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September 2, 2010
State Roundup
More than one of every five
schools in Utah failed this year to meet
testing goals under No Child Left Behind,
according to results released Monday. This
year, 201 Utah schools failed to make Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) toward the goals of
the federal education law, up from 125 last
year.
Read
more…
Other News
With support for charter schools growing
across the country, some education and advocacy
groups are calling on policymakers and educators
to give more consideration to how charter
schools can do a better job of serving the
nation’s increasing population of
English-language learners. Just this month,
two such Washington-based groups—The
National Council of La Raza and the Center
for American Progress—put out a report
spelling out how state governments can change
their policies to ensure charter schools
serve ELLs well and tailor their programs
for the needs of such students.
Read
more…
September
1, 2010
State Roundup
IN---Indiana's popular 21st Century Scholars
program -- where full-ride scholarships
are promised to needy kids who study hard
and stay out of trouble -- is in deep financial
trouble. The program is growing so fast
that its $28 million budget will need a
$30 million boost in the next state funding
cycle, and nearly triple that amount by
2017.
Read
more…
MA---A coalition of students, parents, and
advocates rallied on the steps of Boston
School Department headquarters yesterday,
calling for extended school days, more rigorous
teacher evaluations, and a stronger voice
for students and parents in school decisions
as the city negotiates a new contract with
teachers. The rally, organized by Boston
United for Students, was scheduled to coincide
with the final day of the teachers’
current contract. Provisions of that contract
will remain in place while the city and
the union hammer out a new agreement over
the next few months.
Read
more…
MS---Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and a
bipartisan group of Mississippi lawmakers
are considering saving, rather than spending,
one of the two pots of federal stimulus
money Congress recently approved.
Read
more…
NJ---Gov. Chris Christie has advised the
education department not to release a report
Tuesday which details how much New Jersey
spends per pupil, over concerns it could
hurt the state in a current legal challenge.
Though Christie stopped short of saying
the state would not produce the report,
as required by law, he recommended Tuesday
delaying it while the state fights a lawsuit
filed in June by a New Jersey education
advocacy group.
Read
more…
PA---Pennsylvania group places focus on
early childhood education
Read
more…
RI---A new law aimed at saving millions
of teaching jobs and protecting school programs
across the country may not accomplish either
goal here in Rhode Island. Instead, Governor
Carcieri intends to use the $32.9 million
Rhode Island is eligible to receive to plug
an estimated $38-million deficit in this
year’s budget.
Read
more…
TX---Gov. Rick Perry stopped in Lubbock
to lay out a state grant incentive for school
districts to split the bills on their human
resources, accounting, transportation and
other administrative needs. Sharing costs
among local districts would help them spend
more in the classroom, Perry said in an
afternoon talk at Monterey High School.
Grants out of the Foundation School Fund
would award an additional 10 percent of
the money districts save in administrative
costs under the proposed program.
Read
more…
Other News
A new survey of American opinions on education
policy finds the public at large and its
teaching force are at odds on whether teachers’
pay should be tied to their students’
test scores. The 4th annual survey by Harvard
University’s Program on Education
Policy and Governance and the journal Education
Next found 49 percent of respondents approved
of the idea, compared with just 24 percent
of teachers.
Read
more…
August
31, 2010
School Funding/Litigation
TN---The Tennessee Supreme Court’s
denial of the City of Memphis’ petition
to appeal the Tennessee Court of Appeals’
decision in favor of Memphis City Schools
(MCS) in a long-running school funding case
leaves the city council with the responsibility
to pick up the tab for funding the city’s
public schools, says Memphis Daily News.
Read
more…
State Roundup
AL---Alabama schools turn to bank loans
to operate: Five school districts have already
borrowed against lines of credit they have
with local banks to fund basic school operations,
and 25 additional districts are planning
to follow suit in the next few months, accounting
for over 20% of the state's school system,
according to the Alabama Association of
School Boards.
Read
more…
CT---The performance gap between low-income
Connecticut students and their peers is
the largest in the country, according to
a state-appointed education committee. Citing
last year’s eighth-grade math test
results from the National Assessment of
Educational Progress, the Connecticut Commission
on Educational Achievement announced yesterday
that there is a 34-point gap between low-income
students and their peers. The disparity
is the biggest in the nation, the commission
said. The national average was 27 points.
Read
more…
August
30, 2010
State Roundup
NE---Neb. education groups urged to fight
health reform: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman
is urging the state's top education groups
to support the repeal of federal health
care reform or he will assume they tacitly
support a likely reduction in education
funding.
Read
more…
NJ---Future of N.J. school reform remains
uncertain without federal funds, permanent
education chief
Read
more…
OK---Editorial-Oklahoma voters'
willingness to approve school bond issues
despite tough economic times took a serious
blow this week. For the first time in recent
memory, more school bond issues failed than
passed. It's too soon to tell whether the
proposals were victims of poor timing or
something more.
Read
more…
Other News
Editorial---The Obama administration’s
Race to the Top initiative has shown that
competitive grant programs can be a powerful
spur to innovation in education. Most of
the 12 states that were awarded grants this
year — and the more than 30 states
that changed education policies in hopes
of winning grants — would never have
attempted reform on this scale without the
promise of federal help.
Read
more…
CT---A coalition of Connecticut education
leaders is protesting the Obama administration's
practice of making states or school systems
compete for federal education grants. The
Connecticut Coalition for Public Education
says the federal policy of Race to the Top
fails to serve the state's poorest students.
Read
more…
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