Friday, February 24, 2012

Obama 2013 Discretionary Budget Invests in Kids | First Focus

December 20, 2011
The Recession’s Ongoing Impact on America’s Children
A new First Focus analysis authored by Brookings scholar Julia Isaacs reveals the recession’s continuing effects – often unseen through conventional economic metrics – on America's children. The paper offers a national snapshot and state-by-state breakdowns of three key economic indicators of child well-being: the number of children living with an unemployed parent; the number who rely upon the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps); and the number who live in poverty in 2011.

The President's 2013 Budget

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

On February 13, 2012, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2013 budget request. This fact sheet looks at how children fare in his discretionary budget proposal. It highlights notable increases, cuts, and new initiatives. Detailed Analyses These fact sheets provide more detailed analyses of the President's budget proposal for each of several children's issues. Check back as we update the series. Read More

Essential Health Benefits letter to HHS

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has drafted regulations defining "essential health benefits" for health insurance exchange marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act. This letter conveys First Focus's comments on the draft regulations and recommends policies the agency can implement to ensure that insurance purchased through exchanges delivers the care children need. Read More

2012 Appropriations for Kids

Thursday, January 26, 2012

With passage of final appropriations bills, FY 2012 will be for the first time, the second year in a row that discretionary funding for kids has been cut. In total, when adjusted for inflation, discretionary funding for kids will decline by more than 2.2%. This amounts to a loss of nearly $1.7 billion since FY 2010. At a time when almost 1 in every 4 children live in poverty, funding for kids should be on the rise. Read More

Children’s Health in the President’s FY 2013 Budget

A detailed analysis of President Obama's federal fiscal year 2013 budget proposal for children's health… Read More

ACA Messaging Recommendations - 1/2012 Memo to State Partners

Monday, January 9, 2012

A brief set of talking points recommended for use by state advocates to connect successful implementation… Read More

First Focus comments on proposed child labor regulations for agriculture

Thursday, December 1, 2011

These comments were submitted by First Focus to the U.S. Department of Labor on December 1, 2011 in… Read More

Visit the Library

HHS Awards Money to Give Newborns a Strong Start and a Healthy Future

February 17, 2012
By Cara Baldari

On the Brink of Poverty: How to Keep Families Afloat During These Tough Economic Times

February 13, 2012
By Cara Baldari

It is one of a parent’s worst nightmares- you lose your job or there is a medical emergency and before you know it, you are unable to support…

New School Meal Standards a Step Forward on Childhood Obesity, Nutrition

January 30, 2012
By Meghan McHugh

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 directed the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to release new standards updating and…

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Are charter schools succeeding nationally? | The Daily Circuit Blog | Minnesota Public Radio

Are charter schools succeeding nationally? | The Daily Circuit Blog | Minnesota Public Radio:

Are charter schools succeeding nationally?

Posted at 9:05 AM on February 24, 2012 by Emily Kaiser (0 Comments)
Filed under: News & Trends

From The Daily Circuit's Tom Weber:

Reporter Tim Post brought us the story during Morning Edition about a new study that finds charter schools in the Twin Cities metro area underperform academically in comparison to their traditional public counterparts and are more racially segregated.

The report is from the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School.

"If you look at the total group, they're underperforming the public schools significantly and a lot of the ones who are serving the poorest kids are not only doing very badly, but not lasting very long," said Myron Orfield, the institute's director.

In all, the Twin Cities' 30,000 charter school students score 7.5 percentage points lower on math testing and 4.4 percent lower on reading tests than students at traditional public schools. But as Tim Post reported, charter school advocates weren't fazed all that much by the data because they believe their schools provide an important education alternative, especially to students who have long struggled academically.

White Hat can't add Columbus charter school, state says | The Columbus Dispatch

White Hat can't add Columbus charter school, state says | The Columbus Dispatch:

White Hat can't add Columbus charter school, state says

By Jennifer Smith Richards

The Columbus Dispatch Thursday February 23, 2012 1:30 PM

The state has denied White Hat Management’s request to open four of six new charter schools it hoped to open, including one in Columbus.

White Hat, the state’s largest for-profit charter-school manager, wanted the Ohio Department of Education to sponsor six new Signal Tree schools. One was planned for the West Side.

