Friday News Roundup: Week of September 3-7

Georgia tech schools raise tuition 13 percent

Connecticut learns price of universal preschool: $264 million

Snyder: Michigan will appeal ruling striking down 3 percent retirement deduction for teachers

Luna seeks 5 percent more for Idaho schools

Georgia tech schools raise tuition 13 percent
The board that governs Georgia’s 25 public technical colleges voted this week to increase tuition from $75 to $85 per credit hour next semester, a 13 percent increase. The tuition increase will take effect for the spring semester, which begins in January. The board is also instituting a $50 “institutional fee” for the spring semester and an additional $50 fee per online course beginning in the fall 2013 semester. The tuition hike comes even as the state’s HOPE grant program, funded by the Georgia state lottery and which provides qualifying in-state students with grants of $60.75 per credit hour, faces a shortfall this year. The legislature passed a measure last year requiring that grant recipients maintain a 3.0 grade point average, and the rest of the shortfall will be made up by decreasing the dollar amount of awards. Currently, about 75 percent of students in the state’s technical college system receive HOPE grants, which are separate from the four-year college and universities’ HOPE scholarship program. More here…

Connecticut learns price of universal preschool: $264 million
It is unclear whether Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy is wavering in his support for high-quality preschool for children from low-income families after he saw the price tag this week. Providing universal access in the 19 poorest school districts in the state, according to new cost estimates, would cost $43.8 million annually, plus $220.6 million for construction of new classrooms. That amount would serve nearly 5,000 3- and 4-year olds who can’t attend preschool currently because the state-funded programs are full.  A move by the legislature last year provided $6.8 million more for preschool, which translates to 1,000 additional spots for preschoolers in the current school year. However, the state’s education commissioner did not say whether the administration planned to ask for any additional funding in the next fiscal year. More here…

Snyder: Michigan will appeal ruling striking down 3 percent retirement deduction for teachers
In a Michigan Court of Appeals decision handed down last month, the court said that a 2010 Michigan state law that cut school employees’ pay by 3 percent violated state and federal laws, and was unconstitutional. The pay cut was intended to pay for post-retirement health care for current employees. Governor Rick Snyder (R-MI) announced this week, while at a bill-signing for a separate law that would increase public school employees and retirees’ health care contributions, that the state planned to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. If upheld, the state will be required to refund employees about $508 million. The funds are currently being held in an escrow fund. More here…

Luna seeks 5 percent more for Idaho schools
Idaho state schools Superintendent Tom Luna is requesting 5 percent more for K-12 public schools in the fiscal year 2014 budget. Most of the new funds in his budget would go to teacher salaries and benefits; he plans to increase teacher salaries by about 5 percent, although much of the salary increase would instead be funded through the state’s pay-for-performance system. (The pay-for-performance plan is on November’s ballot for repeal, and its future remains uncertain.) Luna’s budget includes plans to un-freeze a previously-frozen pay step based on experience, as well as to restore cuts to base salaries. The budget proposal also includes funding to help high school students graduate early and earn college credits, and additional funds for remediation and reading and math programs. Governor Butch Otter (R-ID) will review Luna’s and other agencies’ proposals before he composes a final budget request to send to the legislature. More here…