January 24, 2011
In a case that pits the constitutional rights of students against the job protections of teachers, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge approved a groundbreaking settlement Friday that limits the effect of layoffs on the district’s most vulnerable students. Up to 45 Los Angeles Unified School District campuses will be shielded from teacher layoffs […]
January 24, 2011
Conversations are quietly under way around the Capitol about creating a new panel to look at school funding. House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman said Thursday that the goal will probably be to draft some ultimate recommendations next year. The current formula is more complex than simply granting each district a set amount for each […]
January 24, 2011
U.S. governors and legislatures facing deficits of more than $140 billion are slashing local school budgets, cuts that may mean jammed classrooms, fewer teachers and libraries without librarians. The Texas Legislature is considering a 13 percent reduction in education funding and South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard recommended taking 10 percent out of per-pupil spending. Cuts […]
January 24, 2011
Parents of special education students in Stamford schools are threatening to file a civil rights complaint against the district if Superintendent Joshua Starr’s proposed cuts to the programs are passed. "I am promising that I am going to file a formal complaint with the office of civil rights, because (Starr) is asking for all the […]
January 24, 2011
As Francine Wade watched a school security guard being lifted into an ambulance last year, after trying to break up yet another student brawl at P.S. 41, she vowed her daughter would never, ever go there. “I’m determined to find somewhere else,” Wade said recently, while waiting for her daughter’s number to be called in […]
January 24, 2011
Kelly Oswald regularly helps the diabetic students at her school draw blood and determine whether their glucose levels are within normal range or whether further steps must be taken to stabilize them. And in the course of her school week, she knows she may be called on to administer medication to a child having a […]
January 24, 2011
A band of watchful adults descended on Rachel Hansen’s seventh-grade math class in South St. Paul this month. Butch Moening, the secondary principal, scanned students’ faces for the glow of understanding. He peered at homework over their shoulders. He joined forces with one boy to solve an equation. Meanwhile, two teachers turned full-time evaluators typed […]
January 24, 2011
President Barack Obama, who has adopted such traditionally Republican principles as charter schools and teacher merit pay, will meet resistance in a divided Congress over spending and the reach of government in the classroom. He will showcase his argument for an education overhaul in his State of the Union address tomorrow, Education Secretary Arne Duncan […]
January 21, 2011
When Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire announced recently that she wants to take control of education policy in her state by creating a new, Cabinet-level schools position that answers to her, she set the stage for a political fight—and revived a perennial debate. Governors, elected state schools chiefs—and, to some extent, state boards of education—have […]
January 21, 2011
Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration announced today that Missouri will receive up to $680,000 in federal funds to test new ways to provide nutrition assistance and access to healthy foods to vulnerable children next summer. The Missouri pilot project will use Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to give low–income families with school–age children more food resources. […]