Education News for Friday, May 5
Legislature OKs oversight of vouchers – Both chambers of the Florida legislature passed voucher accountability bills Thursday — unanimously in the Senate and 95-21 in the House. (more)
Vouchers saved, but Bush won’t get amendment – Florida Senate leaders acknowledged Thursday they don’t have the votes to revive a constitutional amendment to expand the governor’s prized school voucher program, but at the same time lawmakers quietly rescued 733 students in a voucher program that was struck down by the state’s high court. (more)
Vocational classes make a comeback – At the Burbank (California) Unified School District’s two high schools, vocational programs have been making a comeback for the past few years. (more)
As Test-Taking Grows, Test-Makers Grow Rarer – No Child Left Behind is pushing demand for psychometricians, or testing experts. (more)
Charter school aims high with plan to teach students to fly – A new charter school will let students take classes toward certifications in the airline industry. (more)
Teachers Union Criticized For Pushing Retirement Plan – A group seeking to reform education in New York wants Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to investigate New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teachers’ union, which reportedly gets $3 million a year from an investment company for recommending its members enroll in retirement plans with high fees that often eat into returns. (more)
Magnet, charter school interest up – At a time when standards in education are changing and the option of school choice is becoming more prevalent, state officials say there is an increase in the number of Connecticut students who want to enroll in magnet and charter schools. (more)
Vouchers test school choice – More than 7,000 students in Greater Cincinnati are eligible for tuition vouchers to attend private schools next school year, but just 135 have applied. (more)
Mayor should get nod to OK charter schools – Opinion: Amid the recent calls for bold reform and significant change at the Los Angeles Unified School District, there is one point on which policymakers should quickly agree: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ought to have the ability to approve charter schools, providing parents and students with expanded educational opportunities within the public school system. (more)
11% of seniors still need to pass exit exam – About 11 percent of this year’s senior class has not yet passed the high school exit exam and won’t be able to graduate on time, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell reported Thursday. (more)
Tutors waiting by the phone – Editorial: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently said she would launch an investigation into states’ efforts to notify parents of tutoring options. Good for her. (more)
Training is key in mending program – Heavy doses of training are among pages of strategies that will be implemented to narrow the achievement gap between special education and regular education pupils in Richmond County, according to a report submitted to the Georgia Department of Education. (more)
Public Dissatisfied Over Key NCLB Provisions, Report Says – (Subscription required) The public is largely disenchanted with the way the federal No Child Law Behind Act measures student learning and teacher quality, and it would like greater input into the law’s implementation, a report scheduled for release this week by the Public Education Network finds. (more)
There’s a dropout crisis in Dallas public schools – Opinion: Just about everyone knows that Dallas schools are performing poorly, but sometimes it is useful to remind ourselves exactly how severe the problem really is. (more)
Check back later for more education news.
UPDATE:
I
have private preference but public purse – My 5-year-old daughter,
Elizabeth Virginia, now attends a private school that teaches foreign language
and arts and offers after-school music and dance classes. But tuition is forcing
me to look at Atlanta Public Schools next year for kindergarten. (more)
Voucher revival try snarls Senate -The fight over Gov. Jeb
Bush’s prized school vouchers pulled in the future of Riviera Beach’s
redevelopment and forced Senate Democrats to take escorted bathroom trips
Wednesday, as the Senate muddled through another fractious day in the session’s
final week. (more)
Bush
denies voucher pressure –Gov. Jeb Bush said
Thursday he is doing everything he can to find the Senate votes he needs to put
a constitutional amendment before voters that would expand and protect school
vouchers, one of his top priorities, but he denied pressuring Sen. Mandy Dawson
on the issue. (more)
Bush’s prized project
passes -High school students across the state will get a chance to select
majors and minors, just like college students do, under a sweeping education
measure passed Thursday by the Florida Legislature. (more)
Gov. Bush
still pursues school vouchers – Gov. Jeb Bush said
Thursday that he is not giving up on a proposed state constitutional amendment
to let the Legislature restore a stricken voucher program and create others to
send students to religious and other private schools. (more)
Governor
denies strong-arming on vouchers – Gov. Jeb Bush said
Thursday that he is still lobbying senators who opposed his bid to put his
school voucher plan before voters, but he denied using strong-arm tactics. (more)
Senate
plan could salvage private school vouchers – The one private-school
voucher program struck down by a court could be salvaged by a plan passed
Thursday in the Florida Senate. (more)
Senate
yay, House nay on vouchers – Lawmakers in the House and Senate yesterday cast
themselves on opposite sides of the debate over whether the state should help
parents pay private school tuition for their children. (more)
Voucher legislation lingers as session
draws to close – Legislation designed to restore Gov. Jeb Bush’s prized but
unconstitutional school voucher program hung in the balance as
legislative session drew toward a close Friday. (more)
Search Headlines
Previous Issues
Newswire Archive
