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 […]
January 14, 2010
The Springfield School District introduced a $46.2 million preliminary general fund budget for 2010-2011 in a presentation Tuesday. The budget includes a 6.82 percent increase in the local property tax, far above the cap allowed under Act 1, although district Business Administrator Victor Orlando said it was only a preliminary figure and would likely come […]
January 14, 2010
Fairfax County leaders are threatening to sue Virginia if the state follows a budget stopgap plan from outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine that they say would further cripple school budgets. At their first meeting of the year Tuesday, county supervisors pledged to push Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell to kill the provision that would freeze a school funding […]
January 14, 2010
Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently said he won’t make additional cuts to education, school officials in Butte County learned Tuesday night that the pressure felt locally is far from over. The governor’s recent budget proposals were the topic of a presentation to county and local district officials by Kevin Bultema, Butte County Office of Education […]
January 14, 2010
The financial outlook for Colorado schools continues to worsen, St. Vrain Valley School District officials said Wednesday night. “The game’s changing every day,” St. Vrain chief financial officer Terry Schueler told the Board of Education. When the state allocated school funding for this fiscal year, it directed districts to reserve 1.9 percent, which the state […]
January 14, 2010
In a move that could save the district $360,000, school administration has proposed cutting a contained gifted program in fifth and sixth grade and replacing it with advanced classes open to other students. Six teacher positions in the intermediate school would also be cut as part of the move. The change, outlined in the district’s […]
January 14, 2010
Estherville Lincoln Central Superintendent Dick Magnuson Wednesday heartily endorsed Gov. Chet Culver’s proposal in his Condition of the State address Tuesday that the state fully fund a 2 percent increase in allowable growth for local school districts. In addition, Culver is proposing restoring $100 million in state funding cut earlier this fiscal year. "Oh that […]