Friday News Roundup: Week of March 1-5

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.

‘Financial Emergency’ Provision in Idaho Education Budget Would Add Flexibility on Teacher Pay

Nevada Governor Pushes Reforms for Higher Education

Alabama Lawmakers Have Yet to Begin Budget Work

Kentucky Legislators Will Try to Avoid Cuts to Higher Education

‘Financial Emergency’ Provision in Idaho Education Budget Would Add Flexibility on Teacher Pay
Republicans on the Idaho legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this week pushed a provision through the committee to declare a statewide financial emergency, allowing school districts flexibility to change teacher salaries and benefits without renegotiating contracts. The provision, which will be inserted into the state public education budget, builds on a law passed last session that allowed school districts to declare a financial emergency after spending down a certain amount of their reserves. The new provision would not require school districts to tap into their reserves before altering teacher pay. The measure is unpopular with the Idaho Education Association, Democrats in the legislature, and some Republicans, but it is unlikely to stop the current education budget from passing in both Houses. More here…

Nevada Governor Pushes Reforms for Higher Education
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons this week announced reform priorities to give the state’s public colleges and universities more flexibility and control over their budgets. The proposed reforms would give the institutions control over future tuition and fee increases, allow the Board of Regents and its officers to spend state money as they see fit, and allow institutions to retain up to 25 percent of unspent general funds each year, among other changes. It would also guarantee a certain appropriation for higher education for the remainder of the current budget biennium and the upcoming biennium. Governor Gibbons said he and his staff will work with the state legislature to write and pass bills that would accomplish these goals. More here…

Alabama Lawmakers Have Yet to Begin Budget Work
Alabama lawmakers have not yet begun work on the state’s education or general fund budgets. Governor Bob Riley asked legislators to wait for the U.S. Congress to reconcile the two versions of a bill that would direct more money to the states to create jobs. The U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill originally included $345 million for Alabama schools through the Education Jobs Fund, while the Senate version did not. However, on Thursday the U.S. House passed a version of the bill that dropped the Education Jobs Fund, which they may still try to pass in a separate bill later. If the Education Jobs Fund doesn’t eventually make it through Congress, Alabama lawmakers will have to begin work on a public education budget that could force over 3,000 teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, and a freeze on purchases of new school buses. More here…

Kentucky Legislators Will Try to Avoid Cuts to Higher Education
Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo this week said he and other House leaders would work to avoid cuts to higher education as they attempt to close a $1.5 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year 2010-12 budget. The state legislature has rejected a proposal from Governor Steve Beshear to expand legal gambling and use the $780 million in new revenue to help close the gap. Now they must find a different way to balance the budget. After his original proposal was defeated, Governor Beshear proposed a 2 percent funding cut to higher education in the second year of the budget. Some lawmakers indicated that this cut was necessary, and even considered extending the cut into the remainder of first year of the budget biennium. But Stumbo promised higher education leaders that he would try to restore the 2 percent cut in exchange for progress on goals including improved graduation rates at state institutions of higher education. More here…

Briefly Noted

• Florida budget cuts will mean significant reductions in education programs and services.