April 7, 2010
A bill to withhold state funding from school districts with fund balances exceeding 15 percent of their operating budget would penalize those districts that are "hoarding" state funding, said its sponsor, state Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills. Livingston County districts would be spared because none have fund balances of that size. But one local superintendent […]
April 7, 2010
Mississippi’s Medicaid program still hasn’t received federal permission to cut payments to doctors, dentists and other providers for the final three months of the budget year, the program’s spokesman said Monday. The chairman of the state Senate Public Health Committee, meanwhile, said the planned cuts for April, May and June are counterproductive. "It just further […]
April 7, 2010
Editor’s note: School districts throughout the area are coping with shortfalls in tax dollars. The Journal focused on five districts to give readers a sense of the effect of declining revenues and the district’s proposed remedies. Faced with the troubled economy, the Ferguson-Florissant School District has cut some planned work on its physical facilities, encouraged […]
April 7, 2010
Madison County schools will have 40 fewer teaching positions next year, and all district personnel – including teachers, administrators, clerical workers and the central office staff – will be furloughed for three days. The reduction in positions, part of a cost-saving package, could lead to a higher student-teacher ratio for some schools.& #x0D; The downsizing […]
April 7, 2010
The feds will say economic recovery is underway, but try and tell that to teachers in Fort Bend ISD who are getting pink slips. The district is $20 million in the hole and it’s eliminating 470 positions. About 100 of those are teachers whose number-one job is to help special needs students. The move shocked […]
April 7, 2010
Florida’s Medicaid system would be drastically revamped with nearly all patients getting managed care provided by private companies under legislation proposed Tuesday in the Florida House. The two proposed committee bills are aimed at reducing the soaring cost of the state-federal health care program for low-income and disabled patients. Legislative staffers are forecasting savings of […]
April 7, 2010
Residents of North Brunswick could face a $201 annual increase in school taxes on a home assessed at the township average of $157,000 if voters approve the budget April 20. The Board of Education adopted the $71.77 million local tax levy at a special meeting March 31. “New Jersey is a wonderful state … but […]
April 7, 2010
Serious problems with some school districts’ special-education programs have gone unnoticed because of weak state oversight, a new federal audit says. The U.S. Department of Education visited in October to test how well the state Department of Education keeps tabs on schools’ special-needs practices. Federal reviewers found that some of the school districts they spot-checked […]
April 5, 2010
Public schools in Montclair, N.J., would lay off as many as 70 teachers, including reading and math specialists, and would no longer offer French and Spanish classes in elementary grades. Westfield would not be able to buy library books or replace aging computers, and a popular middle school tradition — the fall play — could […]
April 5, 2010
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s education spending plan for 2011 would increase per-student funding for citywide programs but freeze a key stream of money that goes directly to schools, sharply squeezing their programs, according to documents submitted to the D.C. Council. When he unveiled his budget Thursday, Fenty (D) highlighted a proposed $175 per-student increase in […]