Friday News Roundup: Week of November 30-December 4

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.

Kentucky Education Department Submits Outline for Potential Cuts

Nevada Governor Preparing for More Budget Cuts, Race to the Top Change

Rhode Island Lawmakers Propose Raise in Charter School Budget

Georgia Lawmakers Consider Increased Fees, Lower Teacher Salaries

Kentucky Education Department Submits Outline for Potential Cuts
This week the Kentucky Education Department submitted to state budget officials its proposal for $20 million education spending cuts by for the rest of this fiscal year. Department leaders will meet with Governor Steve Beshear’s budget officials to go over the proposals. It will be up to the budget officials to accept or reject the proposed cuts. The proposal is a cautionary measure, and no cuts to spending will be made immediately – regardless of whether or not the plan is accepted. Instead, the plan will provide a course of action if continued revenue shortfalls require cuts in spending to balance the budget. Programs likely to see cuts include dropout prevention, gifted and talented education, family-resource and youth-services centers, and preschool programs. More here…

Nevada Preparing for More Budget Cuts, Race to the Top Change
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons warned cabinet members to prepare plans for budget cuts between 1.4 and 3.0 percent in the current fiscal year as the state’s revenue shortfall continues to grow. Governor Gibbons is also considering calling a special meeting with the Economic Forum, a group of business leaders who make independent revenue projections on which the state’s budget is based. The group would normally not meet again until June. Governor Gibbons will announce next week whether or not he will call a special session of the state legislature to enact what would be the fifth round of budget cuts in this fiscal year. Additionally, the governor is considering whether to call a special session of the legislature to change a state law that makes Nevada ineligible to compete for new federal Race to the Top (RttT) funds. At issue is a state law prohibiting the use of student achievement data for teacher evaluations. If the law were overturned, the state could compete for up to $175 million in RttT funds. Governor Gibbons supports changing the law, as does the Nevada State Education Association – the local teachers union that originally opposed the change. More here…

Rhode Island Lawmakers Propose Raise in Charter School Budget
Officials at the Rhode Island State Department of Education have developed a budget for fiscal year 2010-11 that includes an increase from fiscal year 2009-10 of $7.3 million to a total $39.3 million for charter schools. The increase would be split among five existing charter schools scheduled to add grades or expand enrollment next fall and two additional schools set to open this fall pending final approval from the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. The proposal will be submitted to Governor Donald Carcieri who will decide whether or not to include it in his budget proposal, which he will submit to the state General Assembly in early 2010. The National Education Association of Rhode Island opposes the proposal, saying it will detract dollars from the state’s traditional public schools. They claim that because Rhode Island is the only state without a school funding formula, traditional public school funding levels are subject to economic shifts. More here…

Georgia Lawmakers Consider Increased Fees, Lower Teacher Salaries
According to Georgia State Senator Jack Hill and State House Republican Leader Jerry Keen, the state is considering raising student fees at the state’s public colleges and universities and lowering k-12 teacher salaries in the upcoming 2010-2011 fiscal year. Noting that Republicans in the legislature will not consider tax hikes as a way to balance the budget, the lawmakers said that $1.3 billion needs to be cut from the state budget. Cuts to the k-12 education budget are almost unavoidable because education has seen fewer cuts than other agencies over the past two years. Teacher salaries now make up one-third of every dollar the state spends overall, so they are a likely candidate for cuts. Because tuition at Georgia’s public colleges and universities is among the lowest in the country, a tuition hike is likely as well, the lawmakers say. More here…