Seattle Schools Releases 2014-2015 Budget
Haven't read thru this myself but here's the SPS budget for next year.From SPS:Seattle Public Schools on June 11 released the proposed budget for the next school year, which includes funding for educating more than 52,000 students and operating 97 schools.The proposed $689 million General Fund budget and $214 million Capital Fund budget will go to the School Board for introduction on June 18 and a
Two Major Education News Stories
One story comes from California where a California superior court overturned laws related to the employment of teachers and, specifically, the use of tenure. The other is the defeat of the House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor.The tenure story is somewhat akin to the story on Common Core. Whatever your views on standards (CC) or whatever your views on teacher tenure (California), how we all go
Things That Make You Go, Hmmm
There is an Audit and Finance Committee meeting today at 4:30 p.m. Wish I could attend but I have an event. Here's the agenda which has some interesting items:- adoption of the 2014-2015 budget book. This might be interesting since the pick of MIF for K-5 Math adoption. Of course, until a contract is executed, no one truly knows how much MIF will cost the district. They had, according to thei
Math Pathways, Middle School, and Equitable Access
The District has claimed that equitable access to quality programs and services for all students is important to them. They say that, but where are the efforts to provide equitable access beyond the flowery talk?In one step towards equitable access the District math department has standardized math placement in middle school. All of our comprehensive middle schools use the same assessment and make
YESTERDAY
Garfield and Roosevelt - Top 10 for WA State Honors Award
From SPS Communications:Garfield and Roosevelt high schools are ranked in the top 10 for students receiving the Washington State Honors Award. Garfield is ranked 8th and Roosevelt is ranked 9th – tied with Brainbridge High School.The Washington State Honors Award Program honors the top 10 percent of the current year's graduating class from Washington state.To qualify for the award a student must r
Charter Schools Ed News Roundup
Great National Education Policy Center (NEPC) paper called "Wait, wait. Don't Mislead Me! Nine Reasons to be skeptical about charter waitlist numbers." So the next time you hear some huge number of kids are on charter school waitlists, remember these.In brief:Students apply to multiple charter schoolsWaitlist numbers cannot be confirmedWaitlist record-keeping is slipshot and unreliableM
6-11-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Odds and Ends on Math AdoptionThe Times finally got around to writing an article on this issue. I didn't really like their take on it but I'm not surprised that it is made to sound like the cost was the main issue. The article said that MIF is "nearly twice as expensive" as enVision but forgot to say that was based on the staff's reading of it. The art