On New Jersey School Taxes, Towns Challenge Voters’ Wishes - NYTimes.com

On New Jersey School Taxes, Towns Challenge Voters’ Wishes - NYTimes.com

Towns Challenge New Jersey Voters’ Wishes

By WINNIE HU

Published: May 27, 2010

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After years of frustration over school taxes, New Jersey residents turned out in record numbers last month to reject 58 percent of their school districts’ budget proposals — sounding an unmistakable call to arms that echoed across the country.

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But in the weeks since, many of the 316 defeated budgets have been adopted with few, if any, changes by town councils, where members risked thwarting the will of voters — and incurring their wrath — rather than cut sports, lay off teachers or increase class sizes.

In Ridgewood, an affluent village in Bergen County known for its schools, the Council whittled $100,000 from the proposed $84.9 million budget, or 0.1 percent. Average savings to taxpayers: $12 per year.

In Woodbridge, a working-class township in Middlesex County, the Council shaved $1 million (0.5 percent) from a $182.5 million budget, saving taxpayers an average of $25 each. And in Parsippany-Troy Hills, in Morris County, where the school budget had been voted down for the second consecutive year, the Council trimmed $800,000 (0.6 percent) from a nearly $127 million spending plan (average savings: $52).

Students' cheating takes a high-tech turn - The Denver Post

Students' cheating takes a high-tech turn - The Denver Post

Students' cheating takes a high-tech turn 5005/27/2010Six Golden High School students were caught cheating on a chemistry final last week, forcing the school to make all 100 students enrolled in the course take the exam again before summer break begins next week. Data may help DPS improve regional outcomes05/25/2010 - School officials are parsing data to try to figure out why educational outcomes for Denver Public Schools students are inconsistent from region to region. Palin issues "wake-up" call at DU05/22/2010 - With her trademark plain talk and pitch that bring roomfuls of loyalists to their feet, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin implored 3,500 people at the University of Denver on Saturday to "wake up" because, she said, "I can see November from my house." Palin's message is more diffuse, but her star power's undiminished05/23/2010 - As a vice presidential hopeful two years ago, Sarah Palin drew passion and loyalty from the Republican base even before there was a Tea Party movement. Colorado gets $17.4 million grant for data system to track student progress05/22/2010 - Colorado's ability to win big-stakes education grants got a boost Friday when the federal government announced the state had been awarded $17.4 million to build a statewide education data system. Chancellor of CU's Denver, Aurora campuses resigns – 05/22 DPS, teachers agree on contract – 05/21 COLORADO CLASSROOM EDUCATION BLOG DPS board vote on teachers shows rifts DPS board meeting a calm affair Arne Duncan weighs in on SB-191 AFT’s Randi Weingarten weighs in COLORADO CSAP TEST SCORE LOOKUP Click here to look up Colorado's CSAP, ACT and SAR results by district, school, city, county or ZIP code. HIGHER EDUCATION Students' cheating takes a high-tech turn $17.5 million gift to DU will fund study of aging Cheating cases up at CU-Boulder; increased detection credited Black professor at CU dental school alleges longtime racial bias Brain bank at CU aims to help find cause, cure of MS

Hechinger Report | Q&A: Texas board member says ‘the Founding Fathers would be proud’ of controversial changes

Hechinger Report | Q&A: Texas board member says ‘the Founding Fathers would be proud’ of controversial changes

Q&A: Texas board member says ‘the Founding Fathers would be proud’ of controversial changes

by Hechinger Report

A divided State Board of Education in Texas last week approved new landmark curriculum standards for U.S. history and other social studies courses that mandates what will be taught in all of the state’s elementary, middle and high schools. The new standards will change the way history, government and economics are taught, while also encouraging high school students to question the concept of the separation of church and state.

The 9-5 vote – with Republicans prevailing – angered Democrats, who complained that political and religious views have been injected into new curricula that could end up being taught nationally, with textbook publishers traditionally using the large state of Texas as a template for the U.S. market.

