News: Partial 'Program Integrity' - Inside Higher Ed

News: Partial 'Program Integrity' - Inside Higher Ed

Partial 'Program Integrity'

June 16, 2010

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education today released a set of proposed rules intended to prevent abuses of federal financial aid programs by establishing new consumer protections, ensuring that only eligible students receive federal aid, and clarifying the courses and programs for which students can use federal aid dollars.

Though the notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) to be published in Friday’s Federal Register includes more than 500 pages of rationale and regulatory language on 15 issues related to the integrity of the federal financial aid programs, what’s most likely to get attention is what’s missing: a full set of regulations defining “gainful employment,” the mechanism through which most programs at for-profit institutions and non-degree programs at nonprofit institutions qualify for federal aid.

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In earlier iterations, debated through months of negotiations involving federal officials and a variety of higher education stakeholders, the department had proposed establishing a maximum permissible ratio of the loan debt-to-income ratio for graduates of most programs offered by for-profit colleges. But in the wake of significant pushback from some members of Congress and various voices within higher education, and a demand from the White House Office of Management and Budget for more evidence to support the proposal, the department has chosen to hold off on proposing a specific "metric" to measure whether programs are preparing their students for gainful employment because “we want to get it right,” as Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

Department officials say they expect to release the rest of the gainful

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Magnolia Schools charter management organization

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Magnolia Schools charter management organization

Magnolia Schools charter management organization

by The Perimeter Primate

This post has four sections:

• Background information about the approval of a petition for a charter school in Santa Clara County, California. The school, Magnolia Science Academy – Santa Clara, is slated to open in Sunnyvale for the 2010-2011 school year and is currently enrolling students.
• Revealing excerpts from an email exchange sent to me by a reader who, as a prospective parent, was in communication with a representative of the new MSA-Santa Clara school.
• Evidence which clearly contradicts the representative’s statements.
• Why so much about Turkey and Turkish?

---------------

PART 1: Petition approved!

In July 2008, the San Mateo Union High School District rejected a charter school petition submitted by the

Education - ContraCostaTimes.com Union negotiations stalled in Mt. Diablo, budget cuts loom

Education - ContraCostaTimes.com:

Union negotiations stalled in Mt. Diablo, budget cuts loomCONCORD — More than 150 members of two unions in the Mt. Diablo school district protested before the school board meeting Tuesday, saying district proposals to reduce benefits are unacceptable. Water crisis over? Everywhere in the Bay Area but Santa Clara County Superintendent cancels Bancroft Elementary School principal's transfer

Rise & Shine: HS senior posts 15 years of perfect attendance | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: HS senior posts 15 years of perfect attendance | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: HS senior posts 15 years of perfect attendance

by Philissa Cramer

• The city named Manhattan’s PS/IS 18 best prepared for the possibility of an emergency. (NY1)
• Murry Bergtraum HS student Joseph Butler is graduating with 15 years of perfect attendance. (Daily News)
• After a budget-truncated school year, Hawaii will now legally require 180 days of school. (AP)
• Chicago’s school board gave the green light to class sizes of up to 35 students. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• The federal government is developing new rules to regulate colleges and student loans. (WSJ, Times)

Riverside to keep paying laid-off teachers | Local News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Riverside to keep paying laid-off teachers | Local News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Riverside to keep paying laid-off teachers

		Download story podcast

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 15, 2010

By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise

The Riverside Unified School District laid off about 90 permanent teachers, and they will still cost the district $3.86 million extra for substitute pay next year, Deputy Superintendent Mike Fine said.

The school board unanimously adopted an initial budget for 2010-11 of $312.7 million late Monday night, incorporating previously discussed cuts and using $19.2 million from reserve funds.

State law gives laid-off tenured teachers first priority for substitute positions. If they work more than 21 days out of 60, they are entitled to the same daily rate they earned under their previous contracts, an average of $337 for these teachers, Fine said. Other substitutes are paid $100 a day, he said. The district usually spends about $2 million a year for substitute teachers, a sum also included in the 2010-11 budget, he said.

Next year will be the first time the district has to pay laid-off teachers their daily rate, Fine said. Last year, the district used federal stimulus funds to bring back all but 13 laid-off teachers and none of the 13 had tenure, he said. The district cut about 130 teachers -- including probationary teachers in their first year or two with the district, Fine said.

The laid-off teachers won't receive benefits, such as health insurance, Fine said.

He said the 90 teachers would make up about half the district's average daily substitutes so they will work as much as they want.

The spending plan adopted will change once the state passes a budget, Fine said. It was based on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's May budget revision proposal, which district officials predicted Democratic lawmakers won't accept in Sacramento.

Fine said many of the details in an agreement with the Riverside City Teachers

Farm-to-school project gets tons of strawberries to children - Gardening - sacbee.com

Farm-to-school project gets tons of strawberries to children - Gardening - sacbee.com

Farm-to-school project gets tons of strawberries to children

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By Debbie Arrington
darrington@sacbee.com

Published: Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1D

The "eat local" movement has gone to school.

