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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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) […]
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 […]
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 […]
March 30, 2011
WASHINGTON – White House officials said Wednesday they have major concerns about turning Medicaid into a block grant program, a proposal promoted by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and other Republican governors. "What we can’t do is kick the most vulnerable out of these programs,” said Stephanie Cutter, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama. Under […]
March 30, 2011
About 80 people rallied in front of the Jefferson County Board of Education during rush hour this afternoon to protest state budget cuts in education, which they say is increasing class sizes, drying up school supply money and killing teacher morale in just about every school district. The American Federation of Teachers led the rally, […]
March 30, 2011
Across the country, a divisive education reform movement has widely called for schools to hold teachers accountable for their students’ performance. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been vocal in their support for merit pay, the practice of financially rewarding teachers for students’ improvement on standardized tests. Now, Idaho is on the brink […]