Friday News Roundup: Week of January 7- January 11

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.

North Dakota Governor Proposes Commission on Higher Education Funding

IndianaLawmakers Begin Work on Teacher Merit Pay Bill

Missouri Colleges to Cut Degree Programs to Save Money

North Dakota Governor Proposes Commission on Higher Education Funding

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple this week testified before the state’s Senate Education Committee to support a commission on higher education funding. The committee is considering a bill that would set up a 14-member commission to develop a new formula for distributing funds to the state’s institutions of higher education. Currently, the state distributes its higher education funds to its institutions based on enrollment. Supporters of the bill hope a commission would create a formula that takes performance indicators into account. They cite the success of a similar commission in 2006 that revamped the state’s K-12 education funding formula, hoping a similar model could be successful in higher education. More here…

Indiana Lawmakers Begin Work on Teacher Merit Pay Bill

Members of the Indiana State Senate education committee this week began debating a bill that would revamp the state’s teacher compensation system. The bill, which is one piece of Governor Mitch Daniels’ education agenda, would require school districts to evaluate teachers each year and rank them into one of four categories based on their effectiveness. Teachers in the bottom two categories would not be eligible for raises, while those in the top two categories would receive raises based on student performance. School districts would create their own evaluations and criteria within a framework set by the state. While many teachers and union leaders agree that educators should be evaluated each year, they don’t think student test scores should factor into the evaluations. The committee is expected to vote on the bill next week. More here…

Missouri Colleges to Cut Degree Programs to Save Money

The Missouri Department of Higher Education this week released a report detailing 116 academic programs that will be terminated at the state’s institutions of higher education due to low numbers of graduates. The report came in response to a request by Governor Jay Nixon as part of a cost-savings review. Programs with fewer than 10 bachelor’s degrees, five master’s degrees, or three doctoral degrees per year will be phased out to allow currently enrolled students to finish their studies. According to Missouri Education Commissioner David Russell, many of the programs that have been identified for cuts are those that are crucial to the state’s economic growth, including STEM fields, teacher education, and foreign languages. He says the state will work to address this issue. More here…