like the first episode of a Netflix show he wants his students to binge on.  “The minute they walk through the door, I want to hook them so that they come back for more.”  On the first week of school teachers take it slow.  They don’t rush to introduce the syllabus or course requirements.  (What NO course pacing guide that makes everyday a milestone!!)   They play a version of beach volleyball.  Each colored section of the ball features questions- like “pet’s name”, “what movie do you want to act in”,  “what’s your favorite ice cream”.   Kids answer according to the section of the ball that faces them.  It’s fun, an ice breaker and a way for children to identify as something else besides a number on a seating chart.

Another thing to do is to believe what we learn from research.  The bigger the school the more anonymous the student.  Stop building high schools that hold several thousand kids.

Students are very happy to be back in school in person.   And now that they are, the anxieties of fitting in are growing.  School leaders have to be intentional about getting kids to feel they fit in the school.  Students need to feel that their well being matters.  They need to be seen for being really nice kids who are perhaps a bit different, and they need to fit in as well.

When they don’t get the attention they need from positive sources, they sure will from being that “evil” kid.  

Another day, another shooting will happen unless you notice me before rather than after, you know me for being bad.

STOP! That's mine!

 You can’t take my property!

 

School systems and private schools are disallowing cell phones in the school.  As with all things there are three sides to every story.   My side, your side and the right side.

Students say that the phone is their private property and the system cannot take it away.  One could split hairs and remind students that in almost all cases the phone itself is the property of the parent or whomever is paying the cell phone bill, most likely not the student.   Of course, we have a history of taking kids’ private property if it is not appropriate to school or we made a rule against it.  You cannot smoke on school property or we will take the tobacco away, ditto alcoholic beverages.  No weapons, no drugs.  Taking things from students we don’t want them to have has a long history.

What if there is an emergency, how can I contact my parents.  Depends on the emergency but most likely the school officials will contact your parents if it’s a true emergency.

I am a parent and I need to be able to reach my child!  Exactly why?   Do you allow your child to call you at work to chat?   School is your child’s  job.  He/she needs to be left alone to do that job.   And if you really need to get a message to your child, just call the front desk.  It will get through.

Data show that kids get hundreds of messages a day on their phone during school hours.   No, that was not a typo.  It’s very hard for kids to attend to their job (i.e. learning) when they also have to respond to all of those pings. And if you are a student, the pings may have more value than what the teacher is trying to do. Teachers don’t need children to do a constant dialog with their parents on what the teacher is doing.  Just one more reason teaching has lost a lot of its fun.  

Teachers and school administrators say kids don’t need phones in school.   Important messages to families can go through the office.   And then there are the not so important messages kids are sending- photos of bodily parts that are best left covered, insinuation about which students are dating (or not), having sex (or not) and just generally gossiping about what’s happening now.  

Most great compromises please no one and have something for everyone.  Put student phones in a safe place every morning so they can see where the phone is going, lock it up AND put the phone on the charger.   Teachers/administrators get peace to do their jobs.  Kids get a fully charged phone at the end of the day to use on the bus on the walk home.   See something for everyone.  And everyone gets something to be annoyed about too.

Oh, and by the way, the property isn’t the students and the school administrators can indeed take it.