Happy New Year! Here's a look at this week's education news from ATPE Governmental Relations:

• Election Update
• SBOE seeks stakeholder input on long-range plan
• Texas ESSA plan elicits feedback from federal government

As the first week of January comes to a close, many people are setting their New Year's resolutions for 2018. ATPE Lobbyist Monty Exter suggests adding a resolution to become a more engaged and informed voter in 2018 to your list. Read more tips in his blog post here.  

The State Board of Education (SBOE) is hosting a series of upcoming meetings to gather feedback from educators on the state's Long-Range Plan for Public Education. Stakeholder events are scheduled this month and next month in Houston, San Antonio, Salado, Amarillo, and the Rio Grande Valley. To learn more about how educators can register to participate in these community conversations, check out this blog post from ATPE Lobbyist Mark Wiggins.  

Federal education officials have weighed in on the Texas Education Agency's draft state plan for compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). As reported in this blog post from ATPE Lobbyist Kate Kuhlmann, the state is preparing a revised submission next week to address revisions sought by the U.S. Department of Education.