Federal cuts to education left unresolved | EdSource Today:
by John Fensterwald
Congress’ New Year’s Day drama, ending a stalemate over extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy, delays rather than resolves an across-the-board 8.2 percent decrease in federal education spending. That’s the spending piece of the “fiscal cliff” that Congress decided to put off deciding until early March.
For California districts, that means a two-month reprieve from facing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts to special education programs and Title I aid for low-income students, along with tens of millions in cuts to the preschool program Head Start, career and technical education and grants for teacher training.
Even if all of those cuts were to happen, districts would have months to prepare for them. Except for Head Start, the cuts would happen starting July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year for schools. The cuts to Head Start and to subsidies for school districts that serve families working at federal facilities, like Naval Base San Diego, were to take effect Jan. 1.
The reprieve from cuts to defense and most domestic spending programs will coincide with the
by Jed Wallace
Many of California’s charter schools are among the best public schools in the state, if not the nation, but some are also among the worst. It is time for the charter community to fix the failings in the sector so that more children have the chance to attend a great school. The second state in the nation to allow charter schools, California has long been at the forefront of education reform. We...
Congress’ New Year’s Day drama, ending a stalemate over extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy, delays rather than resolves an across-the-board 8.2 percent decrease in federal education spending. That’s the spending piece of the “fiscal cliff” that Congress decided to put off deciding until early March.
