Friday News Roundup: Week of June 8-12

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.

Arizona Schools Receive Federal Stimulus Funds

Pennsylvania Education Secretary, Local Officials Push for Proper Use of Stimulus Funds

Teachers in Arizona Recalled After April Layoffs

California Legislative Committee Rejects Cal Grant Cuts

Data-Driven Schools See Improvements

Arizona Schools Receive Federal Stimulus Funds
The U.S. Department of Education approved $681 million in federal stimulus funds for Arizona’s schools, helping the state avoid teacher layoffs. In order to receive these funds, the state had to commit to analyzing, publishing, and acting on information regarding teacher quality, student achievement improvement, college readiness, state standards and assessments, progress toward lifting charter school caps, and interventions for underperforming schools. Arizona school districts have already received $209 million in stimulus funds through Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, and Impact Aid grants, and the state will be eligible to apply for $336 million more once the school year starts in the fall. More here.

Pennsylvania Education Secretary, Local Officials Push for Proper Use of Stimulus Funds
Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak is urging state legislators to use stimulus funds to avoid property tax increases and to continue targeted investments in student achievement. He is joining local officials who have already voiced dissent for a bill proposed in the state Senate. State Senate Republicans have offered and approved a bill that, if passed, would, among other cuts, eliminate $728 million from the state subsidy for education, which would likely result in property tax hikes and program cuts. Secretary Zahorchak has warned that this plan would put the state at risk for receiving later rounds of federal stimulus funds. This is particularly the case with “Race to the Top” incentive grants that will be distributed based on states’ demonstration of commitment to innovation. Governor Ed Rendell proposed a 2009-2010 budget that would put Pennsylvania in a good position to qualify for later rounds of stimulus funds. More here.

Teachers in Arizona Recalled After April Layoffs
With the budget picture looking clearer than it did in April, Arizona school districts have been able to recall many teachers who received layoff notices in April. The Arizona Education Association (the state’s teachers union) requires that teachers being laid of be notified of their dismissal by April 15^th. But through resignations, retirements, and staff movement, many positions that were to be cut because of budget constraints will be reinstated, and the teachers that filled them invited to return to their posts. State Superintendent Tom Horne and some legislators believe that school districts intentionally inflated their layoff numbers to prevent large cuts from the education budget. They fear that the move may have scared parents into moving their kids into private or charter schools, and that these will be permanent losses for the public education system. More here.

California Legislative Committee Rejects Cal Grant Cuts
The California Conference Committee on the Budget rejected Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut Cal Grants from the state budget. Cuts to the grant program as well as popular health and welfare programs were proposed to help solve the state’s complicated budget mess. Democrats on the Committee voted to reject the proposal to cut Cal Grants. Eliminating Cal Grants would have saved the state $173 million in the upcoming fiscal year (starting on July 1) and an additional $450 million in the following fiscal year, but would leave little state financial support for the state’s low-income postsecondary students. More here.

Data-Driven Schools See Improvements
Schools in Montgomery County, Maryland are using data to drive up student achievement and close achievement gaps. Using Edline, an educational data tracking and alert system, the Montgomery County School District has been able to quickly notify parents about slipping grades, identify academic gifts earlier, and even track the rate at which students from the school district graduate from college. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has praised the district’s use of the data system. He is also using the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to encourage other districts to follow the data-driven model. However, some parents complain that the system shortchanges gifted students and students with disabilities in its quest to close achievement gaps. They also note that frequent testing in elementary school can stifle creativity. Increases in the percent of students able to read when leaving kindergarten, the percent of students enrolled in AP classes, and progress toward closing the achievement gap, all of which the district attributes to the data tracking system, seem to outweigh these concerns for district officials. More here.

Briefly Noted

• For colleges, stimulus money helps to avoid large budget cuts now, but may only delay them.
• Colleges offer diploma in 3 years to cut costs.