Access News from April 26- April 30, 2010
Daily news stories about education funding
litigation, education funding policy, cost studies,
advocacy and No Child Left Behind.
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April
30, 2010
Education Finance – General
CO---Schools will get $365 million, or 6.4 percent,
less than they normally would have because lawmakers
changed the way they interpreted Amendment 23, the voter-approved
law that requires that certain parts of education funding
increase each year. The cut has some school districts
planning for layoffs.
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more…
IL---Already
struggling school districts now are being asked to foot
the financial responsibilities for their special education
students.
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more…
NJ---New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vowed to press ahead
with additional pension and health benefits changes
for public workers despite two lawsuits challenging
reforms he recently signed into law.
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more…
NY---School-tax
levies are expected to increase on average by 3.2 percent
statewide in the 2010-11 school year, higher than the
current fiscal year, state education data show.
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more…
Federal
Stimulus Issues
WA---Gov. Chris Gregoire and state Superintendent Randy
Dorn hope school districts and teachers and principals
unions statewide sign on to the state’s application
to the second round of federal Race to the Top funding.
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more…
Other
News
The U.S. Department of Education today launched the
Promise Neighborhood program, the first federal initiative
to put education at the center of comprehensive efforts
to fight poverty in urban and rural areas.
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more…
April 29, 2010
Education Finance – General
AK---Alaska's under-funded pension plans for public
employees and teachers fell another $2 billion in the
last year, according to the latest estimates made available
to the Alaska Retirement Management Board.
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more…
NJ---New Jersey's largest teachers' union filed suit
today against a new state law requiring all public employees
to contribute at least 1.5 percent of their salaries
toward health benefits.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
With the second-round deadline for federal Race to the
Top Fund grants less than six weeks away, states are
rushing to raise the stakes on their education reform
plans as they fight over the remaining $3.4 billion
in prize money.
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more...
AZ---Despite an embarrassing review of its first application,
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will announce today that the
state again will compete for a piece of the $4 billion
Race to the Top federal grant. It is the largest competitive
education grant ever offered and the state's cut could
be as much as $250 million.
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more…
Other News
RI---A teachers' union sued on Wednesday to block the
firings of all teachers and staff at a low-performing
Rhode Island high school.
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more…
April 28, 2010
School Funding/Litigation
NC---Superintendent Don Martin will appear before a
state judge in Raleigh next Tuesday to talk about what
the school system is doing to improve achievement at
low-performing elementary and middle schools.
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more…
Education Finance – General
Sen. Harkin, who is also chairman of the subcommittee
overseeing education spending, said in an interview
that the $210 million proposed by the administration
for the Promise Neighborhoods initiative is not going
to be enough to help schools address students’
health and social needs. He declined to pinpoint what
he thinks is a sufficient figure.
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more…
MI---A plan to get thousands of Michigan teachers to
retire early is headed for a final compromise that must
resolve how much the state would pay to sweeten pensions
to lure school employees with at least 30 years of service
to retire.
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more…
WY---Developing a fair formula for funding schools across
Wyoming is always a complex and politically sensitive
issue, and this year is no exception, as how small schools
are funded has been a recent concern in Park County
and elsewhere. The topic came up again as the Legislature
began its five-year review of the state’s school
funding model, a process known as recalibration.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
CA---California has a new strategy to win a high-profile
federal grant for school reform: Three large districts,
including Los Angeles Unified, will apply for those
competitive dollars.
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more…
April 27, 2010
Education Finance – General
The steep, recession-driven slide in state revenues—a
crucial piece of the education funding infrastructure—is
showing signs of easing slightly, though fiscal experts
warn it will still be several years before most state
budgets return to their prerecession health.
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more…
IL---Strapped for cash and taking their lumps on tax-increase
measures, school districts in Chicagoland are increasingly
skirting requirements for voter approval of building
projects by issuing bonds that don't require a referendum
and then shifting that money from fund to fund.
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more…
TN---Changing the way Tennessee's pre-kindergarten program
is funded is among the budget cutting options being
considered by the GOP, House Republican Caucus Chairman
Glen Casada said Monday.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
IA and NE---In order for states to receive their last
installment of education stimulus money, the Obama administration
is requiring them to make lists of public schools that
fit a new definition of "persistently low-achieving
schools." Schools on the list qualify for millions
of dollars in federal grants. But before they can receive
the money, the schools must remove the principal and
make a plan to improve or initiate other procedures.
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more…
VT---The state will not apply for an estimated $40 million
in grants because the competitive federal education
program is not a good fit for Vermont, Education Commissioner
Armando Vilaseca said Monday.
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more…
Other News
NC---Leaders of charter schools enrolling mostly black
students say they have filed a federal discrimination
complaint against the state, claiming a new policy targets
such schools for closure.
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more…
April
26, 2010
School Funding/Litigation
TX---Things are looking so bad that a few school districts
are talking about filing a lawsuit against the state,
charging that the system violates the state constitution
because it does not provide adequate or equal funding.
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more…
Education Finance – General
HI---Hawaii lawmakers voted late Friday night to set
aside enough money to reopen schools on all of next
year's scheduled furlough days, ending the nation's
shortest school year if the governor agrees.
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more…
NJ---The New Jersey taxpayer revolt that led to the
defeat of almost 59 percent of the school district budgets
before voters attracted nationwide attention last week.
In most states, including Pennsylvania, school budgets
are not put to a popular vote. But the fiscal tsunami
that has swamped New Jersey - state-aid cuts, a bad
economy, the end of federal stimulus aid - has rocked
districts, threatening greater education cutbacks and
job losses than most have ever seen.
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more…
Federal Stimulus Issues
Tennessee and Delaware, the first two states to win
education funding through President Obama's $4 billion
Race To the Top competition, were chosen through “arbitrary
criteria” rather than through a scientific process,
according to a new report by a non-partisan research
institute.
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more…
The Obama administration's signature education initiative
has incited tense showdowns in states across the country
as unions and state officials feud over strategies to
compete for $3.4 billion in federal funding.
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more…
CA---After coming in 27th out of 40 states the first
time, California would have an uphill climb to win up
to $700 million in the next round for federal Race to
the Top education funds - an effort state officials
could decide this week is a losing battle.
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more…
UT---Federal stimulus dollars were supposed to be spent
quickly to help jump start the economy, but some Utah
school districts are hoarding large chunks of the money.
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more…
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