October 17, 2009
While school districts’ budgets are difficult to understand, they usually have interrelated parts that add to the confusion. One area is special education. San Diego: John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified School District. John de Beck is a board of education member for the San Diego Unified […]
October 13, 2009
A report released yesterda y by the Kansas Legislative Division of the Post Audit investigated why so-called "catastrophic" funding for special-ed students in the state’s K-12 schools doubled between 2008 and 2009. The auditors recommended that the formula for determining catastrophic aid be adjusted to give schools more flexibility in allocating financial resources. The Kansas […]
October 12, 2009
With federal dollars flying at education at the speed of a national emergency, the Obama administration would like to know the money is fueling ideas that work. Answers to that billion-dollar question soon may come from Kansas City. Five universities from Kansas and Missouri are teaming up with at least 32 area school districts, plus […]
October 10, 2009
With more than 50 percent of its population on free and reduced lunch, Montrose County School District has been asking, "How many of these families don’t have family doctors or health insurance?" Now, a recent federal grant will help them find out, enabling them to keep their students healthy while reducing emergency health care costs. […]
October 1, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Web sites we visit, the online links we click, the search queries we conduct, the products we put in virtual shopping carts, the personal details we reveal on social networking pages — all of this can give companies insight into what Internet ads we might be interested in seeing. But privacy watchdogs […]
October 1, 2009
For two years, Sandra Bollacker told schoo l officials something was wrong with her son. Unlike his peers, he struggled to write and could barely hold a pencil. It was only after an outside physician diagnosed Eric Bollacker with autism that Chicago Public Schools acknowledged his disorder in a special education plan. But the boy’s […]
October 1, 2009
WASHINGTON — The USA’s largest teachers union will encourage local chapters to ignore contract provisions that in the past have kept school districts’ best teachers out of schools that serve mostly poor and minority students. Testifying Tuesday before the House education committee, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said the union, which represents about […]
October 1, 2009
The Cleveland schools may have to hire dozens, even hundreds, of additional special-education teachers – if an arbitrator’s decision is followed to the letter. By union contract, "inclusion" classrooms, which mix children with disabilities and other students, must have both a regular teacher and special-education teacher present full time, arbitrator Donald Pearson ruled last month. […]
September 30, 2009
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $40 million in grants to 69 grantees in 41 states and the District of Columbia to help them find and enroll children who are uninsured but eligible for either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). “Today’s awards will help fulfill President Obama’s pledge to assure the health […]
September 29, 2009
The father of four gifted children, Brad Rine of Metairie has no doubt that the specialized education they have received in Jefferson Parish public schools is, in fact, &a mp;quot;special education." One day last week, all his son, Bennett, a third-grader, could talk about was what went on that day in the daily resource […]