Friday News Roundup: Week of August 3-7

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.

Mississippi Early Education Program Could Receive Federal Funding

Missouri Districts Grapple with How to Spend Stimulus Money

Governor Richardson Announces Plan to Turn Around New Mexico Dropout Problem

North Carolina Raises Taxes, Cuts Budget for Schools

Mississippi Early Education Program Could Receive Federal Funding
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $2.85 million for several Mississippi education programs in fiscal year 2010. If included in the final spending bill, the funding could provide up to $2 million toward the Mississippi Building Blocks program over the next three years. The program provides on-site mentors, classroom materials, scholarships for child-care instructors to attain certification, business consulting, and parental education at participating child-care centers. Program officials believe the funding would allow them to gather data on how children in the program perform compared to their peers. This could help them make the case for a statewide early childhood education program. Mississippi is one of only 12 states with no state-funded early education program. More here…

Missouri Districts Grapple with How to Spend Stimulus Money
Missouri school districts expect to receive a portion of an estimated $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funds next month. The bump from the stimulus will bring Missouri’s K-12 budget to nearly $6 billion, up by about $600 million from the last school year. While some Missouri districts have already made plans to spend the money on new school buses, computers, and reading and math teachers, others haven’t yet devised a plan. With strict guidelines on how the money should be spent, and on which students, many districts are concerned that if they don’t use it wisely, they and others in the state will lose out on future stimulus grant competitions. The districts are also concerned about carefully tracking and reporting on the use of stimulus dollars, a strict requirement of the law. State Department of Education officials are scrambling to provide support and recommendations to these districts. More here…

Governor Richardson Announces Plan to Turn Around New Mexico Dropout Problem
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson recently announced plans for a program to help get 10,000 dropouts in the state back in school by the end of his term. He plans to use $9 million in federal stimulus funds for the program, which he will call “Graduate New Mexico: It’s Everybody’s Business.” Though no further details were released, Governor Richardson said he would release up to eight proposals over the next six weeks to combat dropouts and close the academic achievement gap between low income minority students and their peers. Governor Richardson announced his plan after state data were released showing a 54% graduation rate. He also appointed a task force led by Public Education Department Secretary Veronica Garcia to fight the achievement gap between white students and their Hispanic and Native American peers. More here…

North Carolina Raises Taxes, Cuts Budget for Schools
Lawmakers in North Carolina recently approved a $19 billion budget for fiscal year 2010. The budget includes nearly $1 billion in new taxes while forcing spending cuts on school districts. Governor Beverly Perdue said she would sign the bill into law, despite reservations about raising taxes while making cuts. Many programs will lose out in the budget, including the Smart Start early childhood program, which will lose $16 million. State lawmakers weren’t able to agree on how to cut $225 million from K-12 education, so local leaders will have to make the difficult decisions themselves. However, the state budget bars them from cutting teachers or raising class sizes in kindergarten through third grade. More here…

Briefly Noted

• North Carolina teachers who were laid off in Charlotte can reapply for jobs.