March 30, 2011
The Senate Education Committee is expected to vote today on a hot button issue: publicly funded vouchers to send low-income children to nonpublic schools. Before voting on the bill, the committee will consider about a dozen amendments aimed at adding accountability, shifting financial responsibility from school districts to the state, clarifying language and other items. […]
March 30, 2011
Cash-strapped states are taking aim at Medicaid, the health-care program for low-income people, as stubbornly high employment is pushing an increase in enrollment and costs. Trying to cut such a large expense sends a good signal to municipal bond holders, analysts said, since health care is second only to education in state spending, according to […]
March 30, 2011
To help states address unprecedented budget pressures, the U.S. Department of Education today released promising practices to state leaders about how to spend education dollars productively and highlighting flexibility available for spending federal funds. During a national press call, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "There is a right way and a wrong way to cut […]
March 30, 2011
Major charter-school organizations won the right Tuesday to operate at seven of 13 schools under a policy that allows bidders inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to take control of new and academically struggling campuses. Charter schools got most of what they wanted by the end of a 51/2-hour meeting in which […]
March 30, 2011
Columbus — Highlights of Gov. John Kasich’s executive budget include the end of billions of dollars in federal stimulus dollars and other one-time monies, a resulting reduction in state funding for local governments and policy changes aimed at helping school districts, county commissioners and other public offices cope with cuts. The governor has outlined general […]
March 30, 2011
The Teachers’ Retirement System, the largest and costliest of Illinois’ pension programs, is now almost $40 billion short of what’s needed to cover future benefits — the deepest financial hole in 20 years of state records. And with lawmakers looking to rein in the massive costs of public retirement programs, teachers worry that the nest […]
March 30, 2011
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (AP) — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Friday that spending on public education can be maintained and even increased in the next two-year budget. Dewhurst also vowed that the state Senate, over which he presides, would not agree to cut Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes. The Republican lieutenant governor’s vision is […]
March 30, 2011
The School Improvement Grant program is probably one of the most controversial pieces of the Obama administration’s education agenda. Some see it as the federal government’s best answer so far to the question of how to fix persistently low-achieving schools, while others see the four models specified by the program as way too restrictive. The […]
March 30, 2011
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey saluted a number of other governors, including Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, last week for making tough decisions in tough economic times. On Monday, Mr. Christie had one more reason to applaud his counterpart in Albany. Mr. Cuomo, in his boldest attack yet on what he calls wasteful […]
March 30, 2011
WASHINGTON • Saying that current education policies are failing kids, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and a group of mostly Democratic senators plan to introduce a set of revisions that would move away from rigid testing and toward flexibility for local school districts. Congress is four years overdue for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, […]