Friday News Roundup: Week of August 15-19

Feds punish South Carolina on lack of spending, but $36 million cut to education delayed

Land board approves $31M for Idaho public schools

Brownback tells Kansas Regents to improve higher education but not to expect extra funding

California loses $11.5 million in federal funding for charter schools

Feds punish South Carolina on lack of spending, but $36 million cut to education delayed
South Carolina obtained a reprieve this week from the U.S. Department of Education’s threat to withhold federal funding for students with disabilities as a penalty for the state’s failure to maintain spending levels for those students in the 2010 school year. While state officials had thought the cuts would come this year, a letter from the Department stated that the penalty will instead begin on October 1, 2012, at the beginning of the federal 2013 fiscal year. The Department argued that the state’s shortfall on special education spending totaled $20.3 million in 2009, $67.4 million in 2010, and $75.3 million in 2011. If the state covered the full spending gap in 2011, as it was able to do thanks to unexpectedly high revenues and low fuel costs for school buses, the Department agreed to approve a full waiver for 2009 and a partial waiver for 2010, as well as to forgive entirely the 2011 cuts. Still, the $36 million cut in federal funding would be permanent, so the yearlong deferral buys time for the state to launch a court or Congressional appeal. More here…

Land board approves $31M for Idaho public schools
Idaho public schools will receive $31 million in additional funding from the state’s land endowment reserve fund to help offset cuts to public education, following a vote earlier this week of the Board of Land Commissioners. The Board’s only “no” vote was state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, who has argued in the past for larger amounts of funding for public schools. The amount reserved for education by the vote was comparable to the amounts allocated in recent years. Next year, the fund will distribute the approximately $31.2 million of the total $47.5 million issued from the fund to public education. The money will be included as part of budget legislation to be considered and passed by the state legislature during the 2012 session. More here…

Brownback tells Kansas Regents to improve higher education but not to expect extra funding
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback this week expressed to the Kansas Board of Regents his expectations for the state’s higher education institutions to improve their academic standings and rankings. But he warned them not to expect much additional funding. Even with the state’s budget beginning to recover, the loss of federal dollars and the expiration of new federal programs are outpacing revenues. The governor’s suggestions for the Regents included eliminating less popular degree programs and setting high standards for the universities’ admissions policies. More here…

California loses $11.5 million in federal funding for charter schools
The U.S. Department of Education warned the California Department of Education late last year that the state was not meeting the standards of the federal Charter Schools Program. Last week, the state was told that it would see its funding through the program cut this year. The program, which provides grants to help new charter schools get off the ground, requires the state to emphasize student achievement in deciding whether or not to renew charters. According to the Department, California has neglected to appropriately account for achievement. Although California would have received $51.6 million through the program for the 2012 school year, the state Department of Education was given notice last week that this year’s grant would only total about $40.1 million. The decrease in funding will affect about 60 schools, 39 of which are expecting first-year funding and many more of which are waiting for continuing grants. More here…

Briefly Noted:

The day after an announcement from the Southern University Chancellor that said he would likely declare a financial emergency if the faculty did not approve proposed voluntary furloughs and job termination notices, the Faculty Senate voted not to accept the requests. A financial emergency would provide the school with more flexibility to eliminate programs and lay off tenured faculty. The financial emergency request, as well as the school’s 2012 budget, must be approved by the Southern University System Board at its August 26 meeting. More here…