David Bradley, a Republican member of the state board from Beaumont, Texas and a self-employed businessman, spoke with The Hechinger Report about the new curriculum standards, which he voted for. Bradley rejects the notion of a constitutional separation of church and state and believes the new standards will add needed “balance.” He made headlines when he offered “$1,000 to the charity of your choice if you can find it

ED to Expand Salary-Data Collection - Teacher Beat - Education Week

ED to Expand Salary-Data Collection - Teacher Beat - Education Week

ED to Expand Salary-Data Collection

by Stephen Sawchuk

Michele McNeil has a very important post up on the U.S. Department of Education's plans to expand a data-collection requirement in the economic-stimulus bill.
The requirement essentially asks districts to provide information on disparities in expenditures on schools in the same district. Much of those disparities are caused by differentials in educators' salaries that often aren't taken into account.
As she writes, the expanded collection will be part of the Office of Civil Rights' biennial data collection, and might even become an annual requirement.
The odds are that, armed with this information, the administration can make a good case for changing the "comparability" requirement in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It has already signaled that it supports such a change in its ESEA blueprint.
(See here, here and here for background on the comparability requirements if you're coming to this for the first

The Educated Reporter: Columbine.

The Educated Reporter: Columbine.

Columbine.

by Linda Perlstein

Last night I finished reading Columbine, Dave Cullen’s play-by-play of the 1999 school shooting. It was the most compelling nonfiction book I have read since Andre Agassi’s memoir, Open. (Which was, flat-out, one of my favorite books ever. Props to ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer for near-poetic narrative skills and to Agassi for his introspection, clear memory and willingness to lay it all out there. Also for the storytelling masterstroke of having married Brooke Shields.)

In Columbine, Cullen does a really good job of shifting focus tight and wide and back again, of showing us the crime in progress upfront and then again, from different viewpoints. He is good with character studies, and while I question his frequent use of terms like “brewskis” and “chicks”—I would have to read the killers’ journals; did they really talk like that?—he writes well.

What lingered with me most were the flaws he laid out in two institutions: the press and the police. Law enforcement failed to connect dots before the crime, and covered up their faults afterward. Rules about shielding evidence allowed them to do so, and to what end? As for the press, which printed an awful lot that turned out to

DUH Report: Percentage of high-poverty schools rises - Boston.com

Report: Percentage of high-poverty schools rises - Boston.com

Report: Percentage of high-poverty schools rises

By Christine Armario

Associated Press Writer / May 27, 2010

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The percentage of public schools where more than three quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch -- a key indicator of poverty -- has increased in the past decade, and children at these schools are less likely to attend college or be taught by teachers with advanced degrees.

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The findings come from a special report on high poverty schools included in the 2010 Condition of Education study, which reports on a broad range of academic indicators across K-12 and higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education report released Thursday found that the percent of high poverty schools rose from 12 to 17 percent between the 1999-2000 and 2007-2008 school years, even before the current recession was fully felt. By comparison, the overall poverty rate for children increased from 17 to 18 percent, leading researchers to believe that that a higher percentage of poor kids were signing up for the meal program.

In all, there were 16,122 schools considered high-poverty.

Michigan Democrats vote to restore schools money

by Tim Martin, Associated Press Writer

The state's public schools would get $65 more per student through a version of a budget bill approved by the Democrat-run Michigan House.

Mexico to ban junk food from schools to fight fat

by Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer

Mexico is looking to battle the bulging waistlines of its children by banning the sale of junk food in its schools, including many of the traditional treats generations of kids have grown up with.

Chancellor under fire for president removal

A state senator says Connecticut State University System Chancellor David Carter should be replaced for the way the president of Southern Connecticut State University was removed from her job.

The Condition of Education: Teacher/Student Ratios � The Quick and the Ed

The Condition of Education: Teacher/Student Ratios � The Quick and the Ed

The Condition of Education: Teacher/Student Ratios

by Chad Aldeman

The annual Condition of Education data compendium put out by the National Center for Education Statistics is not the most exciting event ever–all of the information is culled from surveys and products publicly available elsewhere–but it’s an excellent resource and it presents a nice opportunity to step back and look at trends in US education. Last year, I used it to write a series of posts on the dramatic increase in Master’s degrees awarded in education, the college wage premium, and economic and racial segregation in our schools. Those trends have not changed, but over the next few days I’ll be using this year’s Condition of Education to highlight some other important developments.
The first trend, and the one that’s most related to current events, is falling teacher/ student ratios. In 1990-1, public school districts employed one teacher for every 17.4 students. By 2007-8, that ratio had fallen to 15.7 to one, the lowest on record.
This change alone is responsible for more than 300,000 full-time teaching jobs. To estimate how much this costs

Education Research Report: The Condition of Education 2010

Education Research Report: The Condition of Education 2010

The Condition of Education 2010

by Jonathan Kantrowitz

The National Center for Education Statistics today released The Condition of Education 2010, a Congressionally mandated report to the nation on education in America today. It covers all aspects of education, with 49 indicators that include findings on enrollment trends, demographics, and outcomes.

