December 15, 2010
Ten-day teacher furloughs. No art or music classes. Computer purchases ditched to cover the costs of basic supplies. Some of Georgia’s independent state charter schools are facing months-long funding lags — and scaled-back ambitions — as they struggle to operate on hundreds of thousands of dollars less than they need. The cash flow problem is […]
December 15, 2010
Margaret Holden is a single working mother of three whose life is about to become just a little bit more difficult. Her oldest daughter attends Classen School of Advanced Studies, an Oklahoma City public school that next year will be on a calendar with only an eight-week summer and three two- to three-week breaks during […]
December 15, 2010
South Carolina students with disabilities could earn a special high school diploma designed to recognize their accomplishments and help them become independent under an idea up for debate next year. Parents say a diploma that shows their children’s progress is long overdue. Currently, disabled students who can’t pass the high school exit exam and earn […]
December 15, 2010
The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education moved forward Tuesday on two initiatives that generated controversy: a policy to attract corporate sponsors and an earlier start to the school year. “I’m uncomfortable with this,” said board member Steve Zimmer, who said he cast h is vote supporting sponsorships in the wake of state budget cuts […]
December 14, 2010
Parents say Kansas unconstitutionally prohibits them from taxing themselves to provide their children with better education. Kansas’ Local Option Budget Cap limits the amount "by which citizens within a local school district may voluntarily supplement the education funds provided by the state. … The LOB Cap strips plaintiffs and local citizens of their fundamental freedom […]
December 14, 2010
The lowest-performing public K-8 schools often linger in that state for years, neither improving enough to get off accountability life support nor being shuttered completely, and persistently failing charter schools fare no better than regular public schools, a new study finds. Of 2,025 chronically low-performing elementary and middle schools identified in 10 states in 2003-04, […]
December 14, 2010
In most schools across the country, tenure is not something to be gained, but something to be lost. Virtually every new teacher earns it, including in New York City, where all a principal has had to do to give a teacher guaranteed lifetime employment is to check a box on a computer program. No longer. […]
December 14, 2010
Did any school district in the country have a tougher week than the one in Atlanta? First, criminal investigators began digging anew into accusations of widespread cheating on state standardized tests that had been plaguing the district for two years. The allegations, which center on dozens of employees who are suspected of changing test answers […]
December 14, 2010
As Gov.-elect Jerry Brown prepares to take office, major headwinds are buffeting the biggest component of his upcoming budget: California’s schools. They are being confronted by a lack of funding that threatens to further harm pupils and a controversial reform movement that could dramatically reshape how classrooms are run. Most immediate and pressing is the […]
December 14, 2010
Thousands more children would get into school-based meal programs, and those lunches and dinners would become more nutritious under a bill President Barack Obama signed into law today, part of an administration-wide effort to combat childhood obesity. “At a very basic level, this act is about doing what’s right for our children,” Obama said before […]