Jerry Enderle @SPM_editor

Yesterday, the US Census Bureau announced that he nation spent a total of $694.3 billion on public school systems in fiscal year 2017, up 4.4 percent from FY 2016. It was the largest yearly increase in total expenditure since 2008. census.gov/library/storie…

The CSSO and EECS announced the release of a K-12 School Safety 50-State Comparison that allows analysis of key state school safety requirements around school safety plans, audits and drills, as well as school resource officers and weapons in schools. ecs.org/k-12-school-sa…

Interesting read: The Case for Federal Funding for School Infrastructure by Laura Jimenez with the Center for American progress. americanprogress.org/issues/educati…

I just saw a media advisory stating that at noon Congressman Bobby Scott, chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Senator Jack Reed, Congressman Donald Norcross, and public school teachers will unveil a proposal to invest $100 billion in the infrastructure of schools.

According to the Consortium for School Networking's latest annual report on the state of infrastructure and connectivity in schools, Wi-Fi and broadband connectivity is expanding in K-12 school districts as costs continue to decline. Read the report at cosn.org/Infrastructure.

The Waukee Innovation & Learning Center, in Waukee, Iowa, designed by CannonDesign and INVISION Architecture, earned the Grand Prize in our Education Design Showcase. Check out their project and the other outstanding entries at spaces4learning.com/pages/eds/educ…

The National Center for Education Statistics is out with the latest look at state-level revenues and expenditures in the nation's public schools, which increased for the third year in a row in the 2015-16 school year. You can download it at nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubs….

The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) has released the fourth edition of its Safety and Security Guidelines for K-12 Schools, which provides guidelines for implementing a layered and tiered approach to securing and enhancing the safety of schools. The download is free.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Academic Engagement (OAE) released Exercise Starter Kits for the K-12 community today. They are focused on an active shooter incident as part of the Campus Resilience (CR) Program. Visit surveymonkey.com/r/k12esk.

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that children tend to have higher levels of school engagement when involved in one or more activities, like sports, lessons or clubs. Download the report at census.gov/library/public…

If you are at EDspaces, be sure to stop by our booth, #736, and check out the Education Design Showcase display in the center back of the hall (pictured below).

I will be at EDspaces, in Tampa, Wednesday Thursday and Friday of this week. Stop and say hi if you are attending.

What do you do when a major company leaves a huge complex empty in your area? Here is one solution: nkytribune.com/2018/10/ignite…

I just read a very interesting article in USA Today entitled “We followed 15 of America's teachers on a day of frustrations, pressures and hard-earned victories”. It is definitely worth your time. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…

EducationSuperHighway recently released its annual State of the States report, finding that 98 percent of U.S. public school districts are connected to high-speed broadband, but 2.3 million students are still left behind. Download the report at …ofthestates.educationsuperhighway.org.

Congratulations to the 349 schools that were recognized yesterday by the U.S. Secretary of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2018. To see the list of schools, visit www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbb….

There is a lot of talk about business-savvy learning environments, but according to a new report from the nonprofit Code.org, only 35 percent of high schools in two dozen states teach computer science. Check it out at code.org/files/2018_sta…

46 schools and 6 districts were honored at the 2018 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools ceremony yesterday. Check out the list here www2.ed.gov/programs/green…

I have written about this before—more proof. The gap between students who lack access to technology and those students who have it, is compounding equity problems within U.S. schools, according to ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning. Get the report at equityinlearning.act.org.

The New York Times has published its weekly Climate Fwd: newsletter. This week, it’s a back-to-school edition focusing on schools using clean energy. It is a good piece and worth your time. Find it at nytimes.com/2018/09/05/cli…