The report projects that public school enrollment will rise from 49 million in 2008 to 52 million by 2019, with the largest increase expected in the South. Over the past decade, more students attended both charter schools and high-poverty schools (those in which more than 75 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch). One in six U.S. students attends a high-poverty school; and the number of charter school students has tripled since 1999.

This year’s report features a special section that looks closer at these high-poverty schools in America, examining the types and locations of schools, the characteristics of the students and their teachers and principals; and student achievement. It finds a wide and persistent gap in educational achievement.

Report findings include:
• In 2007-2008, about 20 percent of all elementary students and 9 percent of secondary school students

Without Good Schools, Business Is Doomed | California Progress Report

Without Good Schools, Business Is Doomed | California Progress Report

Without Good Schools, Business Is Doomed

by kaldveer

By Robert Cruickshank
The San Francisco Chronicle's article on the Alameda parcel tax for schools vote posits a false choice. The article by Carolyn Jones makes it sound as if Alamedans have to decide between their schools and their businesses. In reality, the choice is between good schools and strong businesses on the one hand, and bad schools and declining business on the other:

"If it passes, many small business owners, already struggling with the recession, say they'll be forced to close, stripping Alameda of its mom-and-pop charm. If the measure fails, the district's superintendent warns that half the schools in town would close.
"If this doesn't pass, all bets are off in Alameda," said Encinal High School Principal Mike Cooper, a fifth-generation Alamedan."We're watching the collapse of public education. We've been trying to make this work, but something's got to give."

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Are Obama, Democrats Really “Remaking Washington”?

by kaldveer

By Randy Shaw
In the May 21 New York Times, business writer Dave Leonhardt argued that “Congress and the White House have completed 16 months of activity that rival any other since the New Deal in scope or ambition.” Citing the stimulus bill, health care, education, and the pending regulation of Wall Street, Leonhardt concluded that Democrats are ushering in a “generation shift in how Washington operates,” and that Obama “looks more like the liberal answer to Ronald Reagan.” Leonhardt makes a persuasive case for a transformational Obama presidency, which raises the question why so few progressives share this perspective.
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CARA Seniors Speak Out Against Lethal May Revise Cuts

by christine

By Nan Brasmer
Last week, the lives of millions of California seniors were sold down the river when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his May revise budget, which included extraordinarily painful cuts targeting the very services that countless seniors depend on.
But not only does the Governor’s May revision fail to address any of the challenges currently facing our state, but it serves as a collective death sentence for our struggling seniors that now find themselves on the chopping block while corporate and other special interest groups are given billions in hand-outs and other “rewards” while the rest of California endures insecurity and hardship.
That’s why more than two dozen seniors from the California Alliance of Retired Americans (CARA), California’s largest grassroots senior advocacy organization representing over 850,000 seniors and their families, traveled to the Capitol on Thursday (May 20th) to deliver more than 500 handwritten letters to State Assemblymembers and Senators.
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Notes from the news, May 27 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, May 27 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, May 27

by Erika Owens

Behind the West Philly delay The Notebook blog
The SRC delayed approval of Johns Hopkins/Diplomas Now as a Renaissance Schools provider for West. The earliest the vote can happen now is June 6.
See also: SRC delays vote on matching West with Hopkins/Diplomas Now The Notebook blog
West Philadelphia High still in limbo Philly.com
SRC OKs spending plan that relies heavily on state aid The Inquirer
The approved District budget assumes $148 million in state aid that is tied up in state senate budget negotiations and federal aid that the District must submit a grant application for.
See also: District budget ok'd despite uncertainty The Notebook blog
Schools hear harsh words on budget squeeze Daily News
Ackerman pledges visit to the Childs school Daily News
She also pledged to include parents on a transition panel.
After 4 Years, 'School of the Future' Mired in Mediocrity KYW
The school graduates its first class this year, but a parent told the SRC that students lack basic skills.
See also: School of the Future having problems in the present Daily News
Phila. Mayor Promotes the Value of Education KYW
South Philadelphia: ‘Mighty Words’ Helps Kids with Writing Philadelphia Neighborhoods
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