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Public Schools Brace for Deep Funding Cuts (MI)

March 30, 2011

For years, it has cost more to educate the area’s children than the state steered to local schools, a gap that’s expected to widen as Gov. Rick Snyder calls for cuts to K-12 funding to cover the exhaustion of federal stimulus funds and other shortfalls in Lansing. Th e 21 school districts in the Enquirer’s […]

Idaho Bill I ncreasing Class Sizes Hits Standstill (ID)

March 30, 2011

The centerpiece of Idaho’s controversial school reform plan may be dead, senators indicated late Tuesday, even as separate bills on teacher contracts and pay move through hearings in the House. The main bill, SB 1113, was sent back to the Senate Education Committee last week after earlier squeaking through it on a 5-4 vote; on […]

When Test Scores Seem Too Good to Believe (US)

March 30, 2011

MILFORD, Ohio — Scott Mueller seemed to have an uncanny sense about what his students should study to prepare for upcoming state skills tests. By 2010, the teacher had spent his 16-year career entirely at Charles Seipelt Elementary School. Like other Seipelt teachers, Mueller regularly wrote study guides for his classes ahead of state tests. […]

South Dakota Lawmakers Soften Budget Cuts for Schools, Health Care Facilities (SD)

March 30, 2011

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to measures that will reduce the size of budget cuts for school districts and some health care facilities. Gov. Dennis Daugaard is seeking to cut nearly every state agency by 10 percent next year to fix a $127 million budget gap. His proposal includes cutting […]

2 grades, 1 classroom (IL)

March 30, 2011

Across the Chicago area, students from different grades increasingly mingle as they learn to spell, write and study history. While they do not share a grade, they share a teacher, a classroom and even a lunch table in a tradition that’s as old as the one-room schoolhouse: blending students from multiple grades into a single […]

School District Finances Rebound (IL)

March 30, 2011

Despite tight budgets that led to teacher layoffs and classroom cuts, fewer school districts landed on the state’s financial watch list this year, according to a report released Wednesday. Two dozen school systems — or 2.8 percent of the state’s 868 districts — received the worst financial designation in the annual snapshot of districts’ financial […]

Will a BASIS charter school work in D.C.? (DC)

March 30, 2011

For Washington suburbanites who think their local high school is straining from the weight of Advanced Placement courses and other academic demands, you haven’t seen anything yet. On Tuesday, go to the hearing at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School in the District at 8:40 p.m. and learn about a proposed new charter school called […]

Montana Senate GOP school-funding plan returns with changes (MT)

March 30, 2011

HELENA – Senate Republicans’ public school-funding proposal got another life Thursday, but not before they sent it back to committee to whack out some key provisions, including $12 million and a formula that would have made taxpayers in low-tax school districts pay more. "Because we couldn’t get enough votes, we’re forced to buy (this bill) […]

GOP Plan Would Change How Schools Are Funded (IN)

March 30, 2011

A House Republican budget plan unveiled Thursday makes major changes to school funding — shifting millions of dollars from districts with declining enrollment, such as Indianapolis Public Schools, to growing districts, such as Hamilton Southeastern. The proposal freezes overall education funding at current levels for the next two years. That means K-12 education would receive […]

Arizona’s Public-School Funding Still Battered by Recession (AZ)

March 30, 2011

For the first time in two decades, Arizona is facing two, possibly three, consecutive years of declines in basic per-student funding for K-12 schools. The Great Recession battered the state’s take from sales, property and income taxes and public-land sales, causing Arizona to chop its per-student funding, hike the sales tax and patch in with […]