March 30, 2011
How about a cheese sandwich? In some parts of the country, that may be the only option for public school students unable to afford school lunches. With budget cuts and a down economy, many school districts are offering bare-bones "alternative" lunches as a way to balance their budget. The Lee County, Flordia school district – […]
March 30, 2011
For the past three years, lawmakers have spent the waning hours of the legislative session fighting over how to fund charter schools. This year’s session may bring another battle. With less than two weeks before the session ends, Republican lawmakers are gearing up aga in to try to change the way charter schools are funded, […]
March 30, 2011
It takes an average of nine months to go through the process of getting rid of an ineffective teacher, and the head of a state union that represents school employees says that’s too long. "That’s not fair to anybody," said David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan. "It’s not fair to the school […]
March 30, 2011
Rising standardized test scores, often cited by D.C. officials as evidence of an improving school system, are of limited value in determining whether students are actually learning more, according to the first major independent study of D.C. school reform. That conclusion, part of a report issued Friday by the National Research Council, is likely to […]
March 30, 2011
The bitter political standoff in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker’s bid to sharply curtail collective bargaining for public-sector workers ended abruptly Wednesday night as Republican colleagues in the State Senate successfully maneuvered to adopt a bill doing just that. After a three-week stalemate, Republican senators pushed the measure through in less than half an hour […]
March 30, 2011
Supporters of Head Start are feeling under siege in the federal budget battle, fearing that the kind of deep cuts they’ve seen proposed in Congress would likely have ripple effects hurting state pre-K and after-school programs for elementary school children. The program is administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but is […]
March 30, 2011
Federal education officials will end a practice that allows some states to classify students with disabilities as academically proficient even if they’re not. Speaking at the American Association of People with Disabilities gala in Washington Tuesday evening, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pledged to end the so-called “2 percent rule.” “I just want to say […]
March 30, 2011
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky House overwhelmingly passed a bill Monday afternoon to resolve the state’s Medicaid shortfall without cutting state funding for education. But it may not be popular with either Senate President David Williams or Gov. Steve Beshear, House Speaker Greg Stumbo admitted. House Bill 1, the product of a week of negotiations […]
March 30, 2011
HARTFORD—Scores of students in yellow T-shirts proclaiming "Fund Me Fairly" came to the state Capitol complex Thursday afternoon to press for an education funding bill that would send more money to some magnet and charter schools. The controversial measure, dubbed "money follows the child," was the subject of a lengthy public hearing before the legislature’s […]
March 30, 2011
The test scores aren’t in yet, but by almost every other measure that matters—school climate, instructional strategies, staff satisfaction—the former Shawnee High School isn’t the same place it was just a year ago. More than half the teachers are new to the persistently low-performing school. Those who remain say they no longer feel that their […]