Access News from November 2- November 6,
2009
Daily news stories about education funding
litigation, education funding policy, cost studies,
advocacy and No Child Left Behind.
(Some links go to pages that require free subscriptions)
November
6, 2009
School Funding/Litigation
MD---Top Montgomery County officials threatened Thursday
to sue the state and "aggressively pursue"
legislation that would change state law after Maryland's
attorney general found that the county had failed to
meet the state's minimum level of funding for education.
The opinion renders it potentially liable for millions
of dollars in penalties.
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more…
Education Finance – General
CO---Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to propose cutting
state funding to public schools by as much as 6 percent
in the 2010-11 budget he rolls out today.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
Even as the Obama administration tries to make good
on promises of unprecedented transparency and accountability
in economic-stimulus funding, the first reports from
states and school districts show the difficulty of figuring
out—in detail—how the money for education
has been spent.
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more…
MI---Gov. Jennifer Granholm said she'll support a measure
passed by the House today that would use remaining stimulus
money to avoid deep cuts to school districts. But she
said it's only a temporary solution.
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more…
WI---The state Assembly early in the morning Friday
passed a bill that removes a ban on using student test
results to evaluate teachers in order to be eligible
for nearly $4.5 billion in federal stimulus money.
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more…
November 5, 2009
Education Finance – General
OH---On Tuesday, Ohio voters faced the fewest school
levies in a general election since 2001, but the response
from taxpayers was pretty much the same as in recent
years. Statewide, voters approved 59 percent of 175
tax requests for school operations and construction,
virtually identical to the 58 percent approval rate
in November elections during the past decade, the Ohio
Department of Education said.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
Mr. Obama’s $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds
have already spurred significant education reform in
a number of states – even though the final guidelines
for the program haven’t yet been announced, no
states have yet applied, and the first grants won’t
be made until at least April.
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more…
CA---Senate Bill X5 1, approved by the Senate Tuesday,
would make the state more likely to get a piece of the
$4.35 billion in Race to the Top federal stimulus funds
offered to the nation's schools.
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more…
IL---Gov. Patrick Quinn on Wednesday dispatched officials
from a new accountability office to investigate errors
in a state database detailing stimulus-funded school
jobs promoted by the Obama administration, a day after
the Tribune raised questions about the job numbers'
accuracy.
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more…
MN---Sixty-three percent of the 11,852 jobs created
or saved in Minnesota by federal stimulus money are
in education, mostly in K-12, which tallies a total
of 7,380 jobs. That's significantly more than in other
states, where about half of the stimulus jobs are education-related.
Still, Minnesota recipients of the federal money can't
shake off a scary truth: Now they have it. All too soon
they won't.
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more…
State Roundup
ME, NJ, NY, OH and WA---The results from yesterday’s
state and local elections around the country offer some
potentially significant implications for K-12 education,
as voters sent two big-city mayors with authority over
their school systems back for another term and replaced
Democrats with Republicans in two governors’ mansions.
They also rejected ballot measures in Maine and, apparently,
Washington state that some education advocates feared
could harm school coffers.
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more…
TX---For the $300 million spent on merit pay for teachers
over the last three years, Texas was hoping for a big
boost in student achievement.
But it didn't happen with the now-defunct program, according
to experts hired by the state.
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more…
November 4, 2009
School Funding/Litigation
KS---The Newton school board voted 6-1 Monday night
in favor of a resolution that supports legal action
against the state to increase funding for schools.
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more…
Education Finance – General
IA---Gov. Chet Culver and legislative budget architects
will face a $543 million gap in funding for K-12 public
schools when they begin assembling a fiscal 2011 spending
plan next session.
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more…
NY---Local schools could be facing midyear cuts in state
funding, if the green light is given to Gov. David Paterson’s
plan to cut $5 billion from the state budget.
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more…
WY---A legislative committee voted Tuesday for no increase
in the cost-of-living adjustment for the state's K-12
public schools for next year.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
IL---More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid
so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago,
and state and federal officials say that money has saved
the jobs of 473 teachers. Problem is, the district employs
only 290 teachers.
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more…
State Roundup
ME---Mainers have voted against scuttling the state's
school district consolidation law.
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more…
PA---Enrolling in prekindergarten programs can sharply
reduce the special education enrollment rate among at-risk
students, a new report finds.
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more…
November 3, 2009
Education Finance – General
NM---New Mexico has to fill in a financial hole that's
at least $450 million deep — and the education
system is going to do some of the shoveling.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
OH---The Obama administration announced Friday that
federal stimulus money had created or saved about 7,200
education jobs in Ohio as of Sept. 30. Although a couple
of hundred of those jobs were in Columbus City Schools,
the district acknowledged yesterday that many of the
"saved" jobs definitely wouldn't have been
lost in the first place, and others might not have been
lost at all.
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more…
PA---The U.S. Department of Education today announced
it has approved $1.4 billion in economic stimulus money
for education in Pennsylvania.
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more…
November
2, 2009
Education Finance – General
ID---Idaho's weakened economy is likely to produce a
record second year in a row of reduced state revenues,
said Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget director.
That could mean another round of spending cuts for schools.
Many district leaders believe the 2010-2011 state budget
could lead to fewer jobs or more furloughs for teachers
and staff. That's because payroll costs typically make
up about 85 percent of a district's budget. Many districts
were able to avoid furloughs and pay cuts this year,
but some left positions vacant.
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more…
NE---When lawmakers meet this week to talk budget cuts,
education will undoubtedly be part of the discussion.
State aid comprises about 70 percent of the $1.2 billion
aid to local governments - the single biggest pot of
money in the state budget. But for school districts,
the prospect of cutting from this year's budget is daunting.
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more…
PA---Think your school taxes were high this year? Start
saving for 2012-13. That's when Pennsylvania property
owners will pay a lot more money to cover the generous
pension bump state lawmakers awarded themselves, school
employees and state workers in 2001.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
The Obama White House on Friday said the $787 billion
economic stimulus plan approved early this year had
saved or created 640,329 jobs so far.
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more…
HI---Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education have
criticized several states — including Hawaii —
for using stimulus money to close budget gaps while
reducing state spending on education.
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more…
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