Education Program
This Week in Education
April 24- April 31, 2008
Highlighted Bills of the Week
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Hawaii (SB 2878)
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Creates the Early Learning Council to govern the state's early learning system; establishes an early learning system; establishes the Keiki First Steps Program. Senate Bill 2878 provides $250,000 to establish the council on early learning. The council is intended to be the governing body of Hawaii's public-private early education system. |
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Arizona (SB 1334)
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Signed by governor- Concerns the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. SB 1334 facilitates removal of barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families due to frequent moves and deployment of their parents through timely enrollment, placement process, qualification and eligibility for enrollment, educational programs and participation in extracurricular activities, on time graduation, uniform collection and sharing of information. |
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This Week in Education
April 24- April 31, 2008
Legislative Education Staff Network 2008 Award Invitation
We all know one -- a legislative education staffer who exhibits a high degree of professionalism, competence and integrity in service to the legislature and the public, is an expert in education policy and contributes to the work of the Legislative Education Staff Network (LESN). Such a person deserves our admiration and recognition for their efforts, and with that goal in mind, it is our pleasure to announce that LESN is accepting nominations of legislative education staff for the 2008 LESN Recognition Award!
Click here for more information! |
K-12
'Nation at Risk': Best thing or worst thing for schools? Debate still flies 25 years after education report
On April 26, 1983, in a White House ceremony, Ronald Reagan took possession of "A Nation at Risk." The product of nearly two years' work by a blue-ribbon commission, it found poor academic performance at nearly every level and warned that the education system was "being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity." It kick-started decades of tough talk about public schools and reforms that culminated in 2002's No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration law that pushes schools to improve students' basic skills or face ever-tougher sanctions.
N.Va. Hit With Cost Of School Migration: Pr. William Policies Drive Immigrants To Inner Suburbs
Hundreds of foreign-born families have pulled their children from Prince William County public schools and enrolled them in nearby Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria since the start of the school year, imposing a new financial burden on those inner suburbs in a time of lean budgets. The school-to-school migration within Northern Virginia started just as Prince William began implementing rules to deny some services to illegal immigrants and require police to check the immigration status of crime suspects thought to be in the country illegally.
Schools alone cannot educate America's young people, according to a federal bill discussed Monday by Rep. Dave Loebsack.
The idea of the proposed law is that students are far more likely to get good grades and succeed in life when they are safe, healthy, in contact with caring adults and given opportunities to help others. The Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education Act — a bill sponsored by Loebsack that's in committee and is meant to amend No Child Left Behind — would encourage schools to work with community organizations to better educate students inside and outside the classroom.
K-12 Governance
State Education Board restores local control to two school districts
The state Board of Education voted Monday to restore local control to two public school districts that had been taken over by the state because of financial problems. The board voted unanimously to remove the Helena-West Helena and Midland school districts from fiscal distress status and return them to local control starting July 1. The state took over the Helena-West Helena School District in September 2005 and the Midland School District in Independence County in January 2006.
School Choice
Proposed home-school legislation ignites local opposition
HB 5912, introduced on March 19 by 34th District State Rep. Brenda Clack and co-sponsored by 24 Michigan House Democrats, would require parents to report the names, addresses, and ages of all home-schooled children to their local school district or intermediate school district at the beginning of each school year.
Charter schools grow stronger in Pa.
More than a decade after charter schools became legal in Pennsylvania, it is safe to say the schools, once considered experimental and still sometimes controversial, are here to stay.
Post Secondary Education
Maintain State Spending. Or Else
They and other state policy makers are pushing back hard against a provision in the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of legislation to renew the Higher Education Act that would require states to maintain their fiscal support for higher education or otherwise risk losing a slice of federal funding. The so-called “maintenance of effort” provision requires that states finance higher education at or above average funding levels over the preceding five years.
School Finance
State Budget Update: April 2008
With a few exceptions, state finances are deteriorating, in some cases considerably. This development has presented many state lawmakers with a twofold problem: keeping their fiscal year (FY) 2008 budgets in the black and enacting balanced budgets for FY 2009.
Classroom Spending Tied to Achievement: North Carolina High School Resource Allocation Study: Final Report
While overall spending in high schools has little effect on student achievement, larger expenditures on regular classroom instruction do lead to better performance, with higher teacher compensation showing the single largest effect, a study finds.
23 states face budget gaps in '09
Like a college student fishing for stray quarters in the sofa cushions, states are tightening their belts, dipping into their rainy day funds and hoping revenues will pick up. But many states are bracing against a faltering economy they expect to get worse.
Budget Bombshell: Governor boosts deficit forecast to $20 billion as he bids to change state's spending system
In a startling revelation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said this week that the state's budget deficit could grow to as much as $20 billion as he prepared to unveil a revised spending plan for the coming year that is likely to include deep cuts in education, health services and prisons.
Money spent on students parsed
School districts with lower-scoring students are more likely to spend more dollars per student than districts with higher-scoring students, according to an analysis presented to legislators Wednesday.
Judge Dismisses Connecticut’s Challenge to Education Law
A federal judge has dismissed a closely watched challenge to President Bush’s signature education law, ruling that the State of Connecticut failed to prove that federal officials had forced it to spend its own money to comply with the law’s requirements.
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