March 12, 2010
NEW ALBANY — Hundreds of people sat on the edge of their seats Thursday night anxiously awaiting the few little words that meant so much. No. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. With only Lee Ann Wiseheart and Rebecca Gardenour voting against, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. board voted in favor of all […]
March 12, 2010
The Kokomo School Board Wednesday unanimously approved moving forward with implementing elementary and middle school reorganization for the 2010 to 2011 school year. Superintendent Chris Himsel said the move is necessary as the corporation deals with $3.7 million in funding cuts, because of reduction in state funding and decreased enrollment. He said Kokomo-Center has lost […]
March 12, 2010
The Dallastown Area School District plans to reclaim many of its special-education students who had been taught in intermediate unit programs. That could be a long-term cost savings for the district, but more importantly, it will let Dallastown have more oversight of its students, said Susan Brousseau, the director of special education. About 13 percent, […]
March 12, 2010
With the clock ticking toward the midnight Thursday end of this session, lawmakers still have at least one major education funding issue to resolve: charter schools. Legislative leaders and the governor agree on the vast majority of the education budget the Senate passed late Wednesday, but at least one major provision will be new to […]
March 12, 2010
Charter schools didn’t get the money makeover they hoped for this legislative session, but they managed to secure a bump in funding and a seat on the State School Board, among other things. Lawmakers argued over a last-minute move to force charter funding onto school districts. In the end, the two houses agreed to study […]
March 11, 2010
Despite the loss of the Democrats’ supermajority necessary to passcomprehensive national healthcare reform, new federal legislation isneeded to promote greater efficiency in the medical delivery system. Comprehensive reform of Medicare’s provider-payment system would accelerate delivery system change but would be highly disruptive for many hospitals and physicians. However, congressional proposals that provide new authority for […]
March 11, 2010
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget address Wednesday made the state’s financial picture look every bit as bad as we thought it was. He said the state’s budget situation is a “crisis of epic proportion.” His proposed solutions, however, do not inspire confidence. He calls for $2 billion in cuts, mostly from education. He calls for […]
March 11, 2010
The budget bill the House passed Wednesday would pay to replace eight school buildings that are among the state’s most dilapidated, and all are in the districts of Democrats who voted for a crucial revenue measure last week. But seven such schools — in the districts of Republicans who voted against the revenue bill — […]
March 11, 2010
The state governor’s budget plan — dubbed “Fighting for Illinois” — is leaving education officials feeling defeated. Gov. Pat Quinn stepped before the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday and delivered the plan, which calls for the heaviest cuts to come out of the state’s funding for education. According to numbers offered during the noontime speech, […]
March 11, 2010
Southland Public Schools in Minnesota are looking to cut back on school days to save some money. Teachers are doing the research and discussing with parents, the benefits of a four-day week. Superintendent Steve Sallee says they are still looking into the proposal. "The school board was impressed with the presentation and gave us the […]