Friday News Roundup: Week of April 12-16

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.

Florida Governor Will Veto Controversial Teacher Pay Bill

Confusion over Washington, D.C. School Budget Stalls Teacher Contract

Louisiana Lawmakers Must Make Serious Cuts to Current Budget

Florida Governor Vetoes Controversial Teacher Pay Bill
Florida Governor Charlie Crist this week vetoed a teacher pay and tenure bill that sparked outrage among the state’s teachers, parents, and students. The bill would have mandated that half of a teacher’s evaluation would be based on learning gains made by the students they teach in a given year. These evaluations would then have been used to determine teacher pay. In addition, new teachers would have been employed under yearly contracts with no opportunity for tenure. After both the Florida State Senate and House of Representatives passed the bill, stakeholders were outraged and orchestrated sick-outs, sit-ins and street protests, and sent over 100,000 letters to Governor Crist. Though he initially supported the measure, Governor Crist said he now believes the bill is deeply flawed and asked lawmakers to start over. More here…

Confusion over Washington, D.C. School Budget Stalls Teacher Contract
Early this week, District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced that, after two years of negotiations, she had come to an agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union on a teacher contract. The contract would have used a $34 million budget surplus stemming from the firing of 266 teachers earlier this year, a point which shocked District council members, teachers, and union representatives. However, District Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi late this week announced that the surplus did not exist – it was eaten up by overspending in the school system’s central office. The dispute between Rhee and Gandhi over the analysis generating that number continues, but Chancellor Rhee says she has found alternative sources for $29 million of that money. The contract in question would call for increased professional development, mentoring and induction programs for new teachers, and large pay increases. It also includes a provision allowing teachers to opt into a pay for performance plan, offering $20,000-$30,000 in additional pay each year for improved student test scores, working in a high-needs school, or teaching a high-need subject. More here…

Louisiana Lawmakers Must Make Serious Cuts to Current Budget
Due to lower than expected revenue, Louisiana state lawmakers are working to cut $319 million from the state’s $29 billion fiscal year 2010 budget, which ends on June 30. Governor Bobby Jindal has submitted his proposal, which includes some cuts and some spending from funds that are currently carrying surpluses, to the legislature. Now lawmakers must debate Governor Jindal’s proposal. Speaker of the State House of Representatives Jim Tucker says he believes that the cuts can be made without imposing layoffs or furloughs on state employees this year, but warns that the same may not be true in the coming 2011 fiscal year. Some lawmakers would like to tap the state’s rainy day fund, but opponents of that plan warn that federal stimulus funds will diminish in fiscal year 2011 and disappear completely by fiscal year 2012. They believe the rainy day fund should be saved for those years to replace the absent stimulus funds. More here…

Briefly Noted

• New Jersey university officials warn of serious cuts to services under Governor Chris Christie’s proposed budget.