January 15, 2010
The loss of local control over educational services was one reason Leechburg Area School District officials decided not to apply for federal school reform grants, said Superintendent Jim Budzilek. "This reform model almost seemed to be too much of a state and federal mandate," he said. Leechburg is one of five districts in the county […]
January 15, 2010
The amount of red ink that Pleasanton is facing for next year’s school budget more than doubled in two days, to $6.9 million, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his budget me ssage Jan. 8. The school administration early last week sent the board a list of recommended cuts based on an estimate then of […]
January 15, 2010
As the deadline nears for Pennsylvania to bid for a $400 million piece of a f ederal competitive education grant, school boards — all wanting a piece of the pie — faced their own deadline Wednesday. School boards had to sign agreements with the state, promising to fulfill a number of reforms that some critics […]
January 14, 2010
Hazleton Area will compete for federal Race to the Top funds that would commit the school district to sweeping curriculum and personnel reform while requiring schools to improve state test scores through 2014. Superintendent Sam Marolo, school board President Paulette Platukis and Hazleton Area Education Association President Patricia Cannon held a press conference Wednesday morning […]
January 14, 2010
The Bethlehem Area School District’s teachers union broke ranks with Easton and Phillipsburg to support its district’s application to compete for millions in federal education grant money. The Bethlehem Area School District could see anywhere from $3 million to $8 million if Pennsylvania is selected as a recipient for the maximum amount of Race to […]
January 14, 2010
Texas won’t compete for up to $700 million in federal stimulus money for education because the program ”smacks of a federal takeover of our public schools,” Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday. The funding is from the U.S. Department of Education’s ”Race to the Top” program, a $5 billion competitive fund that will award grants […]
January 14, 2010
States and school districts across the nation are working feverishly to position themselves to be winners of the federal Department of Education’s country-wide competition for funding. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has proudly crafted and mark eted his “Race To The Top” (RTTT) contest as the best strategy for urging states to turn disasters into […]
January 14, 2010
At a Parent Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday night at Ridgeview Elementary School, a teacher asked some of the parents in attendance if she could use some money rasied by the school to buy her class whiteboards to work on math problems at their desks. For Heidi Meats, mother of two Ridgeview students, the decision was […]
January 14, 2010
The Manchester School Board approved the Manchester School District’s $10,758,370 budget — resulting in a 6.2 percent decrease from last year’s $11,367,202 budget and .4 percent decrease to the elementary budget. Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union Superintendent Daniel French said he was pleased with the budget. "I feel really good about the elementary budget being a decrease," […]
January 14, 2010
Gov. Jim Gibbons last week proposed a program to eliminate collective bargaining by local government workers and school district employees, abolish the public’s right to elect the state board of education in favor of a politically appointed board, increase the number of children in classrooms, provide public funding for private school tuition, and make the […]