In the News the week of February 16, 2009
Today's education headlines from around the country.
AZ---Arizona schools are struggling with a critical shortage of high-quality math and science teachers and educators say the deficit couldn't come at a worse time.
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ND---The North Dakota House has approved an education standards bill that requires tutors for grade school students and allows struggling high school students to chart a new course toward graduation.
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Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the economic stimulus plan will help avert thousands of teacher layoffs, and he released the first estimates of where the money will go.
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Opinion: This new era of government bailouts and widespread concern over wasteful spending offers an opportunity to take a hard look at the National School Lunch Program. Launched in 1946 as a public safety net, it has turned out to be a poor investment. It should be redesigned to make our children healthier.
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February 19, 2009
ID---A bill seeking to encourage Idaho public schools to let students test out of courses if they can and graduate from high school by age 16 has cleared the House Education Committee.
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MD---Parents and advocates urged legislators Monday to pass a bill that would require the Maryland State Board of Education to create a plan for extending publicly-funded prekindergarten to all families.
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MS---Four Mississippi school districts might have to be taken over by the state because of severe budget problems, state Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds said Tuesday.
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TN---Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today launched a grassroots initiative aimed at reforming K-12 education in Tennessee, saying he hopes to ensure that “every child graduates from high school prepared for college or a career.”
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Some schools deemed to be failing in one state would get passing grades in another under the No Child Left Behind law, a national study found.
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February 18, 2009
MA---With the economy in decline, several school districts are rethinking their plans for full-day kindergarten because of the high fees involved, threatening the state's recent inroads in making a full day of school available to all 5-year-olds.
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NM House Education Committee unanimously approved a measure Monday for a new school funding formula that supporters say will help improve the educational programs offered to New Mexico's students.
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The $100 billion in emergency aid for public schools and colleges in the economic stimulus bill could transform Arne Duncan into an exceptional figure in the history of federal education policy: a secretary of education loaded with money and the power to spend large chunks of it as he sees fit.
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The economic recovery bill passed last week will spend at least $100 billion on education. Here is how the money will be spent…
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President Barack Obama wants to do more than save teachers' jobs or renovate classrooms with his economic recovery bill. He wants to transform the federal government's role in education.
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February 16, 2009
AZ schools chief has recommended that the Legislature slash more than $30 million in funding to teach English to students who are not fluent, a move that critics warned would further cripple schools that have been forced to shrink their budgets.
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MI---The Mississippi Senate has narrowly rejected a proposal to tap the state's rainy day fund to restore millions of dollars cut from public education.
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SD---A South Dakota Senate committee has approved a measure that says annual increases in state aid to school districts should be tied more closely to the overall health of the state budget.
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After days of bitter negotiations and intense lobbying, Congress is expected to send President Obama a $790 billion economic package in the coming days that has more state aid than most conservatives would like, but less than what some governors were banking on.
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If Congress delivers the massive $800 billion stimulus package that President Obama is seeking, states will be under a lot more scrutiny than the Wall Street firms that used $18 billion of their federal bailout money for employee bonuses.
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Opinion: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has enormous potential to improve the quality of our nation’s public schools. This legislation represents a historic investment in children’s futures that could eventually change the very future of this nation. This is an opportunity that cannot be squandered.
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Published Monday, Feb. 23, 2009