Education Department spokesman Patrick Gallaway said today that two were approved — one in Warrensville Heights and the other in Akron.

The Columbus school was planned as a K-8 building and would have opened this fall.

Rodd Coker, vice president of community engagement for Akron-based

Weekly Update: Smart ALEC, Black Teachers Fired En Masse in Chicago and Chalk Face | Seattle Education

Weekly Update: Smart ALEC, Black Teachers Fired En Masse in Chicago and Chalk Face | Seattle Education:

Weekly Update: Smart ALEC, Black Teachers Fired En Masse in Chicago and Chalk Face

by seattleducation2011

Glen Ford nails it in his commentary on A Black Agenda Radio Black Teachers Fired En Mass.

In his introduction Mr. Ford states:

Educational policy in the Obama era isn’t about education at all. It’s about replacing skilled, experienced teachers with rootless temps better suited to serve in the privatized holding tanks they wish to turn public schools in poor neighborhoods into, for a population on its way to low wage jobs

Modern School: Chicago School Board: Fire Them All & Let God Sort It Out Later

Modern School: Chicago School Board: Fire Them All & Let God Sort It Out Later:

Seniority Survives Another Year in Oakland Unified

by Michael Dunn

Senior Ringleaders Ready to Be Fired

Seniority rules and teacher transfer rights will remain intact in Oakland Unified for the remainder of the school year, in spite of Superintendent Tony Smith’s push for change, according to the Oakland Tribune. Teachers who are displaced by school closings or whose positions have been cut will continue to choose new positions from a list of openings for which they are eligible, with seniority determining who gets first pick.

Sup. Smith was pushing an initiative called "mutual matching," with teachers listing their top choices, principals listing their top choices, and the district making the final decision. Regardless of the merits of the superintendent’s plan, many teachers felt the process was

Chicago School Board: Fire Them All & Let God Sort It Out Later

by Michael Dunn

El Tres de Mayo, by Francisco de Goya

Earlier this week, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) proposed a 30% pay increase for their new contract. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) board responded yesterday by unanimously voting to close or overhaul 17 under-performing schools, resulting in over 400 teacher layoffsand the displacement of more than 7,000 mostly low income black and Hispanic students.

CTU president Lewis called the move a betrayal of democracy, according to the Chicago Tribune, ostensibly because most of the board was appointed by mayor Emanuel or his

How NOT to fix the New Jersey Achievement Gap « School Finance 101

How NOT to fix the New Jersey Achievement Gap « School Finance 101:

How NOT to fix the New Jersey Achievement Gap

by schoolfinance101

Late yesterday, the New Jersey Department of Education Released its long awaited report on the state school finance formula. For a little context, the formula was adopted in 2008 and upheld by the court as meeting the state constitutional standard for providing a thorough and efficient system of public schooling. But, court acceptance of the plan came with a requirement of a review of the formula after three years of implementation. After a change in administration, with additional legal battles over cuts in aid in the interim, we now have that report. The idea was that the report would suggest any adjustments that may need to be made to the formula to make the distributions of aid across districts more appropriate/more adequate (more constitutional?). I laid out my series of proposed minor adjustments in a previous post.

Reduced to its simplest form, the current report argues that New Jersey’s biggest problem in public education is

Danza: School cuts signal to kids ‘they really don’t matter’ - Philly.com

Danza: School cuts signal to kids ‘they really don’t matter’ - Philly.com:

Danza: School cuts signal to kids ‘they really don’t matter’

February 23, 2012|By Kristen A. Graham, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The speakers came from different backgrounds - an actor-turned-teacher, two union officials and a state senator - but their message was the same: budget cuts have hit the Philadelphia School District too hard and must stop.

Speaking at a news conference on the steps of the district's North Broad Street headquarters Thursday, Danza said the cuts have really affected the school, both in terms of capacity and morale.

"At Northeast, we lost shop teachers, art teachers," said Danza, who spent a year teaching at Northeast for a reality show. "That sends a message to the kids that they really don't matter."

He said he was particularly struck by cuts to school nurses. The district has laid off dozens.

Tracie White was laid off twice, first in June from Overbrook High, then after she was recalled, in

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