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Kansas
Supreme Court: Legislature Has Complied
With Montoy Orders
On
July 28, 2006, the Kansas Supreme Court
issued its final decision in Montoy
v. State, concluding that "the
legislature's efforts in 2005 and
2006 . . . constitute substantial compliance
with our prior orders." The court found
that legislative actions "provide annual
increased [state] funding by the 2008-09
school year of $755.6 million" - a
26 percent increase over the state funding
provided in 2004-05 - and noted that "almost
one-third" of the increase "is
directed to at-risk students." Read
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| Resource
and Teaching Gaps Cited by Education Trust
and the Children's Defense Fund
Two
recent reports, one from the Children's
Defense Fund and the other from Education
Trust, suggest that our education system
perpetuates inequality: the Children's Defense
Fund (CDF)'s State of America's Children
2005 reports on the health, welfare,
development, and education of more than
13 million children living in poverty. The
Education Trust (Ed Trust) report suggests
that students from disadvantaged backgrounds
struggle to achieve not only because they
enter school behind, but also because they
are often in a classroom lacking a critical
component of a successful education: a high
quality teacher. Read
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| D.C.
Advocates Blind-sided by Media Opposition
to Education Amendment
Just
as an amendment to the District of Columbia's
charter requiring "free, high-quality
education" for all students seemed
certain to appear on this November's
ballot, opposition from the media, notably
the Washington Post, undermined
support and may have caused the amendment
to falter. On June 20, 2006, the D.C. Council
approved the amendment, 12 to 1, upon its
first reading. At the second reading, however,
on July 11, the Council voted 7 to 6 to
table the bill, preventing it from being
presented to voters later this year.
Read
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North
Carolina Legislature Funds Programs for
Low-income and Disadvantaged Students
Education
advocates in North Carolina are enthused
about an agreement between the General Assembly
and the Governor on the $18.7 billion 2006-2007
budget, which includes a 9.6 percent increase
in K-12 education spending for the coming
school year, according to The Friday
Report published by the Public School
Forum of NC. In the new budget, adopted
this month, 38 percent of state spending
is devoted to K-12 education; it includes
more money for low-wealth districts and
a salary increase for teachers and administrators,
and funds a state-wide expansion of a pilot
program for disadvantaged students. An additional
$17.9 million in lottery proceeds were also
earmarked to expand the More at Four pre-kindergarten
program. Read
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| Public
and Private School Students Perform Similarly
in NAEP Study
A
national assessment comparing the performance
of public schools to private schools has
found that nearly always, when certain student
characteristics are taken into account,
public school students perform just as well,
if not better, than private school students.
These conclusions, presented by the National
Center for Education Statistics, of the
U.S. Department of Education, in Comparing
Private Schools and Public Schools Using
Hierarchical Linear Modeling, are based
on data from the 2003 NAEP reading and mathematics
exams. This good news demonstrates that
public schools continue to be a valid source
for a solid education. Read
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