Two healthy-living initiatives converged in Sacramento strawberry fields and school cafeterias last spring.

Under an innovative new program, strawberries grown by local small family farms were rushed to local school cafeterias, supplying children with healthy fresh fruit – often the same day they were picked.

"A lot of these berries were grown within 10 miles of the schools," said Produce Express' Jim Mills, who coordinated Sacramento distribution. "You can't get more local than that."

Tons of berries from 10 farms have been consumed by children in the Sacramento City Unified School District as well as students in the Yuba City Unified, Roseville Unified, Buckeye Unified and Rescue Unified districts.

The 10 farmers earned a total of $15,000 for the 46,000 flats of berries. It was much-needed income for their small businesses.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/2824619/farm-to-school-project-gets-tons.html#ixzz0r17G8nI7

U.S. Education Dept. Delays Rules on For-Profit Colleges Education News - The New York Times

Education News - The New York Times

U.S. Education Dept. Delays Rules on For-Profit Colleges

By TAMAR LEWIN

The Education Department split off a decision on the treatment of for-profit college programs whose graduates do not earn enough to repay their loans.

SQUARE FEET

College and Hospital Combine Forces to Revitalize Site

By JEFF SCHLEGEL

In Lancaster, Pa., Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General plan to move their expanded operations to a 77-acre tract that will include a reconfigured rail yard.

New York Charter Schools Lag in Enrolling Hispanics

By JENNIFER MEDINA and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Although Hispanics are the largest demographic group in the city’s public schools, there are almost twice as many blacks among the 30,000 charter school students.

The Educated Guess Quest for best could kill good kindergarten bill

The Educated Guess

Quest for best could kill good kindergarten bill

Posted in kindergarten

For two decades, bills to exclude 4-year-olds from kindergarten have foundered in the Legislature, even though child advocates and kindergarten teachers all but universally agree that children that young don’t belong in their classes.
The latest effort, Sen. Joe Simitian’s SB 1381, has passed the Senate and is halfway home. Whether it ultimately becomes law will depend on whether Simitian can hold the middle ground on what to do with savings generated by bill.
SB 1381 would require that students starting kindergarten must turn five by Sept. 1 of the school year, instead of Dec. 2, the current deadline. Moving up the start date by three months would reduce enrollment by an estimated 100,000 children – one quarter of kindergartners for that year – and save as much as $700 million, depending whether the change is made in one year or, as Simitian proposes, is phased in over three years, with less initial savings.
There’s little dispute that most 4-year-olds aren’t developmentally ready for kindergarten. What’s defeated past bills are disagreements on what to do with the money.
Simitian’s compromise is to split the savings, with half applied to reduce a $19 billion state budget deficit and half committed as additional spending for state-funded preschool. The Legislative Analyst projects there would be enough money to serve 29,000 of the 4-year-olds whose kindergarten would be delayed and whose family incomes qualify for the state program, plus an additional 59,000

Fisher: Making sure kids are ready for kindergarten - San Jose Mercury News

Fisher: Making sure kids are ready for kindergarten - San Jose Mercury News

Fisher: Making sure kids are ready for kindergarten

Teachers are bucking their union in the fight for changing the entrance cutoff date.

Santa Cruz charter ranked No. 19 among public schools in nation

East Side cuts target counselors, student activities directors

Cabrillo College OKs leaner budget for next year

Stanford graduates remember words of advice from parents

The Education Report Teacher union hunts for `hidden vacancies’

The Education Report

Teacher union hunts for `hidden vacancies’

By Katy Murphy
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 6:17 pm in OEA, OUSD central office, teachers, union contract
13 Comments »

Let’s say a teacher announces in April she’s retiring at the end of the school year. The teacher tells the district’s HR department, and if that position needs to be filled, the HR department tells the teachers union, which tells its members they may apply for that job.

Teacher contracts in many districts allow displaced teachers (usually, the most junior teachers from schools that have eliminated positions, teachers from shuttered schools, or those returning from leave) to choose another job from the list of openings, based on their credentials and seniority.

The process is called “priority placement,” and it ended June 4. As of today, however, at least 18 of the teachers need to be placed, and the district is obligated to find jobs for them before hiring outside the organization, according to the union president, Betty Olson-Jones.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Principals hate this process — not because the displaced teachers are bad, but because they have no say about who will be joining their staffs. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago: School board gives Huberman power to raise class size to 35

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago: School board gives Huberman power to raise class size to 35

Chicago: School board gives Huberman power to raise class size to 35

by Mike Klonsky

"Educational malpractice"

In an unusual display of solidarity, at one point both incoming Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and outgoing President Marilyn Stewart stood together at the podium as Stewart railed against the class size increase, calling it