November 8, 2010
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the ballot measure that would mandate the state increase its education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. But advocates and opponents of State Question 744 both agree the education funding debate is far from finished. The legislature and school officials will now be tasked to consider reforms and calls for funding […]
November 8, 2010
Northeast Ohio voters sent a clear message Tuesday when they gave a resounding thumbs-down to additional taxes for public schools. That’s likely to be followed with a message about subtraction, as Gov.-elect John Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature figure out what to cut to plug a hole of as much as $8 billion in the […]
November 8, 2010
The Houston Independent School District is holding ten public meetings during two days in November to gather feedback from parents and community members regarding the effectiveness of the district’s special education program. During the meetings, the public’s input will be gathered on a series of questions which have been developed by the TEA to gather […]
November 8, 2010
Teachers unions have a well-deserved reputation for exercising political clout. With a nearly unparalleled ability to raise cash and organize their ranks, they have elected school boards, influenced legislation and helped set the public school agenda in major American cities for decades. Now, that clout is in question. A nationwide school reform movement with bipartisan […]
November 8, 2010
Nearly 1,000 full-time teaching positions were added at Iowa’s public schools during a five-year period when improving students’ academic skills was heavily emphasized. Yet students’ academic achievement saw little growth during that time, according to data from state reading and ma th tests and national exams such as the ACT. In addition, enrollment in Iowa’s […]
November 8, 2010
Kansas Court of Appeals Chief Judge Gary Rulon Thursday named three judges, from widely separate parts of the state, to hear a lawsuit that claims state budget cuts for school funding violate state school childrens’ constitutional rights. The three include Shawnee County District Judge Franklin R. Theis, of Topeka, who also was appointed the panel’s […]
November 8, 2010
Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian student s are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance, explaining that some children have “two moms” or will grow up to love members of the same sex. But such efforts to teach acceptance of homosexuality, which […]
November 5, 2010
Attorneys representing a coalition of students, parents, and school districts filed a lawsuit Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010, alleging that the State of Kansas has failed in its constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund public education in Kansas. The lawsuit states that, for the 2010-11 school year, the under-appropriation totals $415,130,648; and that the inequitable […]
November 5, 2010
Houston’s public school system is bracing for massive budget cuts from the state’s looming multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall and the cut off of millions of dollars in federal stimulus cash, the school district’s top financial officer said Thursday. “The cuts could range from $70 million to $163 million” over two years, said Melinda Garrett, the Houston […]
November 5, 2010
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a campaign to help school officials channel the flood of student data generated in federal accountability reporting and state longitudinal databases without leaking students’ or teachers’ private information. “With the emphasis on [the No Child Left Behind Act], we’ve seen a real expansion of the information on students […]