Friday News Roundup: Week of October 18-22

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

West Virginia Schools Waiting on Federal Education Jobs Fund Monies

Louisiana Board of Regents Recommends $35 million in cuts from State College and University System

Recently Passed California Budget Includes Increases for Higher Education Funding

Some New York Charter Schools are Saying “No” to Federal Race to the Top Funds

West Virginia Schools Waiting on Federal Education Jobs Fund Monies
The West Virginia state legislature has not yet appropriated $55 million in Education Jobs Funds to its 55 county school districts, preventing the schools from spending the federal funds quickly. Although the state has not had to lay off many teachers, it plans to use the new federal funds to reimburse school districts for costs associated with tutoring, teacher training, after-school and summer school programs, and preschool programs. However, districts are reluctant to begin making such expenditures until the state legislature guarantees that the funds will be available for reimbursement through an official appropriation. Until an appropriation is made, school districts will have to borrow against their future budgets to cover the costs or face cash flow problems. More here…

Louisiana Board of Regents Recommends $35 million in cuts from State College and University System
The Louisiana Board of Regents recently submitted a plan to Governor Bobby Jindal to cut $35 million from the state’s higher education budget. These cuts are on top of the $280 million cut from the systems budget since 2008 and are part of $108 million in total cuts that must be made from the state’s 2011 fiscal budget to make up for deficits in 2010. The Louisiana State University system will bear the brunt of the cuts – 61 percent of $21.2 million. Each campus in the system will lose 3.7 percent of its current operating budget. However, some of the cuts will be offset by increased tuition and fee revenue due to expanding enrollment. More here…

Recently Passed California Budget Includes Increases for Higher Education Funding
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a state budget that would increase state funding for higher education. The budget increases funding for the state’s University of California system by 12 percent over fiscal year 2010 levels and the state’s California State University system by 11 percent. However, these increases do not cover the losses either system sustained in fiscal year 2010, when their budgets were both cut by 20 percent over fiscal year 2009 levels. And, both newly-enacted budgets are also predicated on increases in fees for both systems ranging from 10 to 15 percent to make up for continuing gaps. As a result, tuition will continue to rise at schools in both systems. More here…

Some New York Charter Schools are Saying “No” to Federal Race to the Top Funds
Some charter schools, particularly in Albany, New York, are deciding not to participate in Race to the Top, a federally funded competitive grant program through which New York was awarded $700 million for reform activities. Signing on to receive the federal funds would mean sacrificing autonomy in hiring and firing teachers for many of these charter schools. And the amount of money they would receive – as little as $9,000 each year – does not justify the trade off they say. However, charter schools elsewhere in the state will participate in the program as an effort to encourage reform statewide. Additionally, some charter advocates believe that the activities supported by the Race to the Top money will benefit modestly successful charters that don’t already have well-developed academic and staff-performance evaluation systems. More here…